David Ortiz: "I Was Born For This"

David Ortiz is 11-of-15 (.733) in the first five games of the 2013 World Series. His OPS is 2.017.

Ortiz has reached base 15 times in the five games (11 hits, four walks). The only other player in history to reach base (by hit, walk or HBP) at least 15 times over the first five games of a World Series is Barry Bonds in 2002.

Ortiz's 11 hits are two shy of the World Series record, held by Bobby Richardson (1964 Yankees), Lou Brock (1968 Cardinals) and Marty Barrett (1986 Red Sox).

Ortiz is the third player to reach base safely in nine straight World Series plate appearances, joining Joe Gordon (1939/1941 Yankees) and Billy Hatcher (1990 Reds).

David Ortiz In Postseasons In Which Red Sox Reached World Series

Year   Reached Base     AVG   OBP    OPS
2004   13 of 14 games  .400  .515   1.278
2007   13 of 14 games  .370  .508   1.204
2013   11 of 15 games  .360  .476   1.196

Ortiz is the first Red Sox player to have consecutive three-hit games in the World Series.

Ortiz, at age 37, is the oldest player in history with back-to-back three-hit World Series games.

Among the 277 players with at least 50 career World Series plate appearances, Ortiz is first in average, (20-for-43, .465), on-base (.556), slugging (.814), and OPS (1.370).

Highest Career OPS In World Series History

Player           OPS    Team(s)
David Ortiz     1.370   BOS
Lou Gehrig      1.214   NYY
Babe Ruth       1.214   BOS/NYY
Reggie Jackson  1.212   OAK/NYY

Ortiz has 14 RBIs in his World Series career. That ties the Red Sox record, held by Dwight Evans.

Ortiz's double in the first inning of Game 5 was his ninth extra-base hit of his World Series career. That set a new Red Sox record.

Ortiz homered in Games 1 and 2, becoming the first Red Sox player to do so and the 11th player in major league history. He is the second Red Sox player to homer in consecutive World Series games, joining Larry Gardner (Games 3 and 4 against Brooklyn, 1916).

Ortiz has hit five home runs in the 2013 postseason, tying the team record for a single postseason. The record is held by Todd Walker (2003) and Ortiz (2004).

In 54 World Series plate appearances, Ortiz has 20 hits, 10 walks, and only four strikeouts.

Ortiz hasn't struck out in his last 30 postseason at-bats.

To paraphrase Ortiz, this is his fuckin series.

Mechanical Issues With Airplane Keep Cardinals Grounded In St. Louis

Derrick Goold, St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

The Cardinals' charter flight from St. Louis to Boston [on Tuesday] was delayed more than five hours by a mechanical issue that kept the plane grounded. The team waited for the glitch to be fixed, and eventually had to consider getting a new plane to make their way here for Game 6 of the World Series.

The Cardinals boarded the flight before 1 p.m St. Louis time.

By 6 p.m. it had not left.

Stats And Stuff

ESPN:

Red Sox starter Jon Lester became the second left-hander in team history with three World Series wins, joining Babe Ruth.

Lester became the fifth pitcher to allow one run or fewer in at least three straight World Series starts to begin his career, the first whose career began after World War II ended in 1945.

Most Consecutive Starts Allowing 1 Run or Fewer To Begin World Series Career

Christy Mathewson   4   1905-11
Jon Lester          3   2007-13
Harry Brecheen      3   1944-46
Waite Hoyt          3   1921
Stan Coveleski      3   1920

Elias noted that Lester's streak of 16.1 scoreless innings ... [was] the third-longest scoreless innings streak to begin a career in World Series history. Christy Mathewson holds that record; he began his career with 28 consecutive scoreless innings in the World Series; Jim Lonborg ranks second with 17 straight for the Red Sox in 1967.

He also became the first Red Sox pitcher with at least seven strikeouts and no walks in a World Series game in 98 years. The last was Rube Foster against the Phillies in 1915. ...

[David] Ortiz became the third player to reach base safely in nine straight plate appearances in the World Series, joining Joe Gordon (1939/1941 Yankees) and Billy Hatcher (1990 Reds). Ortiz and Hatcher are the only two to do so in a single World Series.

Ortiz has 11 hits, two shy of the record for most in a World Series, which is shared by Bobby Richardson (1964 Yankees), Lou Brock (1968 Cardinals) and former Red Sox second baseman Marty Barrett (1986 Red Sox).

Alex Speier, WEEI:

[Koji Uehara's] save on Monday marked his seventh of the postseason, tying him for the most ever by a closer in one playoff run. (The mark was previously reached by John Wetteland (1996), Troy Percival (2002), Rob Nen (2002) and Brad Lidge (2008).) ...

[H]e's now recorded four saves of four or more outs, becoming just the fourth pitcher in playoff history to do so — following Goose Gossage (6 in 1981), Mariano Rivera (5 in 1998, 2000 and 2003; 4 in 1999, 2001 and 2001) and Jonathan Papelbon (4 in 2007). ...

[David Ortiz] has a career .465 average in the World Series, the highest ever by a player with 50 or more career plate appearances in the World Series.

Ortiz has also tied the Red Sox record for career multi-hit World Series games. He and Duffy Lewis, who last appeared in a World Series in 1916, both have six.

Must hear: "Cardinals' Announcer Laughs At Red Sox For Holding Wong Before Pickoff". ... Game 5 in gifs. ... The law firm of Babip, Pecota, Vorp, and Eckstein have a commercial.

Newspapers: Game 5

And finally, from the New York Daily News:

This can't be playing well in New York, certainly not with Yankee fans. Enough already with all of this beard-tugging, for one thing, but more to the point, the Red Sox really do look some like some team of destiny, as tiresome as that may sound.

How else do you explain their uncanny knack for delivering in huge moments this October, despite some hideous batting averages, as they move closer to capping off one of the most remarkable turnaround seasons in baseball history with a championship.

Indeed, the numbers aren't pretty for the Sox, yet they are ... on the verge of winning it all.

World Series 5: Red Sox 3, Cardinals 1

Red Sox   - 100 000 200 - 3  9  0
Cardinals - 000 100 000 - 1  4  0

Jon Lester (7.2-4-1-0-7, 91) stifled the Cardinals and David Ortiz went 3-for-4, including an RBI double in the first inning, as the Red Sox took another step towards their third world championship in the last ten seasons. Boston will try to clinch the 2013 title at Fenway Park on Wednesday night.

Lester allowed leadoff singles in the second and third, but St. Louis could do nothing with the base runners. After Matt Holliday tied the game with a home run in the fourth, Lester set down the next 12 Cardinals batters. He departed the game with two outs in the eighth inning and a man on second.

Koji Uehara came in and struck out pinch-hitter Matt Adams on three pitches. Uehara had a calm ninth, retiring the Cardinals in order: Matt Carpenter struck out looking, Jon Jay grounded out 3-1, and Holliday lined to right.

The game was only a few minutes old when Boston scored its first run. Adam Wainwright (7-8-3-1-10, 107) struck out Jacoby Ellsbury, but Dustin Pedroia ripped an 0-2 pitch to left field for a double. Ortiz then lashed the first pitch he saw down the right field line, and the Red Sox led 1-0.

Ortiz also got Boston's next hit, leading off the fourth with a single, but he was erased on a double play. Xander Bogaerts and David Ross both singled in the fifth, but were stranded.

With one out in the seventh, Bogaerts singled and Stephen Drew walked. Ross then smacked a ground rule double that landed just fair down the left field line for one run. After Lester grounded back to the pitcher, Ellsbury singled to center. Drew scored and Ross tried coming home as well, but was called out on a close play at the plate.

With his fourth-inning hit, Ortiz tied a World Series record by reaching base in nine consecutive plate appearances. Flo is now 11-for-15 (.733) in the World Series and has all but clinched the MVP Award. Lester's superb performances in Games 1 and 5 merit serious consideration, but Ortiz's offensive extravaganza, coupled with his inspirational pep talk during Game 4, cannot be denied.

How hot has Big Papi been?

Ortiz         11-for- 15  .733
Rest of Team  22-for-146  .151

Boston has clinched two World Series championships at Fenway Park: 1912 and 1918. They will try for a third on Wednesday night.

Jon Lester / Adam Wainwright

Ellsbury, CF
Pedroia, 2B
Ortiz, 1B
Gomes, LF
Nava, RF
Bogaerts, 3B
Drew, SS
Ross, C
Lester, P

For your pre-game pleasure: Game 4 gifs!

Ortiz Talks; Red Sox Listen, Rally, And Win

It was the fifth inning of Game 4. The score was tied 1-1 and the Red Sox had managed only two hits off Cardinals starter Lance Lynn. David Ortiz looked around the dugout and didn't like what he saw. So, as he did when Boston trailed in the 2007 ALCS, he spoke from the heart to his teammates about the situation.

Ortiz:

I know we have a better offensive team than what we have showed. You put pressure on yourself and try to overdo things and it doesn't work that way. We know the Cardinals have a very good pitching staff but we have faced good pitching before. Like I told my teammates, if you think you're going to come to the World Series every year, you're wrong. Especially playing in the AL East. You know how many people we beat to get to this level, this stage? A lot of good teams. A lot of good teams. It took me five years to get back on this stage. We've had better teams than we have right now and we never made it. So take advantage of being here. I don't have another 10 years in me. I don't know when I'm going to be in the World Series. I have to give everything I have right now.

David Ross:

Inspirational. He talked and we listened.

Jonny Gomes:

It was like 24 kindergartners looking up at their teacher. He got everyone's attention.

John Farrell:

It was meaningful. He's one of the guys that people look up to. Our guys look up to him. Kind of a timely conversation he had with everybody.

Quintin Berry:

He's got so much history and clout, to be here trying to fight for you, you want to fight for him. He was yelling and screaming. It's a good thing to have that guy leading the charge.

Daniel Nava:

We weren't the Red Sox. We were the Boston Ortizes. ... My reaction? That I don't want to let David Ortiz down.

Torey Lovullo:

It was powerful. I wasn't exactly sure what he was going to say. It's something we were all feeling. It's something that we all sensed going on. If the wrong person says it the wrong way, the message doesn't come across. David doesn't say things like that very often, but when he does it stops you in your tracks.

Nava:

When we scored those runs, it's the World Series, you're obviously pumped and excited, but for it to be right after he gave us that pep talk you're just like, No way. We just went out and scored 5,000 runs for David Ortiz.

Ortiz:

I've got two rings! You want to win one? You follow me!

Ortiz may be on his way to being named World Series MVP. He went 3-for-3 in Game 4 and is 8-for-11 in the series. He's the second-fastest player to reach eight hits in a World Series (Billy Hatcher was 8-for-his-first-9 for the 1990 Reds).

Highest BA in First 40 Career AB (World Series History)

Hal McRae        .450 (18-40)
Bobby W. Brown   .425 (17-40)
Pepper Martin    .425 (17-40)
Thurman Munson   .425 (17-40)
David Ortiz      .436 (17-39)

Ortiz also has the fifth-highest slugging percentage in World Series history (.795).

Newspapers: Game 4

World Series 4: Red Sox 4, Cardinals 2

Red Sox   - 000 013 000 - 4  6  2
Cardinals - 001 000 100 - 2  6  0

The Red Sox have tied the World Series at two games apiece. The World Series will return to Fenway Park.

Clay Buchholz (4-3-1-3-2, 66) gave the Red Sox four solid innings and Felix Doubront was sterling for 2.2 innings and 32 pitches. John Lackey (!) provided the bridge to Koji Uehara with a scoreless eighth inning.

Jonny Gomes belted a three-run home run with two outs in the sixth to snap a 1-1 tie.

David Ortiz went 3-for-3 with a walk and two runs scored. He was seen exhorting his teammates in the dugout right before that sixth-inning rally.

In the sixth, the Red Sox had two outs and nothing going on against Lynn (5.2-3-3-3-5, 89). But Dustin Pedroia singled to center and David Ortiz walked on four pitches. Seth Maness came in from the pen and Gomes tagged a 2-2 sinker into the Boston bullpen in left-center.

After reliving Doubront with two outs in the seventh (a possible early hook by John Farrell), Craig Breslow melted down again, allowing an inherited runner to score on a single and walking a batter. Junichi Tazawa saved the lead when he retired Matt Holliday with runners at first and second.

Lackey worked around a one-out error and Koji Uehara, not quite as sharp as usual, allowed a one-out single. But he got Matt Carpenter on a pop to second and then picked off pinch-runner Kolten Wong at first base with Carlos Beltran at the plate to end the game.

Update: Shane Victorino was scratched from the original lineup because of lower back stiffness. Daniel Nava switches from left field to right field and bats second, while Jonny Gomes plays left and bats fifth.
Clay Buchholz / Lance Lynn

Ellsbury, CF
Victorino, RF Nava, RF
Pedroia, 2B
Ortiz, 1B
Nava, LF Gomes, LF
Bogaerts, 3B
Drew, SS
Ross, C
Buchholz, P

John Farrell used his bullpen for five high-pressure innings last night, so the Red Sox need Buchholz to go deep into Game 4. But considering Buchholz's health, that may not be possible. However, in a pregame interview, Farrell said every reliever is available, and so is John Lackey. Last night, Felix Doubront threw 25 pitches, Junichi Tazawa threw 24, and Brandon Workman threw 30.

In three postseason starts this month, Buchholz has gone 6.0, 5.2, and 5.0 innings. In those 16.2 innings, he's allowed 19 hits, five walks, and 10 runs. ... Lynn has also failed to pitch past the sixth inning in his four career postseason starts.

ESPN's David Schoenfield has some good insights into both managers' possibly limited choices out of the pen tonight. He points out:

Aside from that, Farrell has to get Koji Uehara in the game. He's now let one lead slip away in the seventh inning and started the ninth inning of a tie game without his best reliever on the mound. ... The point: Having a guy who had one of the most dominant relief seasons ever isn't a big weapon if you don't use him in the most critical situations. If the Red Sox are going to win this game I think they may need to get six out from Uehara, even if that means using him in the seventh inning to get out of a jam.

For New York Sportswriters, Old Habits Die Hard

Tyler Kepner, New York Times:

In Game 3 of this World Series on Saturday, the Red Sox revived some of the uncomfortable moments of their past. Fielding misplays and managerial mistakes once haunted the franchise, and the championships of 2004 and 2007 have not immunized the modern Red Sox from repeating the sins of their ancestors.

Credit the Red Sox for coming back twice on Saturday against the St. Louis Cardinals. But the 5-4 loss ensures that if the Red Sox win this World Series, they will not do it here again. And if they lose, this game will linger until the moment they win their next championship. ...

The mistake was Saltalamacchia's, but Middlebrooks was charged with the error, making this the first World Series game to end on an error since, yes, the Bill Buckner game against the Mets in 1986.

That game was a potential World Series clincher for Boston, but it extended a Red Sox championship drought that had lasted generations. This loss was far different — Boston never had a lead on Saturday, for one thing — but the echoes were unsettling.

I half-expected to see the byline of The Ever-Bitter Murray Chass on this bit of silliness.

Farrell: Obstruction Call Is "Bitter Pill To Swallow"

Game 3 was the fourth World Series game to end on an error and the first postseason game to end on an obstruction error.

Crew chief John Hirschbeck:

Obstruction is the act of a fielder obstructing a runner when not in the act of fielding a ball. It does not have to be intent. There does not have to be intent. Once he has the opportunity to field the ball, he can no longer in any way obstruct the runner.

Rule 7.06:

OBSTRUCTION is the act of a fielder who, while not in possession of the ball and not in the act of fielding the ball, impedes the progress of any runner.

Rule 2.00 (Obstruction) Comment:

If a fielder is about to receive a thrown ball and if the ball is in flight directly toward and near enough to the fielder so he must occupy his position to receive the ball he may be considered "in the act of fielding a ball." It is entirely up to the judgment of the umpire as to whether a fielder is in the act of fielding a ball. After a fielder has made an attempt to field a ball and missed, he can no longer be in the "act of fielding" the ball. For example: an infielder dives at a ground ball and the ball passes him and he continues to lie on the ground and delays the progress of the runner, he very likely has obstructed the runner.

Jarrod Saltalamacchia:

You're taught to make the tag and look up. I made the tag and looked up. I saw [Craig] wasn't even halfway there. He's not been running great. I thought I was able to get him.

Will Middlebrooks:

I had to dive for that ball. I was pretty inside the baseline, as we could all see. I dive for the ball there. There's really nowhere for me to go. I go to get up. He's on top of me. There's really nowhere for me to go there. I don't know. That's a tough one. I was going to push myself up. They said it doesn't matter. He ran into me. I still haven't processed it all. I don't know. I don't agree with it.

Third base umpire Jim Joyce:

When [Craig] tried to advance to home, the feet were up in the air and he tripped over Middlebrooks right there and immediately and instinctively I called obstruction. ... The feet didn't play too much into that because he was still in the area where the base runner needs to go to advance to home plate. The baserunner has every right to go unobstructed to home plate and unfortunately for Middlebrooks he was right there and there was contact.

However, Joyce was not looking at Craig and Middlebrooks initially; video shows he was watching the ball go into foul territory. Joyce also said that Craig was "right on the chalk" of the baseline when he was allegedly interfered with; replays showed that was absolutely not true.

Daniel Nava:

I've never seen a play like that, and hopefully I never will [again].

Saltalamacchia:

From the replay, I didn't see how it was obstruction. I mean, he's lying on the ground. Craig was actually out of the baseline trying to jump over him.

Hirschbeck:

Don't forget, the runner establishes his own baseline. If he's on second on a base hit and rounds third wide, that baseline is from where he is, way outside the line, back to third and to home plate, it's almost a triangle. So the runner establishes his own baseline.

David Ortiz:

I don't care what anybody says, that's no way for a World Series game to end.

Jake Peavy:

It's an absolute crying shame that a call like this is going to decide a World Series game. It's a joke. There's no other way to say it. It's a joke. ... I don't know how [DeMuth] is going to go lay his head down tonight. When you watch how hard these two teams are playing in the World Series and what it takes to get here and what it takes to climb back in that game, it's just amazing to me that it would end on a call like that.

Peavy:

He (DeMuth) has already proven that he can not see things correctly in Game 1. (He missed) a pretty obvious (call) 4 feet in front of him. It would have been nice to have a meeting of the minds. You could kind of tell when he (DeMuth) was pointing to third what he was calling. I hope he rests well tonight in his hotel room knowing what he did. That is a joke, an absolute joke. ... Go to talk to him and ask him if he feels good and right about his call to end a World Series game on a diving play ... I don't know how anybody can say, "Yeah, that's how it should have ended." Go find me one person that's OK with that call, other than Cardinals fans, because they won the game.

Dustin Pedroia:

This game's not going to define our team, by any means. We lost a tough game. We'll come out and play tomorrow. This won't stop us.

Jackie MacMullan, ESPNBoston:

They don't really have time to digest the hard truth, because here come Games 4 and 5 of the World Series on the heels of a wild, emotional and controversial Game 3, three pivotal games in three action-packed days, with little time to dwell on what could have been or should have been or might have been. ...

Here's the bottom line on what happened last night: The Red Sox became the first team in postseason history to lose on an obstruction call, which is indisputably a really crummy way to end an otherwise terrific, dramatic, entertaining game filled with clutch performances from both teams.

But the call was the right one.

And the sooner manager John Farrell and his boys move beyond it, the better.

That may be a tall order.

The biggest issue for me is that the call happened at such a critical time. It did not affect a run in the fourth inning. It decided the outcome of the game. And by making that call, and noting that the fielder's intention has nothing to do with whether obstruction occurred, the umpires are taking the game away from the players, not letting them determine the outcome on the field. In a potential game-ending situation in the World Series, the umpire should be absolutely sure that obstruction has been made; perhaps he should be clear that such obstruction was deliberate. By the letter of the law (which the umpires ignore when it comes to the strike zone), it appears to have been the right call. Perhaps. It was not an obvious call. A World Series game should not be decided on one umpire's judgment call. Like John Farrell said, it's a bitter pill to swallow.

There was also plenty of questioning of John Farrell's managerial moves. Farrell himself second-guessed a couple of decisions after the game. ... ESPN's David Schoenfield believes Farrell is as much of a goat as Saltalamacchia.

World Series 3: Cardinals 5, Red Sox 4

Red Sox   - 000 011 020 - 4  6  2
Cardinals - 200 000 201 - 5 12  0

St. Louis won this pivotal game on a throwing error by catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia and an interference call against third baseman Will Middlebrooks. The Red Sox had fought back to tie the game twice, having been down 2-0 and 4-2.

Brandon Workman started the ninth inning by striking out Matt Adams. Workman feel behind Yadier Molina 3-0, fought back to a full count, then gave up a bloop single to right-center. Manager John Farrell called on Koji Uehara. Pinch-hitter Allen Craig jumped on Uehara's first pitch and doubled down the left field line. Molina - the potential winning run - was held at third. Jon Jay grounded an 0-1 to the right side. Dustin Pedroia, with the infield in, dove to his right, popped up and fired home. Saltalamacchia tagged out Molina, then made an ill-advised peg to third to nab Craig. The throw was wild and Middlebrooks, after diving for the ball, interfered with Craig. Daniel Nava chased down the errant throw and fired the ball home. The ball beat Craig to the plate, but the umpires had already made the interference call, ending the game.

After the game, the umpires explained the call. ... SoSH thread here, with a gif that shows Craig pushing Middlebrooks down to the ground.

The inning followed a questionable decision by Farrell (one of several in the game) to let Workman bat for himself with one out in the top of the ninth. Farrell was perhaps hoping to get a clean ninth inning from Workman, but was set to pull him for Uehara if he allowed anyone to reach base. That is exactly what happened, but Koji did not get the breaks.

The obstruction call ruined any chance at what could have been a huge victory for the Red Sox, coming back against the top arm of the St. Louis bullpen, Carlos Martinez and Trevor Rosenthal.

Peavy (4-6-2-1-4, 64) had a very rough beginning. Four of the first five Cardinals were aggressive in the count and hit line drive singles; the lone non-single was a sacrifice bunt by Carlos Beltran on a 3-1 count. Strange. But Peavy got out of the inning with only two runs allowed.

He showed some mettle in the fourth, working out of a bases-loaded-no-outs jam. Yadier Molina singled softly to center and David Freese walked. When Jon Jay singled to center, Ellsbury threw in to second base, giving St. Louis a run. But Molina inexplicably had stopped at third base. When Peavy wiggled out of trouble - getting a strikeout and two popups - it seemed like that mental error might play a significant part in the game.

Felix Doubront relieved Peavy and he also got out of a slight pickle in the fifth. Adams had doubled with two outs and the Red Sox elected to intentionally walk Molina. Doubront threw what should have been four called strikes, but home plate umpire Dana DeMuth - the man who blew the call at second base the other night and who had both teams angry at him with his lava-lamp strike zone tonight - called only two of the four pitches strikes. Having to battle the umpire as well as the opposing team, Doubront finally got Freese to fly out to right.

On the other side, Kelly retired the first nine Boston batters. He allowed a hit and a walk in the fourth, but stranded both runners. Xander Bogaerts began the fifth with a triple to right-center that skipped by the gimpy Beltran. XB eventually scored on pinch-hitter Mike Carp's fielder's choice.

Boston tied the game in the sixth. Shane Victorino walked (and the Cardinals were chirping on two borderline calls during this at-bat). Pedroia lined out to third and Ortiz singled off LOOGY Randy Choate, sending Victorino to third. St. Louis manager Mike Matheny then made a curious decision. He pulled Choate and brought in right-hander Seth Maness. That allowed Daniel Nava to bat from his stronger side; in 2013, Nava had an OPS 250 points higher from the left side, hitting .322/.411/.484 against RHP and .252/.311/.336 against LHP. Maness's first pitch to Nava was lined to left field for a game-tying single. Bogaerts then grounded into an inning-ending double play.

Farrell made another questionable decision when he pinch-hit for Doubront with two outs and the bases clean in the seventh inning. Jonny Gomes flew out to center and Doubront was gone from the game after only two innings and 25 pitches. Craig Breslow started the bottom of the seventh by allowing an infield hit to Matt Carpenter (Ortiz couldn't handle Bogaerts's slightly wild throw) and grazing Beltran's elbow pad with a pitch. Junichi Tazawa came in and was hit for a two-run double that Middlebrooks could not get a glove on down the left field line. The Cardinals led 4-2 with a man on third and no outs. Tazawa bore down and did not let than critical fifth run score, striking out Adams and Molina, walking Freese and getting Jay on a fly out to center.

Right after that, Boston re-tied the game. Facing Martinez, Ellsbury singled up the middle and Victorino was (really) hit by a pitch. The runners moved up to second and third on Pedroia's groundout. Ortiz was walked intentionally to load the bases - and Rosenthal came in. Nava grounded an 0-2 pitch to Kolten Wong at second base (he had just come in via a double switch with Rosenthal). Wong made the flip to shortstop for one out, but the relay was late and Ellsbury scored. Then Bogaerts, facing 99 mph fastballs, singled on a high chopper up the middle that found its way to center; Victorino scored and the game was knotted at 4-4. With a chance to take the lead, Saltalamcchia was horribly overmatched and grounded to second.

Workman pitched the eighth, allowing a single to Wong and eventually walking Beltran intentionally after Wong stole second. The inning ended when Matt Holliday flied to left. In the top of the ninth, Rosenthal retired the Sox in order, with two strikeouts and a grounder.

Boston will need a strong start from Clay Buchholz on Sunday night.

Jake Peavy / Joe Kelly

Ellsbury, CF
Victorino, RF
Pedroia, 2B
Ortiz, 1B
Nava, LF
Bogaerts, 3B
Saltalamacchia, C
Drew, SS
Peavy, P

Peavy lasted only three innings in Game 4 of the ALCS and gave up seven runs to the Tigers. He says he's ready to go in this pivotal Game 3.

Let's not sugarcoat anything, this is the biggest game up until this point in time that I've ever pitched. We'd be silly to sit here and say otherwise. ... And so to go out in a World Series game and have a chance to sway the odds, the favor, in your direction, on the road, against a team that's got some momentum with a big win at our place? Of course, this is the biggest start in my career.

Can Kelly maintain his exceptionally high strand rate, or is his luck about to run out?

The Herald's John Tomase says John Farrell needs to shake up the lineup. Stephen Drew is 4-for-42 (.095) in the entire postseason and Jarrod Saltalamacchia is in a 3-for-22 slump. ... David Ortiz will be at first base tonight, with Mike Napoli beginning the evening on the bench. Daniel Nava will play left in St. Louis' larger outfield, in place of Jonny Gomes (3-for-23 in the ALCS/WS). ... Jayson Stark says you would have to be insane to bench Ortiz in October. ... Is Flo the real Mr. October?

Michael Silverman has the annual look at how ludicrous it is for the Red Sox and Cardinals to play by two sets of rules in the most meaningful games of the season. ... Boston has a much stronger bench than the Cardinals do.

Clay Buchholz will start Game 4. He threw from as far as 100 feet off flat ground yesterday. Pitching coach Juan Nieves characterized Buchholz's session as "excellent", though catcher David Ross said, "We're going to do the best we can with what we've got." ... Fully healthy or not, we know Buchholz will work slowly. ... Felix Doubront has also been throwing in case he is needed; he has not started a game since September 22.

Newspapers: Game 2