It’s amazing what can happen when the spirit of a city rallies behind their sports team. The Boston Red Sox may have played their first game of the 2013 on April 1st, a dominating win against the New York Yankees, but the season officially began for them in the days that followed the third Wednesday of the month. In the wake of the bombings that took place near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, beloved designated hitter David Ortiz took to the microphone before their first game back at Fenway Park against the Kansas City Royals to deliver the words that would serve as the rally cry which set the tone for the rest of the season, “This is our f---ing city!”
Very few critics gave the Red Sox much of a chance in 2013 after their dismal last place showing in 2012, even after reloading with Jonny Gomes, Mike Napoli and John Farrell at the helm. What those failed to see is that these three figures would serve as the catalysts for the team’s success as they ran the table with an American League-best 97-65 record. For Farrell, it was his intellect, having served as the team’s pitching coach during the 2007 World Series run. For Napoli, it was his offense, which complimented Ortiz’s much needed power numbers.
And for Gomes, it was his spirit and leadership as one of the most endearing figures a clubhouse could have. Add these factors to solid pitching rotation, strong defensive fundamentals and the best statistical closer in the Majors, the rest of the AL didn’t stand much of a chance as the Red Sox cruised into the World Series. With home field advantage in place, all that was left to do was take down the same team which helped shake their 86-year World Series-less drought back in 2004, the St. Louis Cardinals.
It took six games, but the dominance the Red Sox showed throughout the Series was unflappable, even after being on the losing end of the Game Three obstruction call. While it would be easy to say that divine intervention or fate were the keys to the Red Sox victory, which would be unjust for a group of guys who played the best games of their career when it mattered most.
Ortiz is the easiest to point out. His .688 batting average, two home runs, seven runs, six RBI and 1.948 OPS couldn’t have come at a better time. No matter the count, the amount of men on base or the inning or the stadium, Ortiz was the most dangerous batter to face for either team. He stood stoic and revived the legendary postseason status he had been branded with during the 2004 American League Championship Series against the Yankees.
If there were to be tales written about him for generations to come, his moments in the most clutch of situations would read like the poem “Casey at Bat,” only with the fabled hero tearing the cover off of the ball. But even more surprising is who he handled his first base duties so flawlessly in St. Louis for Games Three, Four and Five. As much critics want to label him as a professional ball-hitter, his defensive abilities speak for themselves when the game is on the line.
Nobody showed as much poise, or dominated a game quite like Jon Lester did in Games One and Five. The first thing that needs to be addressed is that he was able to record two wins against one of the best pitchers in the National League over the last five years, Adam Wainwright. In that, Lester was able to go 15 1/3 innings, strike out 15 Cardinals and only allow one earned run off of nine hits and one walk. Lester wasn’t alone though, his faith in veteran David Ross as his play-caller proved to be one of the best decisions the southpaw could have made, especially when considering the 11 years Ross spent as a backstop in the NL.
Clutch hitting became the theme of the offense outside of Ortiz. Napoli put the first runs on the board in Game One, Gomes had his moment in the sixth inning of Game Four off of Seth Maness, Shane Victorino cleared the bases in Game Six and even Stephen Drew broke his slump with a solo shot in the fourth inning of Game Six; the latter two hits both coming off of Michael Wacha. What ended up be truly amazing about this team was that they backed each other up on both sides of the ball. In the case of Drew, his defense proved pivotal when he bat caused trouble. The same can be said for Gomes who made plenty of running catches despite his size and lack of speed. Felix Doubront, Junichi Tazawa, Brandon Workman and Koji Uehara proved to be on of the most reliable arms for a bullpen in postseason history, only allowing one earned run amongst the four of them in 15 combined innings pitched. There just wasn’t any possible way that the Cardinals were going to stand in their path.