The Belicheck Republic

IN DEPTH GAME 1 SUMMARY
These two teams have much less connections as the Sox and Yanks did but I have a feeling the storyline of this series will be just as interesting as the last one. After the player introductions and Steven Tyler's rendition of the national anthem, Tim Wakefield took the mound for the first time in the World Series. His first inning was marred only by a Larry Walker double that came after a borderline 2-2 call that should have retired the Canadian right fielder.

Woody Williams took the mound against Johnny Damon, a goat through Games 1-6 of the LCS and then a hero in Game 7. He took a pitch the oppositte way and led off the game with a double after 10 pitches. After failing with two bunt attempts, Orlando Cabrera was hit by a pitch on his upper arm. He was just able to bring his shoulder up to prevent the ball from striking his face. Manny hit a fly ball deep to right field but Walker ranged over and made a basket catch on the run. Damon tagged up and went to third. As Ortiz batted, the croud chanted "Who's Your Papi?" The chant must have made New Yorkers feel even worse about their team's massive choke. On a 1-0 pitch in his first World Series at-bat, Ortiz crushed a ball to right field and hooked it around Peskey's Pole.


It was Johny Peskey who was the goat in the 1946 WS against St. Louis. His pole would come into play later in the game. 3-0 Boston. Millar followed with a double off the top of the monster. Nixon crushed a ball deep to right but he hit it to the deep part of the field. Walker caught it and Millar advanced. Bill Mueller, from St. Louis, scorched a ball down the left field line singling in millar. 4-0 Boston. Mirabelli ended the inning with a stirkeout.

Jim Edmonds began the 2nd with a bunt single after the Red Sox shifted Mueller over near short. It was a classic Cardinal/Larusa/NL move. Ironically, it was the Cardinals that conceived of dramatically shifting infielders in an effort to keep pull hitter Ted Williams from hitting. It worked. In the 46 Series Ted batted .200 and didn't get an extra basehit. A passed ball nearly allowed Edmonds to advance but Mirabelli, Wake's personal catcher, was able to pounce on the ball and threw a bullett to second to keep Edmonds at 1st. Reggie Sanders, the DH, walked. Womack squared to bunt on the first pitch, then again, then again, then finally got it down. Mueller bare handed the perfectly placed bunt and threw Womack out. The runners advanced. Matheny lifted the ball into center and Damon caught it. Edmonds scored. It was an NL inning if there ever was one. 4-1 Boston. Wakefield got Taguchi to strike out to end the inning.

Bellhorn led off the 2nd with a single to left. Damon lined out hard to short. Cabrera drove one to deep left but it was caught. Ramirez then pulled a single to left. Ortiz walked on 4 pitches to load the bases for Millar. Kevin had an opportunity to blow the game wide open grounded out to Rolen. It was still 4-1.

In the third Wakefield got Renteria to ground out before giving up a homer to Walker. 4-2 Boston. The shot was wrapped around the pole, not as deep as Ortiz's but a homer nonetheless.

Wake then hit Pujols with a pitch on a 3-2 count. Wake then got Rolen to ground into an inning ending double play.

Trot Nixon grounded out to begin the bottom of the 3rd. Mueller walked and advanced to third on a Mirabelli wall-ball single to left that was feet away from a homerun. Mark hit a ball up the first base line that might have been called fair but it was foul. He wound up walking to load the bases for Damon. Johnny pulled a basehit into right field knocking in Mueller. 5-2 Boston. The slow Doug Mirabelli had to hold up. Williams was pulled and Danny Haren came in. Cabrera pulled the first pitch he saw into left advancing each runner one base. 6-2 Sox. The bases were still loaded for Manny Ramirez with 1 out and a PCL pitcher on the mound. Manny hit a fielder's choice that knocked in a run. 7-2 Sox Ortiz was once again walked on 4 pitches. Millar once again had the bases loaded with 2 outs. Once again, he pulled a groundball and hit it right at an infielder, this time it was Renteria at short and this time Millar broke his bat.

The Sox had a 5 run advantage and had gotten Williams out of the game. All Wakefield had to do was throw strikes, get outs, and prevent a big inning. He was not able to do this. Here are what Wake's pitches looked like against the first three men he faced in the 4th:
1. Ball
2. Strike
3. Ball
4. Ball
5. Ball
6. Ball
7. Ball
8. Ball
9. Ball
10. Ball
11. Ball
12. Ball
13. Strike
14. Ball
Edmonds walked, Sanders walked, Womack walked. The Red Sox got Arroyo up in the bullpen. Suddenly the game had the potential to be close once again. Matheny hit a fly ball to right, Nixon caught it and threw in as Edmonds tagged up. The throw was cut off by Millar as Sanders tried taking third. A good throw would have retired Sanders at third. Millar, however, threw the ball away. Not only was Sanders safe, he scored as the ball found its way into an elated Cardinals dugout. 7-4 Boston. Taguchi then hit a ground ball up the first base line. Mueller fielded it on a hop. He could have thrown home but Womack was running very much in fair territory. Bill's only play was to first as Womack scored. 7-5 Boston. Wake then walked Renteria and was yanked by Francona. Arroyo gave up a hit to Walker but retired Pujols to end the inning. The game was now a battle between bullpens and two high powered offenses.

The Sox squandered back-to-back walks in the 4th. The Cards went down in order in the 5th. Manny singled in the bottom of the inning but was stranded. Womack led off the 6th with a deep fly ball that nearly got by Trot Nixon. Matheny then struck out. Arroyo was cruising until the fearsome So Taguchi came to the plate. So hit a ball that wasn't so well hit but it was so well placed that it was an infield single. Furthermore, Arroyo was so stupid to try to get So out and his throw was so offline it went into the dugout. Also, Millar did not make any major effort to come off the bag to stop the ball from going into the dugout.

Renteria knocked in Taguchi with a double in the gap in left. 7-6 Boston. Larry Walker hit a ball up the first base line and past the futile dive of Kevin Millar. The ball just got by his glove. 7-7 tie. The Cardinals continued to score most of their runs with 2 outs. Pujols once again came up in an important spot and once again he failed, striking out to end the inning.

The only notable thing in the bottom of the 6th inning was a managerial move. Varitek pinch hit for Mirabelli with no-one on and 2 outs. The move did not make too much sense, if you ask me. In that particular hitting situation, Mirabelli is just as likely to score or get into scoring positionas Varitek is. Defensively, the difference is not that great. Why not keep Varitek's bat on the bench in case a situation arose later in the game in which a pinch hitter could be used, a double switch made, and a replacement at catcher completed. Tek struck out.

The playing of Black Betty when the commercial break ended signified that Mike Timlin had come into the game. Varitek would catch. Timlin easily retired the side. Kelly Clarkson, not the State Police guy, came out to sing God Bless America which meant I went outside for a much needed cigarette break.

Kiko Calero came into the game in the 7th. Bellhorn led off with a walk. Damon, in an obvious bunting situation, grounded out with a weak grounder that acocmplished the same thing as a sacrifice bunt as Bellhorn advanced into scoring position. Cabrera was walked. Manny stepped in with 2 on and 1 out. He hit a single into center. Edmonds threw to home but the throw was off lign. Ramirez had taken a wide turn at first and would have been caught in a run down had Calero or anyone else been covering first. From the replays, Ramirez seemed to not run at full speed until he hit 1st base. Had he been running hard all the way, he might have gotten to second. 8-7 Red Sox


LaRusa brought in lefty specialist Ray King to face Ortiz. David hit a hard shot off Womack's chest for an RBI infield single. 9-7 Red Sox. Womack had to leave the game and was replaced by Marlon Anderson.


With Nixon on deck, King stayed in to face Millar. Millar fouled out to the catcher. The way Nixon was swinging and the lefty on the mound made the decision easy for Francona to pinch hit for him. However, if Varitek were still on the bench, Francona could have pulled a double switch. Varitek would replace Nixon in the lineup at 5th and then catch. Kapler could come into play right field and bat in Mirabelli's 8th spot. Since Tek was already in the game, Francona had no choice but to pinch hit Kapler for Nixon. This move forced LaRusa to go to Eldred. Again, the switch-hitting Varitek could face either Eldred or King easier than Kapler facing a righty or Nixon facing a lefty. Gabe struck out.

Timlin remained in the 8th. Mike got Anderson to groundout. Matheney, who had 2 RBI, got a basehit, his first WS hit. Jason Marquis, a pitcher, came in to pinch run. Even though the game was at Fenway, it was a very NL type of game. Embree came in to releive Timlin. In about 15 seconds, three changes were made. Four if you count Mientkiewicz's entering into the game to play first. Cedeno blooped a single into right as Marquis stumbled on his way to second. Embree was pulled and Foulke came in to the sounds of Danzig's "Mother." Marquis' embarrassing stumble further strengthened my opinion that pitchers are pitchers and should not hit or run the bases. There are rules that make other positions in other sports special, why not in all of baseball?

Foulke gave up a basehit to Renteria and Marquis initially held up at 3rd. However, Manny fumbled with the ball which allowed Marquis to make a break for the plate. He scored just a fraction of a second ahead of Varitek controlling the ball. 9-8 Boston.


Larry Walker came up and hit a ball off the end of his bat that tailed away and had a danger of falling in. Ramirez went into a slide but his knee stuck in the grass.




Cedeno scored and there were runners on 2nd and 3rd. 9-9 tie. Pujols was intentionally walked to load the bases. Rolen popped out and Edmonds struck out on a borderline call. The Red Sox blew their 2nd lead of the game.

Mueller began the 8th with a groundout against Julian "Kevin Brown Wanna Be" Tavarez. Varitek reached on a Renteria error. In stepped Mark Bellhorn. Villian to those who love Pokey Reese's defense and speed, hero to those who like scoring runs. Bellhorn had hit a homer in each of his previous two games. The last one he hit struck the foul pole at Yankee Stadium. Bellhorn drove a ball deep to right but the ball was pushed very foul by the strong wind which was blowing left to right. Bellhorn took the 1-2 pitch and slammed it off Peskey's Pole. 11-9 Boston.







Damon popped out to short. Damon grounded out. We went to the 9th.

Foulke remained. Reese replaced Bellhorn at 2nd. Sanders struck out. Anderson, who replaced the injured Womack, doubled to left. The tying run was now at the plate. Yadier Molina popped out. Cedeno ended the game with a strikeout.



11-9 Boston. Final. Schilling vs. Morriss Sunday at 8.