PUTTING AN END TO BASEBALL AS WE'VE KNOWN IT
October 29, 2007 -- DENVER - It ended without drama, without trauma, with just a fleeting trace of anxiety thrown into the mild Colorado night. At 10:05 p.m., Mountain Time, Jonathan Papelbon threw one last 94-mph fastball, a rumor that Seth Smith waved at, and in an instant Papelbon's glove was in the air and his teammates were on the field. There was a seventh world championship in Red Sox history to celebrate, at once. There were 50,041 people inside Coors Field, but all you could hear were the 25 players now crowding the pitcher's mound. Ballgame over: Red Sox 4, Rockies 3. World Series over: Red Sox 4, Rockies 0.
And baseball as we've known it? Over. The Red Sox are two-time champions this millennium. The Yankees may well be Alex Rodriguez-free - and who know what else lurks in what's been a bruising offseason so far for the Red Sox's ancient rivals?
For now? The Red Sox couldn't have cared less about the Yankees.
"We are going to savor this forever," said John Henry, the man whose ambitions caused him to head a group that bought the Sox seven years ago and whose deep pockets keep them eye-to-eye with the Yankees. "The first one was sweet, because of everything that surrounded it. But this was different; it was all about a baseball team. A great baseball team."
For a baseball team that had spent 86 years inventing ways to torture itself and torment generation after generation of New England baseball fans, the Red Sox have become cold-blooded World Series assassins. Since 2004, the Red Sox have played eight World Series games. They have won all eight. And only two could be termed remotely competitive.
For the second time in four years, they have ended the baseball season on epic, damn near otherworldly, winning streaks, this in a year when we thought the deposed Rockies had given new meaning to the idea of late-season baseball magic.
"When this team is playing well," Papelbon said, shaking his head, "it's an honor to be a part of it."
In '04 they had to absorb the agony of surviving four consecutive elimination games against the Yankees before throttling the Cardinals, who barely stayed interested long enough to receive their lovely parting gifts.
This time, they made it easier on themselves - this time, it was only three elimination games against Cleveland serving as warm-up for the four-game beating they laid on the Rockies. And even those three elimination games were as worry-free as elimination games can be, nothing like the palpitation-inducing gauntlet they had to endure in 2003.
No, the truth is the Red Sox no longer bear the mark of those carefree Idiots of yore. The caretakers of that image - Kevin Millar and Johnny Damon - are long gone. And though characters still populate the clubhouse - Manny Ramirez, David Ortiz and Jonathan Papelbon among them - the Sox are far more corporate-cut than they were in '04, more than anyone ever could have guessed they could be.
Now, they are the picture of cool efficiency. They are a lead-off double from Jacoby Ellsbury, who won't even be eligible for Rookie of the Year until next year; and an infield out from another rookie, Dustin Pedroia; and a single-against-a-drawn-in-infield from Ortiz to score the game's first run before things were even five minutes old last night.
They are Jon Lester, another kid, throwing 52/3 shutout innings. They are Josh Beckett, who would have been waiting in the wings to pitch Game 5 tonight, who is Bob Gibson for the next baseball generation, a very good pitcher who becomes a historic pitcher under October's brightest glare.
They are a manager named Terry Francona, who in the spring after that stirring '04 title run sat back in his chair in spring training and mused: "Joe Torre against a guy named Tito. I mean, come on, what's the point spread on that one?" Now, Torre is unemployed and Francona owns twice as many championship rings as Earl Weaver and Billy Martin, to name two.
The Red Sox are champions, and their rivals are in chaos. As they might put it in Boston: Good times.
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