Wakefield to start Game 1 for Boston. Terry Francona "owed one" to Wakefield for his volunteer relief work in the ALCS -- and a Game 1 World Series start is a pretty neat reward. Still, he hasn't started and worked a total of only 7 1/3 innings since Oct. 1. Despite the lack of work, catcher Jason Varitek can testify to the life in that knuckleball. Red Sox take World Series opener on Bellhorn's homer BOSTON, October 23, 2004- All that was missing was Mark Bellhorn lingering at home plate, trying to wave the ball fair. He created his own October memory by recalling a Fenway Park moment frozen in time: Carlton Fisk's home run in Game 6 back in 1975. Bellhorn hit a drive off the screen attached to Pesky's Pole in right field in the eighth inning, and the Boston Red Sox held on to take the highest-scoring opener in World Series history, beating the St. Louis Cardinals 11-9 on Saturday night. "I'm not here trying to be a hero, I'm just here trying to win four games," he said. Right after pulling a long foul, Bellhorn lofted the two-run shot off Julian Tavarez that decided a game in which the Red Sox blew an early five-run lead. Fisk was in the old ballpark for this game, and surely he was smiling. His 12th-inning homer off the left-field foul pole beat Cincinnati, and is considered one of baseball's most dramatic drives. "In the playoffs, everything seems like a critical moment," Bellhorn said. "Any game can be a pivotal game or a pivotal play." David Ortiz watches his 3-run home run in the first inning of Game #1. The above reports are courtesy of CBS-Sportsline. To visit their site, click here! Schilling Shuts Down Cardinals in Game #2. BOSTON, October 24, 2004- While the loose tendon in Curt Schilling's right ankle is literally being held together by thread, the Red Sox now have far more stable footing in their quest to bring home the franchise's first World Series championship since 1918. Schilling, the 37-year-old workhorse, gutted through another outing Sunday night at Fenway Park. In the process he put the Sox in prime position in this World Series. The combination of Schilling's sheer will and clutch hitting by the Red Sox paved the way for a 6-2 victory over the Cardinals that put Boston in the drivers seat, up 2-0, as this best-of-seven Fall Classic shifts to St. Louis for Tuesday night's Game 3. Every run the Red Sox scored came via a two-out hit. The biggest knocks came from Jason Varitek (two-run triple), Mark Bellhorn (two-run double) and Orlando Cabrera (two-run single). With his sock again bloodied by the sutures in his ankle, Schilling held the Cardinals to four hits and no earned runs in his six innings of work. He walked one and struck out four, improving to 8-2 lifetime in 15 postseason starts. If Schilling's ankle can make it through one more suture treatment, he would likely start Game 6 at Fenway Park. That is, if there is a Game 6. The Sox could wrap this thing up in St. Louis by winning two out of three. They have a chance to get off to a good start in Game 3, when three-time Cy Young Award winner Pedro Martinez takes the mound against former Boston right-hander Jeff Suppan. But the Sox know better than anyone that a 2-0 lead hardly guarantees a successful ending. Boston was down 3-0 to the Yankees in the last round and lived to tell about it. And, the 1986 Red Sox had a 2-0 lead in the World Series but lost to the Mets in seven games. Still, the Sox are looking more and more like a team that's going to be hard to take down. They are 9-3 in this postseason and have won six in a row. Amazingly, the Sox have made four errors in each of the first two games, and don't have a loss to show for the shoddy glove work. Just as in Game 1, the Sox got off to a quick start. Cardinals right-hander Matt Morris dug himself into a jam by issuing two-out walks to Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz. That gave Varitek a chance to come through, and he ripped a 420-foot triple to the triangle in right-center, bringing home two runs. Schilling, despite his well-chronicled injury that will require surgery as soon as the season ends, was finding a way to get outs in the early going. The Cardinals put together a modest rally in the fourth, with Albert Pujols ripping a leadoff double down the line in left and moving to third on Trot Nixon's diving catch against Scott Rolen. With two outs, Sox third baseman Bill Mueller bobbled a grounder by Reggie Sanders. The Cardinals scored their first run of the game on the error. But the Sox bounced right back in their half of the fourth. With runners on second and third and two outs, Bellhorn -- the hero in Game 1 -- belted a two-run double off the wall in center field. That gave Schilling a 4-1 lead. The biggest thing working against Schilling was the Boston defense. In particular, Mueller was having a nightmarish game with the glove. His third error of the night gave the Cardinals a baserunner (Rolen) with two outs in the sixth. Then Bellhorn couldn't handle a grounder by Jim Edmonds, giving the Sox four errors on the night, and eight in the first two games. But Schilling didn't let the miscues rattle him. Sanders hit a crisp grounder to Mueller, who raced to third for the force to end the inning. The Sox went for the jugular in the bottom of the sixth against St. Louis reliever Cal Eldred. Singles by Nixon and Johnny Damon set the table for Cabrera with two outs. The shortstop lofted one off the Green Monster to make it a 6-1 game. Though Cabrera stopped at first with a single, Damon was able to score all the way from first. After giving it everything he had, Schilling handed things over to Alan Embree, who struck out the side in the seventh. Mike Timlin (two-thirds of an inning) and Keith Foulke (the final four outs) took it home. The above report was written by MLB.com reporter Ian Browne. To visit their site, click here! Pedro retired the last 14 Cardinals' batters that he faced in Game #3. Pedro shut down the Cardinals in Game #3. ST. LOUIS, October 26, 2004- Get ready, Boston. There's no other outcome now. The Red Sox will either win the World Series or add another historic collapse to their legend. They'll either reverse The Curse and end 86 years of futility or they'll fall apart, just as they did the last four times they got this close. Pedro Martinez made his long-awaited Series debut a special one, bailed out when Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz did as much damage with their arms as bats. Backed by the surprising show of defense, Boston cruised past St. Louis 4-1 Tuesday night for a 3-0 lead and left a crowd that loves its Cardinals booing the home team. "It is big, but we learned our lesson against the Yankees," Ramirez said. Until this October, it was considered almost impossible for any baseball team to recover from such a deficit in the postseason. No one had ever done it -- that is, until the Red Sox bounced back to stun New York in the AL Championship Series. "We're not going to relax that much," Martinez said. "I don't think our team's going to relax as much as the Yankees were." Advertisement And now, after being only three outs away from getting swept last week, Boston is on the verge of sweeping the club that led the majors in wins this year and claiming the ultimate prize. Derek Lowe will try to finish it off Wednesday night, with Jason Marquis starting Game 4 for St. Louis. "It's something you've got to notice. It's possible," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. "Hard not to get discouraged. They didn't." While Red Sox fans gathered around the Boston dugout and chanted "One more win! One more win!" a sign curiously was posted on a side scoreboard at Busch Stadium: "Thanks for a great 2004 season." Pitching a day after his 33rd birthday, Martinez threw seven innings of shutout ball, holding the limp Cardinals to three hits and retiring his last 14 batters. "He has a history of being pretty good," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. Ramirez put Martinez ahead with a first-inning homer and the three-time Cy Young winner held it, helped by superb defense and shaky baserunning. Added up, the Red Sox set a team record with their seventh straight postseason win, bettering the streak of six capped off by Babe Ruth's win in the 1916 Series. That Martinez won was hardly amazing. That Boston's defense contributed was downright shocking. The Red Sox made eight errors and still won the first two games. This time, they were flawless in the field -- and maybe even better than that. Ramirez threw out Larry Walker at the plate from left field to end the first inning. The lumbering Ortiz, in the lineup because Boston did not have the DH slot, alertly caught losing pitcher Jeff Suppan later. Combined with a couple of more two-out runs, the Red Sox were home free. Ramirez was the MVP of the first inning, by far. After getting some pine tar from the top of his gooey batting helmet, he hit a solo home run with two outs into the loge level in left field. Ramirez was familiar with Suppan, going 7-for-18 with three homers against his former teammate. But Ramirez's arm did even more damage to St. Louis in the bottom half. A pair of walks wrapped around a slow-rolling single by Albert Pujols loaded the bases with one out, and the ballpark hoped for something big. With the crowd standing and the stadium organ pumping, catcher Jason Varitek made his second trip to the mound to visit Martinez. Edmonds lofted a fly ball to shallow left and Walker decided to make a run for it, but Ramirez was equal to the challenge and made an accurate throw home. Varitek did his part with a decoy, standing as if there was no play before suddenly catching the ball and slapping on the tag. Martinez pumped his fist, then gave a nice-try pat on the back to Walker, his old teammate from their Montreal days. Ahead 1-0, Boston did it again with defense in the third. Suppan started it with a swinging-bunt single and Edgar Renteria hit a double that sent Nixon sliding feet first into a warning track puddle, a pratfall right out of a Wet&Wild Ride&Slide. Again the crowd came to its feet, sensing the big hit that St. Louis needed. Walker instead rapped a weak grounder to second baseman Mark Bellhorn, which should have easily been enough to advance the runners and score the tying run. Suppan, however, made a quick break for the plate and stopped while Renteria took off for third. Ortiz caught Bellhorn's throw, took a second and then noticed the Cardinals' confusion on the bases. Ortiz made a perfect throw across the diamond to nail Suppan, and a grounder by Pujols ended the inning and brought out the boos. Bill Mueller and Nixon hit consecutive doubles with two outs in the fourth, and Boston scored twice in the fifth for a 4-0 lead. Ramirez singled home a run and Mueller later chased Suppan with an RBI single. At that point, 10 of Boston's 20 runs in the Series had come with two outs. St. Louis' lone run was a homer by Walker off Keith Foulke in the ninth inning. Derek Lowe's last two starts were flawless for the Red Sox. Lowe absolutely handcuffed the Cardinals in Game #4. What curse? Red Sox sweep Cards to win World Series. ST. LOUIS, October 27, 2004-- The Boston Red Sox -- yes, the Boston Red Sox! -- are World Series champions at long, long last. No more curse and no doubt about it. Ridiculed and reviled through decades of defeat, the Red Sox didn't just beat the St. Louis Cardinals, owners of the best record in baseball, they swept them for their first crown since 1918. Johnny Damon homered on the fourth pitch of the game, Derek Lowe made it stand up and the Red Sox won 3-0 Wednesday night, wrapping up a series in which they never trailed. Chants of "Let's go, Red Sox!" bounced all around Busch Stadium, with Boston fans as revved-up as they were relieved. Only 10 nights earlier, the Red Sox were just three outs from getting swept by the New York Yankees in the AL Championship Series before becoming the first team in baseball postseason history to overcome a 3-0 deficit. It was Boston's sixth championship, but the first after 86 years of frustration and futility, after two world wars, the Great Depression, men on the moon, and the rise and fall of the Soviet Union. After all that, on an eerie night when the moon went dark in a total eclipse, the Red Sox made it look easy. Gone was the heartbreak of four Game 7 losses since their last title, a drought -- some insist it was a curse -- that really began after they sold Babe Ruth to the Yankees in 1920. "I'm so happy. I'm happy for the fans in Boston, I'm happy for Johnny Pesky, for Bill Buckner, for (Bob) Stanley and (Calvin) Schiraldi and all the great Red Sox players who can now be remembered for the great players that they were," pitcher Curt Schilling said. Schilling got himself traded from Arizona to Boston last November, eager to beat the Yankees and put the Red Sox in the World Series for the first time since 1986. He made it worth his while, with the win ensuring him of an extra $15 million in a contract he negotiated himself. "We wanted to do it so bad for the city of Boston. To win a World Series with this on our chests -- it hasn't been done since 1918," first baseman Kevin Millar said. "So rip up those '1918' posters right now." Damon's leadoff homer off starter Jason Marquis and Trot Nixon's two-out, two-run double on a 3-0 pitch were all that Lowe needed. Having won the first-round clincher against Anaheim in relief and then winning Game 7 at Yankee Stadium, Lowe blanked the Cards on a mere three hits for seven innings. Relievers Bronson Arroyo and Alan Embree worked the eighth and Keith Foulke finished it off for his first save. Even before Doug Mientkiewicz caught Foulke's toss on Edgar Renteria's grounder for the last out, the Red Sox were rushing out of the dugout. Boston players streamed in from the bullpen, and they all came together in a pulsating pile between the mound and first base. With flashbulbs popping, the hugging and jumping was electrifying. And why not? The day that would never quite come for a generation of Red Sox players and fans had arrived. Now the Red Sox get to raise the World Series banner next April 11 in the home opener at Fenway Park, with the dreaded Yankees in town forced to watch. No telling who will be there -- 18 Boston players are potential free agents, including Pedro Martinez and Lowe. Boston became the third straight wild-card team to win the Series, relying on the guts of Schilling and the guile of Martinez. And they took it in the same year they traded away popular shortstop Nomar Garciaparra. Led by Series MVP Manny Ramirez, Boston got key contributions from almost everyone. Backup outfielder Dave Roberts did not play in the Series, yet it was his stolen base in the ninth inning of Game 4 in the ALCS that began the comeback against Yankees closer Mariano Rivera. And while second baseman Mark Bellhorn was born in Boston, no one else on the roster came from anywhere near Beantown. And the only homegrown players on the team are Nixon and rookie Kevin Youkilis. No matter, this win might make all of them as much a part of New England lore as Plymouth Rock and Paul Revere. "All of our fans have waited all their lives for this night, and it's finally here. These guys did it for you, New England," Red Sox owner John Henry said. The Boston win also left no doubt which city is now the most jinxed in baseball. It's Chicago -- the Cubs last won it all in 1908, the White Sox in 1917. Meanwhile, the Cardinals team that led the majors with 105 wins never showed up. The timely hitting, solid pitching and sharp baserunning that served them so well all season completely broke down. Albert Pujols, Scott Rolen and Jim Edmonds, the meat of the order, combined for just one RBI. Rolen got it on a sacrifice fly, and it was little consolation as he went 0-for-15. "They outplayed us in every category, so it ended up not being a terrific competition," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. "We were ready to play. We didn't play good enough." Ramirez, put on waivers in the offseason and nearly traded to Texas for Alex Rodriguez, was 7-for-17 (.412) with a homer and four RBI. The left fielder's biggest contribution came in Game 3, when he bounced back from a couple of errors to throw out a runner at the plate and end an early St. Louis threat. Lowe was loose from the start. While the Cardinals took batting practice, he sat alone in the Boston dugout, his hat backward and singing the little ditty, "If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands." Lowe was equally relaxed on the mound. He gave up a leadoff single to Tony Womack, then retired 13 straight batters until Renteria doubled in the fifth. Renteria made it to third on a wild pitch, but Lowe struck out John Mabry -- who unsuccessfully argued that it was a foul tip -- and got Yadier Molina on a routine grounder. At that point, the Cardinals were going quietly. About the only noise they made came when Molina, a 21-year-old rookie catcher whose two brothers catch for Anaheim, began yapping at Ramirez when the Boston star came to the plate in the fourth. Red Sox manager Terry Francona quickly rushed out of the dugout to keep things calm. Best known before this year for being Michael Jordan's manager in the minors, Francona made plenty of smart moves. Oakland's bench coach in 2003, he took over after Grady Little was fired last fall. Baltimore and the White Sox also interviewed the man who managed Philadelphia to losing seasons from 1997-2000. And while many Boston fans hollered for him to bench the slumping Damon in the ALCS, Francona stuck with him and was rewarded when Damon hit a grand slam and two-run homer in Game 7. Facing Marquis, Damon yanked a shot over the right-center field wall and before he could circle the bases, the chants of "Let's go, Red Sox!" began echoing from the upper deck. Damon became the second Boston player to hit a leadoff homer in the Series. The other? Patsy Dougherty, who did it in 1903 for the Americans -- renamed the Red Sox five years later. A single by Ramirez and double by David Ortiz got the Red Sox ramped up again in the third. Pujols threw out Ramirez at the plate, trying to score on a grounder to first base, and a walk loaded the bases with two outs. Nixon took three straight balls and Francona gambled, giving his good fastball hitter the green light. That's what Nixon got, and he drilled it off the right-center wall for a 3-0 lead. The above reports are courtesy of CBS-Sportsline. To visit their site, click here! This Site Created on September 14, 2004 Back to top   This website is hosted for free by . Get your own Free Website now!