BOSTON – It’s been 86 years. It’s been 86 years since the Red Sox won it all. Eighty-six years since they stood atop major-league baseball. And eighty-six years since there was no such thing as a curse or a hex or anything else associated with bad luck and bad teams in Boston.
“We’re about due,” Sox legend Johnny Pesky said yesterday. “I’ve been praying so long for this.”
And here the Red Sox are, ready to tackle the World Series again. Four times they’ve been back here since that magical 1918 season. Four times they came up short in seven games.
First, it was 1946 against the Cardinals. Then it was 1967 against the Cardinals again. Then it was 1975 against the Reds. And finally, it was 1986 against the Mets.
The fifth time, Sox fans desperately hope, could be the charm.
“If they believe,” Sox first baseman Kevin Millar said, “this is the year to believe.”
It starts tonight at Fenway, as the AL champs take on the NL champion St. Louis Cardinals in Game 1. Boston knuckleball specialist Tim Wakefield will go against Cards righty Woody Williams.
The Cards, who just polished off the Astros in seven exhausting games (yes, there was another League Championship Series that didn’t involve the Yankees and Red Sox), arrived in Boston late yesterday afternoon. And as much as this Fall Classic feels like it’s about the Red Sox, the Cards arrived equally amped up.
“As a kid growing up, this is what you play in your backyard and you pretend for, this situation,” Williams said. “And here it is, a dream come true.”
The Sox, of course, are coming off of literally the greatest comeback in baseball history, a seven-game climax against the Yankees. You know the deal by now – Boston trailed 3-0, won the next two games in extra innings and finally stopped their hated rivals on Tuesday and Wednesday night in The Bronx.
All that’s left is preventing a letdown. And the Sox are convinced there’s nothing to worry about.
“It’s October. There’s no need to re-energize right now,” Sox ace Curt Schilling said. “That’s what you do in February.”
Added GM Theo Epstein. “Making history and beating the Yankees, that just happened. That wasn’t the goal. The goal was to win the World Series.”
Not that anyone should expect the Cards to just roll over just because the Sox would be a feel-good story. After all, the Cardinals, not the Red Sox, won an MLB-high 105 games this year. And the Cardinals, not the Red Sox, have a manager who’s won a World Series before (Tony La Russa with the 1989 Oakland A’s).
And believe it or not, the Cardinals, not the Red Sox, have the better lineup. Especially with names like Albert Pujols, Scott Rolen, Jim Edmonds and Larry Walker.
The last time the Cardinals won the World Series was 1982, when they beat the Brewers. But they’ve lost their last two Fall Classics, in 1985 (vs. Kansas City) and 1987 (vs. Minnesota).
Unlucky 7’s
Red Sox have been in four World Series since 1918 – losing each time in the seventh game, always encountering heartbreak somewhere in the Series. Here’s a look:
YEAR … OPPONENT … HEARTBREAK
1946 … Cardinals … Cards’ Enos Slaughter singles in 8th of Game 7, scores go-ahead run with daring dash home on Harry “The Hat” Walker’s hit over SS Johnny Pesky. In 9th, Sox leave tying run at 3rd.
1967 … Cardinals … Sox trail 3-1 in games, force Game 7 at Fenway, then watch Bob Gibson pitch 3-hit complete game for his 3rd win of Series.
1975 … Reds … Bernie Carbo’s 3-run pinch HR in 8th ties Game 6, and Carlton Fisk wins it with famous “body English” HR in 12th. Sox take 3-0 lead in Game 7, but Reds win on Joe Morgan’s single in 9th.
1986 … Mets … Game 6: “Gets by Buckner!” You know the rest.
