The Hunt for Red Sox October

November 1, 2007

By Laura Hildebrand

Believe it or not, baseball season has come and gone, and now, for baseball fans, next April seems a century away. It may be hard to believe that at one time the Boston Red Sox were on an 86-year championship drought. The Red Sox mercilessly swept the Colorado Rockies in four games. This scenario was all too familiar to St. Louis Cardinals fans as the Red Sox did the exact same thing against the Redbirds in 2004.

The Rockies were the Cinderella story of the National League, winning 21 of their last 22 games to make it to the World Series. The Red Sox, who many baseball experts picked to win the World Series this year, overcame a 3-1 game deficit over the Cleveland Indians to advance past the American League Championship Series and take on the Rockies.

Game 1 of the World Series ended with a score of 13-1 with the Red Sox soundly defeating the Rockies. The second game featured a pitcher’s duel, in which Curt Schilling silenced the Rockies’ bats with a 2-1 victory. With the Red Sox already having the upper hand on the series, the teams traveled to Colorado to continue the series. During game 3, it seemed as if the Rockies had a fighting chance as they went into the eighth inning down by only one run. However, in the eighth and ninth innings, the Red Sox eliminated any hope by putting up four more runs to seal the victory.

On Sunday, the Rockies put up a fight yet again but fell short to Boston for the last time. The Red Sox starting pitcher, John Lester, helped lead his team to victory even after being diagnosed with cancer just over a year ago. Aaron Cook, Colorado’s starting pitcher gave up a run on a single to David Ortiz in the top of the first inning and that set up the tone for the game. From that point on, the Rockies struggled to stay in the game with a final score of 4-3.

“It’s unfortunate that the Series was so short,” said MBU student and sports enthusiast Anthony Columbatto. “Being a Cubs fan, I didn’t really care who won, but it would’ve been nice to see the underdogs [Colorado] be a little bit more of a threat to Boston.”

In the end, dominant Red Sox pitching, as well as timely hitting, led Boston to its second World Series in four years. As for the Rockies, they join the other 28 teams in the MLB waiting for another chance at victory next year.

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