The Red Sox defeated the Cardinals to take the second game in the World Series. Curt Schilling played on blood and guts, which apparently was enough to help him defeat the Cardinals. 
Over his last five World Series starts, Schilling’s ERA is now an absurd 0.99. His lifetime postseason record, after four marches through October over the last 10 seasons, is an amazing 8-2, 2.06. Toss out that game against the Yankees this month — when he could barely stand, let alone pitch — and he’d be 8-1, 1.61. (ESPN)
Factor in mojo from Tom Hanks (“Come on, I’m an American. I want Bill Buckner to have a good night’s sleep for a change.”) and the Red Sox just couldn’t lose. Two-out rallies were the meal of choice as Jason Varitek ripped a two-out triple in the first, then Mark Bellhorn had a two out double later in the game, and Orlando Cabrera extended his postseason hitting streak to nine games (Manny Ramirez to 14) with a two-out single. All scored two runs apiece for the final margin for the Sox. The Cardinals scored one unearned on Curt Schilling whose team behind him is uncharacteristically playing error ball. The second and final run of the night was a sacrifice fly by Scott Rolen off Mike Timlin in the eighth.
The Red Sox have an off-day today and will travel to St. Louis to begin a three-game jaunt through the cage of the Cardinals – Busch Stadium. The Red Sox have three games there before returning home (if they must) to finish off the Cardinals. Now here’s where it gets interesting. The Cardinals are undefeated at Busch Stadium, and have only one win on the road. So this is where the Cardinals are going to do most of the work. They expect to win at home, and will demand to win.
The first game will pit Pedro Martinez against Jeff Suppan. The positives is that this is Pedro Martinez and Jeff Suppan. Pedro is one of the best pitchers in the game, and Jeff Suppan just does not do well against AL teams. The negatives is that this is not the Pedro of old, and he gives up a high number of dingers compared to years past. I can easily see Pedro putting a couple on and getting crushed on a ball. I’m going to expect 6 to 7 innings out of him, giving up three or four runs. It’s up to the bullpen, offense and defense whether that will hold up or not.
I just want one game at Busch. Just one. I want, at minimum, the Red Sox coming home up 3-2, not down 3-2. Win one game. We have a good chance of doing this.
Jason Marquis and Derek Lowe will toe the mound at Busch for the fourth game. Marquis is pretty good and on paper, it’s not even close. However, Lowe has been virtually unhittable this postseason. Will it transcend into the World Series? Who knows, but Tony La Russa made a colossal mistake last night.
He pitched Jason Marquis, for one inning. He threw 25 pitches and walked two people. Sure, no hits or runs, but the point is this – we saw Jason Marquis, and now we have some idea how he throws. While Marquis is a good pitcher, I don’t see this helping Marquis at all. I think this is going to come back to bite La Russa hard.
We then have Tim Wakefield (Bronson Arroyo?) against Woody Williams. I don’t expect Williams to stink it up at home like he did at Fenway. And we all know about Wakefield. When he’s on, he’s on. But when he loses it, he loses it – quick.
I think the best chance of us winning is tomorrow, with Pedro on the mound. If we win tomorrow and drop the next two, it would be a little annoying to hear people talk about how “history is being flipped around on us” but that’s okay – at least we won one, which is my goal coming into Busch Stadium.
Of course, a sweep would be just fine. But win ONE at Busch Stadium. That’s all I ask. Just win one, and we’re golden. That means that Game Six would be Schilling and Morris. And if the game’s anything like last night was …
Let’s focus on the present for now. Win.
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