The bearded 2013 Red Sox are something else. Against a fearsome foursome in the Tigers' rotation, the Sox squeezed out four wins in six games. Make no mistake--this was no 20-4 rout like the September 4 game against the Tigers' number 5 starter Rick Porcello and their Achilles heel of a bullpen. This was a series where four games were decided by one run. The first game had the Red Sox bats utterly verklempt at the hands of Anibal Sanchez, to the point that even their porous bullpen held them hitless until the ninth inning.
The second game was looking like more of the same for the Sox bats until they loaded the bases for Big Papi. With one swing of the bat and headfirst dive from Torii Hunter, the Red Sox came back from a 5-1 deficit to tie the score. They seized the momentum and won the game on a Salty walk-off single.
Game 3 was a pitchers' duel between Verlander and Lackey, with the lone run being a Napoli dinger. Game 4 had Peavy implode, allowing the Tigers to tie the series up at 2 games apiece. However, the Red Sox had figured Sanchez out and, though Lester and the bullpen allowed the Tigers to climb back within a run, ALCS MVP Koji provided 5 outs to pull the Sox within one game of the AL pennant.
Back in Boston, having taken 2 out of 3 in Detroit, the Sox handed the ball to Clay Buchholz in a rematch of Game 2. The Sox struck first, when Ells singled Xander Bogaerts home in the fifth. Buchholz ran out of gas in the sixth and Farrell made the questionable move of bringing the Walk Machine Franklin Morales in to face Prince Fielder. It surprised no one that Fielder walked on four pitches. V-Mart got in a favorable count as well and knocked in two runs, erasing the Sox lead. However, the damage could have been a lot worse if not for Fielder's comical baserunning faux pas. Fielder was caught in a run down between third and home and belly-flopped on his way back to third. It resulted in a double play that killed the Tigers' rally and kept the Red Sox' deficit at 1 run.
Much like in Game 2, it was a grand slam that got the Red Sox in the W column. This time, it was the slumping Victorino who provided the big blast into the Monster seats off of reliever Jose Veras. Scherzer was once again done in by his bullpen and the Red Sox rode that slam to an ALCS win. They are the 2013 American League Champions and will play in their third World Series in the last 10 years. After a couple of rough years, seeing the team return to the Fall Classic is all the more rewarding.
Their partners at the Big Dance will be the St. Louis Cardinals. The Sox and Cards have a storied history on baseball's grandest stage. They matched up in 1946, 1967, and 2004, with St. Louis taking the first two series and the Sox steamrolling the 2004 Cardinals en route to their first championship in 86 years. The 2013 Cardinals finished the regular season tied with the Red Sox for the best record in baseball. They have a talented, largely homegrown team who didn't skip a beat after losing superstar Albert Pujols to free agency. Their pitching, particularly Adam Wainwright and the amazing rookie Michael Wacha (the NLCS MVP) is just as intimidating as the Tigers' with an even better bullpen. Their bats are known for being the most clutch in baseball with the highest average with RISP. It looks to be a highly competitive series between the two best teams in baseball this year.
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