The old ballpark was packed for a celebration nearly a century in the making. Players danced around the infield with their families. Fans remained in the stands, savoring a long-awaited moment generations of New Englanders had never been able to witness. Turmoil to triumph. Worst to first. A clincher at Fenway Park.
David Ortiz and the Boston Red Sox, baseball’s bearded wonders, capped their remarkable turnaround by beating the St. Louis Cardinals 6-1 in Game 6 on Wednesday night to win their third World Series championship in 10 seasons.
When it was over, Ortiz took a microphone on the field and addressed the city, just as he did a week after the marathon bombings last April. “This is for you, Boston. You guys deserve it,” the Series MVP said. “We’ve been through a lot this year and this is for all of you and all those families who struggled.”
And the Red Sox didn’t even have to fly the trophy home. For the first time since Babe Ruth’s team back in 1918, Boston won the title at Fenway. The 101-year-old stadium, oldest in the majors, was packed with 38,447 singing, shouting fans anticipating a party building for more than nine decades.
The only player remaining from the 2004 champs, Ortiz had himself a Ruthian World Series. He batted .688 (11 for 16) with two homers, six RBIs and eight walks — including four in the finale — for a .760 on-base percentage in 25 plate appearances, the second-highest in Series history.
“We have a lot of players with heart. We probably don’t have the talent that we had in ’07 and ’04, but we have guys that are capable (of staying) focused and do the little things,” Ortiz said.
Even slumping Stephen Drew delivered a big hit in Game 6, sending Wacha’s first pitch of the fourth into the right-centre bullpen for a 4-0 lead. By the time the inning was over, RBI singles by Mike Napoli and Victorino had made it 6-0, and the Red Sox were on their way.
All over New England, from Connecticut’s Housatonic River up to the Aroostook in Maine, Boston’s eighth championship can be remembered for the beard-yanking bonding.
Fans bid up the average ticket price to over $1,000 on the resale market and some prime locations went for more than $10,000 each. Nearly all the Red Sox rooters stood in place for 30 minutes after the final out to view the presentation of the trophy and MVP award. A few thousand remained when a beaming Ortiz came back on the field with his son 75 minutes after the final out.
The win capped an emotional season for the Red Sox, one heavy with the memory of the events that unfolded on Patriots Day, when three people were killed and more than 260 wounded in bombing attacks at the Boston Marathon. The Red Sox wore “Boston Strong” logos on their left sleeves, erected a large emblem on the Green Monster and moved the logo into the centre-field grass as a constant reminder.
“There’s I think a civil responsibility that we have wearing this uniform, particularly here in Boston,” Farrell said. “And it became a connection initially, the way our guys reached out to individuals or to hospital visits. And it continued to build throughout the course of the season. I think our fans, they got to a point where they appreciated the way we played the game, how they cared for one another. And in return they gave these guys an incredible amount of energy to thrive on in this ballpark.”
Red, white and blue fireworks fired over the ballpark as Commissioner Bud Selig presented the World Series trophy to Red Sox owners John Henry, Tom Werner and Larry Lucchino, leaving a haze over the field.
“When the fireworks went off at the presentation of the trophy out there, when the ballpark was filled with smoke, it was completely surreal,” Farrell said. “To be in this position, given where we’ve come from, reflecting back a year ago at this time, there’s been a lot that’s happened in 13 months.”
Boston was a 30-1 underdog to win the World Series last winter but joined the 1991 Minnesota Twins as the only teams to win titles one season after finishing in last place. Now, the Red Sox will raise another championship flag before their home opener next season April 4 against Milwaukee.
Boston hit just .211, the lowest average for a Series champion in 39 years and 13 points lower than the Cardinals. But after falling behind 2-1 in the Series on the first-game ending obstruction call in post-season history, the Red Sox tied it the following night on the first-game ending pickoff in post-season play. That sparked the Red Sox to three straight wins and another title.
“When we started rolling,” Ortiz said, “nobody ever stopped the train.”
((Sourced from TSN))
