Well, it certainly wasn’t the prettiest game I’ve ever seen, but the Red Sox managed to slip through with a Game 1 win. The Sox broke away early, leading by as much as five in the 3rd inning, highlighted by a David Ortiz three run shot — I would offer to name a son after that man, but I already did that in the 2003 ALCS. It looked like perhaps this wasn’t much of a matchup. Other than Larry “Just a triple away from the cycle” Walker, the Cardinals consistently looked baffled by Wakefield’s knuckleball.
But then Wake couldn’t find the plate in the 4th inning, walking the bases loaded, and the Cardinals brought it to within two. Edgar Renteria and Larry Walker, the scariest man in St. Louis’s line-up tonight, each doubled in a run in the 6th to tie it up at 7 runs apiece.
With an RBI each from Manny Ramirez and Ortiz (aka Manny Ortez), the Sox regained the lead in the 7th. But then Manny committed two errors in the top of the eighth, including a slip in the outfield grass that left a massive divot, and suddenly it was tied up again. As often happens in the World Series, it was the unlikely Mr. .162-in-the-ALCS who became the hero of this game. Mark Bellhorn dinged the Pesky pole with his two run shot in the bottom of the eighth to give the Sox the permanent lead and eventual win.
The Sox defense made me nervous tonight. Outside of Walker, the Cardinals weren’t doing much to earn their runs. Granted, the defense wasn’t only to blame here — walking the bases loaded is never a good idea. But unless they plan on scoring 11 runs every night, they won’t be able to get away with 4 errors again.
Tomorrow Schilling and his bionic ankle gets the start. Let’s hope he’s as dominating as he was in game 6. (And tomorrow’s recap will be lighter on the numbers — I promise.)
And now, since I bought the Baseball Encyclopedia the other day, some relevant baseball history…
If while watching the World Series on Fox, you sense a little bias from Tim McCarver, don’t be surprised. He was there the last time these two teams faced each other in the World Series in 1967 — behind the plate for St. Louis. He hit a meager .125 with 2 RBIs in that series. On the other hand, McCarver also played a total of 23 games with the Red Sox in 1974 and 1975, backing up Carlton Fisk. He was traded to the Phillies before the ’75 season ended, where he finished up his career.
But then again, since McCarver doesn’t usually make much sense, he might still be rooting for the Phillies.
Oct24
Colossus of Rhode 
First of all, thanks for nothing. Another friend
lost to the so-called blogosphere.
Now about Tim McCarver. Did you hear that shit he
said last night? Something like:
“You can see the wind out there. I mean, you can
see the *effects* of the wind, I guess you can’t
*see* the wind…”
McCarver is the Gene Ray of baseball.
Don’t worry, Scott… unless I can come up with an alternate topic, there’s a good chance this thing will fade away once the season ends. I’m still averse to the idea of writing about my life in a public forum and the whole point of this was to join everyone else (including you!) in writing about baseball anyhow.
If it makes you feel better, I still don’t have a cell phone.