Game one saw the Boston offense explode for eight runs, beating up on Cardinals starter Adam Wainwright who gave up 6 hits and 5 runs. David Ortiz put the game away with his 2 run bomb in the 7th inning.
Games two and three went in favor of the Cardinals, with game three ending in an unusal fashion.. With game two of the series, David Ortiz provided the only offense for Boston, hitting another 2 run homer in the 6th. St. Louis got their runs in the 4th and 7th thanks to Yadier Molina, Matt Holiday and Carlos Beltran. Rookie pitcher Michael Wacha pitched a great game, getting touched up by the Ortiz homer, but going 6 innings, giving up 3 hits and 2 runs. That sent the series back to St. Louis tied at a game each. With the loss by the Red Sox in game two, it was the first time that Boston had lost a world series game since losing game seven of the 1986 world series against the New York Mets.
Now back in St. Louis for game three, the Cardinals got off to a good start in the bottom of the first inning, putting two on the board from RBI singles by Matt Holliday and Yadier Molina off of Boston starter Jake Peavy. In the bottom of the seventh, Matt Holliday hit a line drive off of reliever Junichi Tazawa that just got past a diving Xander Bogaerts that drove in two, and Holliday advanced to third on the throw. Even though this happened with no outs, Holliday was stranded at third. Boston quickly responded in the top of the eighth by loading the bases off Carlos MartÃnez. Trevor Rosenthal came in to pitch, and the first batter he faced, Daniel Nava, grounded in to a fielder's choice, after a great diving stop by rookie second baseman Kolten Wong. The next batter, Xander Bogaerts, bounced a ball up the middle for an RBI single of his own, knotting the game at 4–4.
now here's where things get really interesting. I said this game ended in an unusual way, well here it is. Game's tied at 4 in the 9th. Boston closer Koji Uehara was brought in to face pinch hitter Allen Craig, who doubled on the first pitch. With one out, Jon Jay hit a grounder to second baseman Dustin Pedroia. He made a sensational diving stab and threw home to catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia, who tagged out the sliding Molina. But then Saltalamacchia threw to third trying to get Craig, who was running on the play and decided to slide towards Middlebrooks knocking him down. However, the ball glanced off Will Middlebrooks' glove and Craig's body, caroming into foul territory down the line. When Craig started toward home, he ran over Middlebrooks, slowing him down as he tried to take off for home. The third base umpire, Jim Joyce, called obstruction on the play; home plate umpire Dana DeMuth determined that Craig would have scored without the obstruction, giving the Cardinals the win and a 2–1 lead in the World Series.
So now we move on to game four, which saw largest paid crowd in the history of Busch Stadium (47,469). After Boston starter Clay Buchholz, pitching through a shoulder injury, was removed for a pinch-hitter after four innings, five Red Sox relievers combined to hold St. Louis to one run on three hits the rest of the way. In the sixth inning, the bases were empty with two outs before Dustin Pedroia singled and David Ortiz walked. Then, outfielder Jonny Gomes came to bat and the Cardinals brought in Seth Maness to face him. Gomes worked the count to 2–2 before he broke the tie with a three-run homer that would become the difference in the game. The game ended when Boston closer Koji Uehara picked off pinch runner Kolten Wong with Carlos Beltran at the plate, making it the first postseason game in baseball history to end on a pickoff.
Game 5 saw a rematch on the hill from game one of the series. Jon Lester again outdueled Adam Wainwright to give the Red Sox a 3–2 series lead. Boston scored first when Dustin Pedroia and David Ortiz hit back-to-back doubles with one out in the first. Matt Holliday tied the score with a home run to center in the fourth inning, but it would be the only run Lester would allow over strong 72⁄3 innings of work. Wainwright matched Lester until the seventh inning, when a ground-rule RBI double by David Ross and RBI single by Jacoby Ellsbury scored Xander Bogaerts and Stephen Drew to give Boston a 3–1 lead. Koji Uehara relieved Lester with two outs in the eighth and retired all four Cardinals he faced to earn his second save of the series. Uehara tied John Wetteland, Robb Nen, Troy Percival, and Brad Lidge for most saves in one postseason year, with seven. In addition, Lester joined Babe Ruth as the only Red Sox lefthanders to win three World Series games.
Boston had a chance, in game six, to do something they have not done since 1918. And that was clinch a world series title at Fenway Park. Boston pounded on Wacha, knocking him out after just 3 and 2/3 innings. Wacha gave up 5 hits and 6 runs, all earned. Stephen Drew went deep to put the game away. John Lackey became the first pitcher in MLB history to win two World Series clinching games with two different teams. Lackey won the series clincher with the Los Angeles Angels in 2002 as a rookie.
To nobody's surprise, David Ortiz was named 2013 World Series MVP. Ortiz was having an insane series, slugging 2 homers, driving in six runs, compiling a .688 batting average and 1.948 OPS, just in this series. Ortiz is the first non-Yankee to win three rings with one team since Jim Palmer did it for the 1966-70-83 Baltimore Orioles. Ortiz finished the playoffs hitting .353, with five homers, 13 RBI's, 16 walks and a 1.206 OPS. With taking home the MVP award, Ortiz becomes the 3rd oldest player to be named a world series MVP. Here's the list of the 5 oldest MVP winners:
1979 Willie Stargell PIT (39 years 225 days)
2001 Randy Johnson ARI (38 years 55 days)
2013 David Ortiz BOS (37 years 346 days)
1993 Paul Molitor TOR (37 years 62 days)
1971 Roberto Clemente PIT (37 years 60 days)
The Red Sox are also the first team to win three Championships after 2000, having previously been the first to win two Championships after 2000, when they won in 2007. This was the first World Series victory clinched at Fenway Park by the Boston Red Sox in 95 years, having won their 2004 and 2007 titles on the road, and the first time a World Series was won at Fenway for the first time since 1975 (when the Cincinnati Reds defeated the Red Sox).
Congratulations again to the Boston Red Sox, the 2013 World Champions!
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