Hello,
The Red Sox beat the Cardinals 4-2 on Sunday night to tie the series at 2-2.
This is the second night in a row that a World Series game had an unusual ending. Following Game 3 ending on a bizarre obstruction call, Game 4 ended when Red Sox closer Koji Uehara picked off Cardinals pinch runner Kolten Wong in the bottom of the 9th inning.
Clearly this is a series with two very evenly matched teams. The Series is tied after 4 games and there's every indication that it will go to a Game 7. If there's a Game 7 it will be on Halloween, I'm not sure if that's some kind of omen or not. Either team can win at home or on the road, neither team seems to get a big advantage playing at home. I'm so glad the Red Sox won this game, I didn't want the Red Sox down 3-1 with Game 5 in St. Louis.
The hero of this game was obviously Jonny Gomes. Gomes, playing in the place of the injured Shane Victorino, was 0 for 9 at the plate leading to the 6th inning of Game 4. However Gomes hit a three run homer in the 6th inning in his 10th at bat this World Series. That homer gave the Red Sox a 4-1 lead which they wouldn't relinquish. The Cardinals later scored a run in the 7th inning to cut Boston's lead to 4-2.
Most of us Red Sox fans were worried about how Clay Buchholz would perform for the Red Sox Sunday night. He looked pretty good in his short 4 inning stint. He allowed 3 hits and 3 walks but only 1 run. He gave the Red Sox all he could give and that's all anyone can ask of him. Now I hope he rests up and does whatever is needed so that he can come back and play as well in 2014 as he did the first half of this season.
Felix Doubront, John Lackey and Junichi Tazawa all had effective relief outings for the Red Sox. But I hope the Red Sox don't call on Craig Breslow again, it seems when he comes in the game bad things happen for the Sox. In Game 2 he overthrew the third baseman which lead to the Cards scoring the go ahead run and allowed another Cardinal to end up on third base. On Sunday he continued his string of bad play. He only faced two batters, allowing a single to Matt Carpenter and gave up a walk to Carlos Beltran. (Although I have to say walking Beltran isn't the worst thing in the world from this Red Sox fan's perspective.) Breslow got no outs and his World Series ERA is a ghastly 54.00.
In the 9th inning the Cardinals were making one last bid at winning the game. Allen Craig got a pinch hit single and Kolten Wong came on to pinch run for him. There were two outs and the very dangerous Carlos Beltran was at the plate. There that name is again, I'm so tired of Beltran beating my teams. On this night, thank goodness he didn't have the chance. Koji Uehara threw a perfect strike to 1st base and Wong was picked off. Just like that the game was over.
Uehara continues to have a postseason for the ages. He did allow Allen Craig's single, but then he picked off the pinch hitter that replaced him. Uehara earned his first save this series and has a 0.00 ERA in the World Series. He was pitching for the Red Sox during that bizarre Game 3 obstruction call.
The Series is now tied 2-2 with Game 5 Monday night, it's the Series final night in St. Louis. The scheduled pitching matchup is Jon Lester vs. Adam Wainwright. I expect another great performance from Lester and expect a much better effort from Wainwright than his nervous start in Game 1.
It's obvious both teams won't score over 70 runs in this series, although I still expect to see at least one explosive Red Sox performance. Also my second prediction of the Red Sox winning in 6 games is still in play, although there is every indication that this series will go the full 7 games.th
One thing I do worry about is the Red Sox shaky defense, is that something they can fix by Monday night's game?
Last but not least again David Ortiz is showing that he's the most clutch MLB player in my lifetime. I loved his hustle on the infield single he had. He didn't take it for granted that he was going to be out and was safe. On Sunday night he was 3 for 3 and is hitting an amazing .727 in this series. He got on base all 4 times he was up, his on base percentage is .750. If the Red Sox win the World Series, Ortiz has to win the MVP.
Go Red Sox!
themusicaddict
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