Hello,
Game 5 of the World Series was another low scoring ground it out affair featuring two teams with excellent pitching staffs. However Jon Lester and the Red Sox were able to win this particular battle and it looks like they are about to win the war.
As what has happened in the Red Sox-Tigers ALCS is happening in the World Series. In both series the Tigers and Cardinals won one of the first two games in Boston. The Red Sox went to both Detroit and St. Louis and returned the favor, stealing two of three games. In both series the Red Sox came back to Boston with a 3-2 lead. Will the similarities continue in the World Series? In Game 6 of the ALCS Shane Victorino hit a grand slam that gave the Red Sox the AL pennant. Will Boston be able to end the World Series in Game 6 Wednesday night? Will Victorino be able to play again after missing the last couple of games due to his balky back?
According to ESPN.com tickets for Game 6 are breaking records. The Red Sox won the World Series in both 2004 and 2007, but both of those titles were won on the road. Bleacher tickets going for $300 last week are going for $1100 each Tuesday morning. The last time the Red Sox won the World Series at home was on September 11th, 1918. I would love to be there, but I'll be just fine watching the game on my big screen TV. (Thanks to espn.com.)
On Monday Jon Lester threw his hat in the ring for World Series MVP, that is if anyone can knock David Ortiz off that perch. Lester pitched 7.2 innings, allowing 4 hits but only 1 run. He also added 7 strikeouts. He pitched 16 1/3rd scoreless innings before Matt Holliday's 4th inning homer. Lester is 2-0 with a 0.59 ERA in this World Series.
Red Sox pitching was so good Monday that they only used two pitchers in Game 5. Koji Uehara ripped through the final 4 Cardinals hitters to earn his second save of this World Series. In addition he has an 0.00 ERA. I believe that's Uehara's 7th save of this postseason. He's been an amazing closer, even though he was the Red Sox third choice for a closer. With Tuesday an off day, pretty much all Red Sox pitchers should be able Wednesday.
The person that had the big hit on Monday was David Ross, his 7th inning ground rule double drove in Xander Bogaerts. That gave the Red Sox a 2-1 lead. Bogaerts has played very well in the Series, he's hitting .294. On the same play Stephen Drew moved to third base. The next batter, Jacoby Ellsbury, hit a long single to centerfield. He drove in Drew, which gave the Red Sox a 3-1 lead. Ross was thrown out, by a wide margin, by trying to score on Ellsbury's hit.
On Wednesday the Cardinals are going to have to figure out a way to stop the absolutely on fire Ortiz. Has anyone ever hit better in the World Series? I know he doesn't own the record for most hits in one World Series, but he's got to have the best batting average through 5 games ever. Ortiz has always been solid in the postseason but he's taking that to the next level in this series.
Ortiz was 3 for 4 on Monday and is hitting 11 of 15 in this series. He's hitting an otherworldly .733 and his on base percentage is .750.
The pitcher the Cardinals will be putting their hopes on to delay a Red Sox celebration at least one game is a rookie. Although I don't think anyone considers Michael Wacha a rookie still, he's 4-0 and has a 1.00 ERA in this Cardinals postseason. He had a lights out performance in Game 2. His only mistake was a pitch to Ortiz, who else? Wacha had gone 18 2/3rd scoreless innings before Ortiz's 2 run homer in Game 2. Yes, that was a rookie record for a single postseason (as always thanks to espn.com).
In a rematch of Game 2 John Lackey will be pitching for the Red Sox. In Game 2 he pitched 6.1 innings and gave up 5 hits and 3 runs. Lackey isn't the worst choice to go for the Red Sox in Game 6. The crafty veteran doesn't have the stuff he did a few years ago. However he's pitched this season a lot better than the last couple of seasons.
I don't really expect the Red Sox to break out in Game 6 with a lot of runs against Wacha, although I'm surprised the Red Sox haven't scored more runs. The Cardinals are a very, very good team and I wouldn't be surprised if the World Series gets pushed to a Game 7. What kind of a game would a Game 7 on Halloween be like, it's possible we'll find out in a couple of days.
Go Red Sox!
themusicaddict
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