Presented by LIGHTING ON DEMAND.
This Day In Sports…October 30, 2013:
The Boston Red Sox, who had clinched World Series titles in 2004 and 2007 on the diamonds of their opponents, finish a world championship at Fenway Park for the first time since 1918—the Series that triggered ‘The Curse of the Bambino’—with a 6-1 victory over St. Louis. Visible throughout was the “B Strong” logo mowed into the outfield in honor of the Boston Marathon bombing victims 6½ months earlier. Former Boise Hawk John Lackey started and won the decisive Game 6 for the Red Sox, whose fans were pinching themselves with a third World Series crown in 10 seasons after going 86 years without (Boston would win again in 2018).
The Cardinals were a year removed from a National League Championship Series appearance, and they had the offense, with Yadier Molina, Matt Carpenter and Allen Craig all finishing in the top 10 in the NL in batting. And ace Adam Wainwright led the league with 19 wins. Boston’s road to the American League pennant was unexpected. The Red Sox had finished last in the AL East in 2012 but were energized by new manager John Farrell. They also drew season-long inspiration from the Boston Marathon tragedy, wearing “B Strong” patches on their jerseys. The heart of the Red Sox roster was the popular David “Big Papi” Ortiz.
The Red Sox won the Series four games-to-two. The Cardinals had taken Game 3 at Busch Stadium 5-4 to forge a two games-to-one lead, and had they won the whole thing, the ending of that game would be etched into Fall Classic lore. On a grounder to second with one out in the bottom of the ninth, Boston’s Dustin Pedroia fired home to catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia, who tagged out Molina. Then Saltalamacchia tossed to third to try to get Craig, but the throw pulled third baseman Will Middlebrooks onto the basepath.
Middlebrooks made contact with Craig, who was then tagged out at home. But the umpire called interference—and ruled that Craig would have scored without it, giving St. Louis a 5-4 victory. It was the first time in history a World Series game had ended on an obstruction call. The Cards had all the momentum and had Games 4 and 5 at home, but the Red Sox won both to send the Series back to Boston, where they closed it out.
It was actually the second time that Lackey had started—and won—the final game of a World Series. In 2002, he had become the first rookie pitcher since 1909 to start and win a Game 7 of the Fall Classic when the Anaheim Angels finished off the San Francisco Giants. After serving as the ace of the Hawks staff in 1999, Lackey went on to a 15-year major league career, going 188-147 with a 3.92 ERA. Following his Angels and Red Sox stints, Lackey completed his career with the Cardinals (2014-15) and Chicago Cubs (2016-17).
(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment during the football season on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra. He also anchors four sports segments each weekday on 95.3 FM KTIK and one on News/Talk KBOI. His Scott Slant column runs every Wednesday.)
