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2004
Fall Classic
Email:
Michael
Aubrecht Website:
Pinstripe
Press
THE
2004 MAJOR LEAGUE
post-season
witnessed perhaps the greatest
comeback in the history of
professional baseball. Down
three-games-to-none in the
American League Championship
Series, baseball's perennial
"bridesmaids", otherwise known as
the Boston Red Sox, stood three
outs from elimination courtesy of
their hated rivals, the New York
Yankees. With the game's greatest
post-season closer on the mound,
Mariano Rivera, Boston
miraculously rose to the occasion
to win the final 4 games and
become the first team ever to
comeback from a
three-games-to-none deficit to
take the league title. It had
been 100 years since the Red Sox
had last won a pennant in New
York with a 3-2 victory in a
doubleheader opener at Hilltop
Park in 1904. For decades, New
York had repeatedly dashed the
hopes and dreams of the Red Sox
faithful and many considered
their so-called "rivalry" to be a
"one-sided" affair. In 1949, the
Yankees overcame Boston by
winning the final two games of
the 1949 season at Yankee
Stadium. They also won a historic
one-game playoff for the American
League East in 1978 behind Bucky
Dent's three-run homer at Fenway
Park. More recently, Aaron Boone
had hit an 11th-inning homer to
win Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS for
the newly christened "Evil
Empire."
Adding to the
historic backdrop and impending
drama were two epic Boston wins
in extra-innings, as well as a
clutch performance by
newly-acquired pitcher Curt
Schilling, who essentially
started two games on one ankle.
In retrospect, the spectators (on
both sides) deserve credit as
well. Throughout the entire
series Red Sox fans were often
shown praying and holding up
signs that said "We Believe",
"Manny-fest Destiny" and "Please
God - Don't Let Us Get Swept By
The Yankees." In the Bronx, the
Bleacher Creatures responded with
deafening chants of "Who's Your
Daddy" (referring to an
embarrassing post-game comment
made by Pedro Martinez) while
holding up signs of their own
depicting Babe Ruth's face, with
"1918" and "The Curse Lives On".
After what many
considered to be the most intense
week of baseball ever witnessed,
the Red Sox persevered four games
to three, granting them a ticket
to their first World Series since
1986 and possibly their first
Championship title in 86
years.
Unfortunately,
due to the magnitude of the
American League contest, the
National League version, which
was equally compelling, took a
far back seat in the ratings. The
St. Louis Cardinals boasted the
top offensive stats in the
National League during the
regular season as well as the
game's most expensive player,
Albert Pujols, who had signed a
franchise record $100 million,
seven-year contract earlier in
the year. In Houston, the biggest
story of the Astros' season was
the return of "hometown hero"
Roger Clemens. After enjoying a
brief, seventy-eight day
retirement, Clemens returned to
pitch with friend and former
teammate Andy Pettitte on their
hometown team. For more than a
year, "The Rocket" had insisted
that 2003 would be his final
season, but all bets were off
after the Yankees lost the World
Series and Pettitte left New
York. Remarkably, the forty
year-old, six-time Cy Young
winner, returned better than ever
becoming a Cy Young candidate en
route to the National League
Championship Series.
Like their
American League counterparts,
both teams went head-to-head for
a seven game classic in which the
Redbirds managed to emerge
victorious. Most amazingly was
the fact that heading into the
decisive Game 7, both teams had
exactly the same batting average
at .246, the same number of runs
scored at 29 apiece and the exact
same ERA at 4.80. In the end, the
Card's clutch, 5-2 win brought
the World Series back to St.
Louis for the first time since
1987.
Going into the
Fall Classic neither team stood
out as a statistical favorite.
Both had put up the best
offensive numbers in their
respective leagues (Boston: 949
runs, St. Louis: 845 runs) and
featured a strong line-up,
inspired pitching staff and
dependable bullpen.
Game 1 opened at
Fenway Park as the euphoric "Red
Sox Nation" cautiously waited the
fall of the dreaded "Curse of the
Bambino" (an 80+ year-old
superstition based on the
infamous trade of Babe Ruth to
the New York Yankees following
the 1919 season). As expected,
the two highest-scoring teams in
the Major Leagues combined for
the highest-scoring Game 1 in
World Series history as the Red
Sox edged the Cardinals, 11-9.
The 20 runs scored were two more
than the previous record holders;
NY Yankees (12) and Chicago Cubs
(6) had scored on September 28,
1932 and there were also a
remarkable 14 walks and 5 errors.
The opener presented the first
Fall Classic duel between these
two teams since 1967, when the
Cardinals won in seven games.
Time had definitely changed
though, as there were 21 total
runs scored in the first four
games of that series by both
teams combined.
The second outing
also went in Boston's favor (6-2)
as starter Curt Schilling
continued to add to his mythical
post-season performance. Many
fans stated that what he
accomplished in Game 2 of the
World Series belonged in a
special class and was the kind of
story that would be told (and
retold) for generations to come.
Originally slated to be
unavailable in the American
League Championship Series (due
to a serious ankle injury) the
37-year-old right-hander
compromised his own career by
electing to "go" after receiving
both shots and sutures. With
blood staining his right
stocking, Schilling tossed an
unbelievable masterpiece against
the Yankees. The following week,
he repeated the effort in Game 2
and left after pitching six
innings of one-run, four-hit
ball. Before the game, The
Associated Press reported that
Boston team physician Bill Morgan
said the procedure to stitch
Schilling's torn tendon to the
ankle might be too dangerous to
repeat a third time. Regardless
of no chance at a "hat-trick",
the two outings Schilling had
given his team quickly became
inscribed in the books of
Boston's ever-growing
folklore.
Victory over the
Yanks has changed the equation.
And it has changed the emotion,
from frustration and perennial
disappointment to buoyant
anticipation and
optimism.
Game 3 shifted to
Series to Busch Stadium, but
unfortunately for Cardinals fans,
so shifted the momentum of the
Red Sox as they crept closer and
closer to a sweep with a 4-1
road-win. Boston ace Pedro
Martinez faced pitcher Jeff
Suppan for what was originally
billed as a "pitchers duel." The
three-time Cy Young Award winner
responded with his most dominant
performance of the postseason. On
the day after his 33rd birthday,
Martinez shut down the usually
prolific offense of the
Cardinals, holding them to three
hits over his seven shutout
innings, striking out six and
retiring the last 14 batters he
faced. In doing so, the Sox came
just two outs shy of notching
their first World Series shutout
since Bruce Hurst and Calvin
Schiraldi had combined in Game 1
against the Mets in 1986. It was
also Boston's seventh win in a
row and put them 27 outs from
total vindication.
Down
three-games-to-none, St. Louis
received widespread criticism for
not playing "fundamental
baseball" in key situations. The
Cards showed promise going
against Martinez in the bottom of
the first, loading the bases with
one out. But on a shallow fly out
to left by Jim Edmonds, Larry
Walker surprisingly tried to
score. He was tagged out by
catcher Jason Varitek, who easily
handled an accurate one-hopper.
In the third inning, St. Louis
had another golden opportunity
after Suppan got things going
with a single down the third-base
line. Edgar Renteria followed
with a double to right, but the
Cardinals stung themselves again
with shoddy base running. A
grounder to second by Walker
should have scored Suppan.
However, Mark Bellhorn
methodically fielded the ball and
eased the throw to first,
essentially giving away the run
for the sure out. A confused
Suppan somehow got hung up on the
third-base line as first baseman
David Ortiz (playing defense for
just the second time since July
22) alertly fired a laser to
third baseman Mueller, who tagged
Suppan out.
Now just with one
win to go, the buzz about the New
England area (as well as the rest
of the country) continued to rise
to monstrous proportions. One
quote by sports writer Mike
Bauman from Baseball Perspective
summed up the miraculous rebirth
of the Boston mystique. He wrote:
Victory over the Yanks has
changed the equation. And it has
changed the emotion, from
frustration and perennial
disappointment to buoyant
anticipation and optimism. For
the first time in decades, the
Fenway Faithful felt real promise
as the Cardinals fell further and
further away from bringing the
title back to "America's greatest
baseball town."
Game 4 started
with a bang as Boston's Johnny
Damon led-off with a homerun
courtesy of Cardinals' starter
Jason Marquis. Derek Lowe took
the mound for the Red Sox
pitching a 7-inning masterpiece
with three hits, one walk and
four strikeouts. It was Lowe who
had come up huge in two critical
playoff games in the American
League Championship Series.
Despite having a terrible
September, the right-hander rose
to the occasion and redeemed
himself with a magnificent start
in New York for the deciding Game
7. In retrospect, he was only
given the opportunity for these
masterful performances (ALCS 4
and 7, and WS 4) due to the
disruption of Boston's starting
rotation resulting in manager
Terry Francona relying on
would-be starter Tim Wakefield
for several innings of relief in
Games 1 and 3. Things continued
to favor Boston in the third when
Trot Nixon stepped in (with the
bases loaded and two outs) and
came out swinging on a 3-0 pitch,
clocking a two-run double off the
wall in right-center, putting the
Sox ahead by three runs. And that
was it. For the next 6 innings
both teams left multiple base
runners stranded as neither was
able to add to the
scoreboard.
St. Louis came
close in the fifth after Edgar
Renteria tagged a double to
left-center and moved to third on
a wild pitch with just one out.
Lowe however managed to regain
his composure striking out John
Mabry and getting Yadier Molina
on a grounder to short. In the
eighth, Boston loaded the bases,
but Cardinals' closer Jason
Isringhausen ended the inning,
giving the offense a chance to
rally back. Unfortunately,
baseball's most winningest team
in 2004 (105 regular season
victories) was unable to generate
any offense as Boston relievers
Bronson Arroyo and Alan Embree
combined with closer Keith Foulke
to finish the job for the 3-0
win. In the end, the Red Sox
pitching staff was masterful in
the final three games of the
series, holding St. Louis'
line-up to three runs over 27
innings.
And with that the
entire culture of the Boston Red
Sox changed as the
self-proclaimed "idiots"
franchise won its sixth World
Series championship, but first
since 1918. Finally the so-called
"curse" had been broken after
breaking so many hearts
generation after generation. As
the team mobbed each other at
home plate, loyal members of the
Red Sox Nation from Boston to
Baghdad raced into the streets in
jubilant celebration. GM prodigy
Theo Epstein, the pride of
Brookline, Massachusetts (who
built the team at the age of 30)
summed up the historic
significance of the victory by
stating, "This is what we've all
been waiting for. We can die
happy. I just hope everyone out
there who has been rooting for
the Red Sox the last 86 years is
enjoying this as much as we are.
We're coming home to see you
soon."
On the other
side, Cardinals' skipper Tony
LaRussa echoed the obvious
disappointment in both himself
and his players. Not only had the
team who scored the most runs and
allowed the fewest in the
National League been swept, but
they were also shutout in the
process. In addition, the win for
Boston was sweetened, as it had
been the St. Louis Cardinals who
previously shattered the Red Sox
dreams of a championship title in
both the 1946 and 1967 World
Series.
The date: October
27th, 2004, a day that will live
on in infamy and a day that
Boston, and "The Babe," could
finally rest in peace.
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