The Boston Red Sox defeated the St. Louis Cardinals in six games to win the 2013 World Series Championship yesterday night at Fenway Park.
The Red Sox won three games straight after falling behind 2-1 in the series. After winning the first game convincingly 8-1, the Cardinals came out on top in games two and three, by scores of 4-2 and 5-4 respectively.
Boston fought back to take games four, five and six, 4-2, 3-1 and 6-1.
“It was an impressive series that’ll be the impressive mark in the record book for David Ortiz. It wasn’t the most exciting series, mostly low scoring pitchers duels, but the best team won,” said Ramapo senior Eric Thompson.
In Game 6, the Red Sox built an early lead and defended it for the rest of the game. They scored three runs in the third inning off of a fly ball to left field from outfielder Shane Victorino. Outfielders Matt Holiday and Jacoby Ellsbury and designated hitter David Ortiz all scored on the play.
The Red Sox built on their lead in the fourth inning with a homerun from infielder Stephen Drew. Shortly after, infielder Mike Napoli hit a line drive to send Ellsbury home for his second run of the night. The play also sent Ortiz to second base.
Two plays later, Victorino hit another line drive to send Ortiz to home for his second run of the game which put the Red Sox up 6-0 before the end of the fourth inning.
St. Louis tried to battle back in the seventh inning when outfielder Carlos Beltran hit a line drive, sending infielder Daniel Descalso to home plate for the Cardinals’ only run of the game.
The Boston Red Sox and the St. Louis Cardinals both tied for the best regular season record in the league, with 97 wins and 65 losses. The road to the championship hasn’t been easy for either team.
The Red Sox’s first playoff opponent was the Tampa Bay Rays, in which the Sox won the series 3-1. Their next task was the Detroit Tigers. This defensive battle went back and forth but Boston remained strong and won the series 3-2.
The post-season leader for Boston has without a doubt been Ortiz, who batted .750 in the World Series alone. He has come up clutch multiple times throughout the postseason and helped lead the Red Sox to the championship.
As for the Cardinals, they first battled against the Pittsburgh Pirates; the dogfight series went all five games with the Cardinals winning 3-2.
After handling the Pirates, they went on to face the Los Angeles Dodgers. The series went to six games with St. Louis winning 4-2.
Several players stepped up through the playoffs to get their team to the World Series. Their offense hasn’t been the best, but the bullpen has been near unstoppable. Besides Carlos Beltran’s post season leading 14 RBI’s, pitchers Michael Wacha and Trevor Rosenthal have been pulling the load for St. Louis.
This was the eighth time that the Red Sox have won the World Series. The first five came before 1920, followed by three in the new millennium in 2004, 2007, and now 2013.
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cmay2@ramapo.edu
