Fenway Fables

Just three years after breaking their curse, the Red Sox did it again and they finished up a four game sweep over the Rockies to win the 2007 World Series.  The Red Sox scored their runs one inning at a time and while, like Saturday, the Rockies got close but never had the lead.  David Ortiz put the Red Sox on the board in the first with an RBI single and then they added a second run in the fifth on Jason Varitek’s one run single.  Mike Lowell made it 3-0 with a solo homer in the seventh before the Rockies scored on a solo homer by Brad Hawpe.  Bobby Kielty made it 4-1 with a solo homerun and the Rockies scored two in the eighth to make it a one run game but that’s as close as they’d get.

Jon Lester was awesome and his start made a good story by itself.  He gave up three hits and three walks in 5 1/3 innings.  Francona dipped into the Okajima well once too often and he was the pitcher to give up those final two Rockies runs.  Papelbon got the final five batters out though and he picked up his third save of the series.

Mike Lowell was named the series MVP but man did the Red Sox get some production across the board.  And with two World Series in the past four seasons, Red Sox fans definitely have some things to be happy about.  Now we have the offseason where hopefully the Red Sox can keep everything together.

The Red Sox made it six straight postseason wins and three straight in this series against the Rockies as they now just have to win one of their next four to win their second World Series in four years.  The big inning was the third when the Red Sox jumped out to a 6-0 lead.  Mike Lowell and Dice-K each had two run singles while David Ortiz and Jacoby Ellsbury doubled home a run a piece.

The Rockies actually fought back and made it a one run game but the Red Sox opened the game back up with three runs in eighth and a single run in the ninth to make it 10-5.  Ellsbury had a team high four hits and he drove in two and scored twice.  Mike Lowell singled twice, drove in two and scored twice.

Dice-K was good enough and he gave up two runs in 5 1/3 innings.  Mike Timlin was tagged for two of the other runs while Jon Papelbon closed the game out to pick up the save.

It’ll be Jon Lester going up against Aaron Cook for the series win tonight.  I know you want to seal the deal, but I wouldn’t mind seeing a game on Monday so Josh Beckett can continue his post season dominance with one more win.

The offense wasn’t there like it was the night before, but the pitching was just as good as Curt Schilling and the Red Sox pen pitched Boston to a 2-1 win.  Schilling gave up the lone run in 5 1/3 innings while Hideki Okajima was awesome with 2 1/3 perfect innings.  Jon Papelbon closed things out and he picked up the save with 1 1/3 innings pitched.

The Rockies got on the board in the very first inning when Willie Taveras scored on Todd Helton’s ground out.  Jason Varitek tied the game up in the fourth when he drove home Mike Lowell with a sac. fly and then Lowell doubled home David Ortiz in the fifth inning to give the Red Sox the lead, and eventually, the win.  The  two teams combined for just eleven hits.

Man, are these games long.  The opener clocked in at 3:30 while last night’s game was 3:39.  I love baseball, but talk about dragging things out.

Dice-K gets the start tomorrow and the Red Sox will have to contend with Josh Fogg.  And David Ortiz will start at first base with Kevin Youkilis starting the game on the bench.  My bet is, Youkilis gets in there and makes an impact whether it’s just with one at bat as a pinch hitter or a late inning defensive replacement.

Dominating pitching?  Check.  Heavy hitting?  Check.  Give Pitcher Big Early Lead?  Check.

The Red Sox took it to the Rockies last night.  Before the game could even really get started, the Red Sox had a 3-0 lead and by the end of the fifth inning, they had thirteen runs.  Josh Beckett was very good on a night where he could have stunk the place up and that made it even sweeter.

Beckett needed just 93 pitches to get through seven innings and he gave up just a single run on six hits with a walk and an impressive nine strikeouts.  Mike Timlin and Eric Gagne threw a shutout frame to close things out and you wonder why Francona didn’t go with one of his back end relievers instead of Gagne.  Maybe he wanted to give him a low pressure situation to fine tune some things.

Dustin Pedroia had the only homerun in what turned out to be a doubles attack.  Kevin Youkilis and David Ortiz had two doubles a piece while Ortiz, Manny Ramirez and Julio Lugo each had a team high three hits.  Youkilis and Ramirez scored three times while five different players had a pair of RBIs.

Curt Schilling gets the nod tonight as the Red Sox will try to take a commanding 2-0 lead.  Rookie Ubaldo Jimenez throws for the Rockies but don’t let the inexperience fool you, this kid can throw.