As many predicted, and as some of us feared, the Red Sox made short work of the Colorado Rockies in the 2007 World Series. Despite a few promising Rockies rallies, the outcome was never really in doubt. It’s a shame for us neutrals who wanted to see a competitive series, but it’s hard to blame the Rockies. They were simply outplayed by a better team.
Boston always seemed to be one step ahead of their opponents throughout the contest. The first inning of game four was typical of how the series played out. When Jacoby Ellsbury (surely a heavy favourite for the ’08 AL Rookie of the Year award) started the game with a lead-off double, there was little doubt that his team mates would drive him home. Sure enough, Pedroia moved him to third on a groundout before Big Papi David Ortiz poked a single into right field to put his side up 1-0. It was simple baseball; getting the little things right and making the most of your opportunities. Compare this to the Rockies in the bottom of the fifth inning, when they failed to capitalize on pitcher Aaron Cook’s bunt single. There was a depressing inevitability about it. You didn’t believe they would make the most of the chance and perhaps they didn’t believe it either. It’s amazing how a team can lose their confidence so quickly after playing with such assurance just two weeks ago. Once again, the credit has to go to the Red Sox for putting them in that position.
The solid play of the Boston team was backed-up by some effective management by Terry Francona. Managers can often be on a hiding to nothing. Every fan loves to second-guess the man in the hot seat, not least because the armchair manager is never made to look wrong. If Bobby Kielty comes off the bench cold and strikes out in the eighth inning, Francona looks a mug. As it is, the red-headed lefty masher launched the first pitch he saw into the left-field seats, scoring what turned out to be the game-winning run. Francona also lifted both Ortiz and Manny Ramirez from the game when Boston were ahead, primarily to strengthen the defence. If the Rockies had staged a comeback, Francona would have been left sitting next to his two best hitters in the dugout while needing some runs. As it turned out, a potential Rockies rally was cut short in the bottom of the ninth thanks to a great catch on the warning track by Ellsbury who had taken over from Manny in left field (and it’s unlikely that Ramirez would have made that play if he had still been in there). In both cases, some good fortune is undoubtedly involved. But you make your own luck and Francona did this by matching the best-suited players to the situations involved.
We will never know quite how much the eight-day lay-off affected the Rockies, but the odds were always stacked against them. Rick Sutcliffe made a good point about the talent disparity between the two sides. Give the Red Sox’s Front Office the chance to swap for any of the Rockies’ starting players and Troy Tulowitzki would be the only guy they would want. At every other position on the diamond, the Red Sox had the better player (and Julio Lugo didn’t exactly have a bad World Series either).
Sutcliffe also made the claim that the Rockies were “playing scaredâ€. I’m not sure I would go along with that, but it’s certainly true that they were pressing too hard in crucial moments. This is far from a great criticism of Colorado though. Virtually none of their players had any post-season experience coming into October and, due to the aforementioned talent disparity, they knew they had to play above themselves to beat the Red Sox. Mix that together with their obvious desperation to win and their behaviour was understandable. If the Rockies’ main crime was that they were “trying too hardâ€, you cannot be too harsh on them. Losing in a World series is a crushing blow, but no one should lose sight of what an astonishingly successful season they have had overall. Regardless of the 4-0 defeat, Rockies fans should be very proud of their team and I’m sure they are.
A sweep in the World Series always makes for a bit of an anti-climax, but the Red Sox are worthy winners and, with the Yankees’ “Evil Empire†seemingly falling apart, you would not bet against them retaining their title in 2008.
That would certainly go down well with two guys on Five’s coverage last night. The home of North American sports on British terrestrial TV showed sixty-plus MLB games over the course of the season, all presented with the infectious enthusiasm that British baseball fans have come to know and love over the last eleven years. Phil Jupitus was a welcome addition to the panel last night and alongside his fellow Red Sox fan Josh and honorary Rockies fan Jonny, they made the final show of the year a treat to watch. Here’s to more of the same in 2008.
