A Tip of the Cap to Big Papi

Despite my protestations, I ended up enjoying this year's World Series, and saw or heard most of it. From the first pitch I was rooting for the Red Sox, perhaps because they are the American League or maybe because they are a lot scruffier than the Ned Flanderish Cardinals.

This was the fourth tilt between the Sox and Cards--the Cards won the first two, in 1946 and '67, while the Sox have won the last two, the other being in 2004. The Red Sox, cursed losers for several generations, are now the most successful franchise of this century, having won three titles in the last ten years. However, it should be noted that they won five world championships in the first 18 years of the last century, but whiffed for the rest of the 1900s. They appear to start centuries strong.

The series had some marvelously kooky plays. In the first game, Pete Kozma neglected to catch a feed from Matt Carpenter to start a double play. Everyone in the stadium and the viewing audience saw that he didn't catch the ball, except for the umpire three feet away, who ruled the runner out. This is the last World Series before more comprehensive replay takes place, but even without it, the umpires huddled, corrected the call, and sanity was restored.

In game three, in the bottom of the ninth, with the infield in, Dustin Pedroia fielded a hard shot and threw home. Yadier Molina was tagged out (he did not charge the plate, perhaps catcher's courtesy), but Jared Saltalamacchia threw to third for no particular reason, and his throw sailed. It was backed up, though, and a throw home would have caught the lame Allen Craig. But! Jim Joyce, the third-base umpire, called obstruction, as the body of third-sacker Will Middlebrooks lay in Craig's path, and was stumbled over. The Sox cried foul, but the call was correct, and it was the first time a Series game had ended on such a play.

That put the Cards up 2-1, and everyone thought they had things in hand, with better pitching matchups and home field advantage. The Red Sox were putting out Clay Buchholtz for game four, who could hardly throw. He managed to baffle the Cards for four innings, though, and the bullpen did the rest, as the Sox went into the ninth with a 4-2 lead. The Cards had a runner on, in the person of pinch-runner Kolten Wong. With two outs, he was held on by first-sacker Mike Napoli. This was questioned, as Wong's run was not important, and this left a hole for left-hander Carlos Beltran, one of the best post-season hitters in history, up to bat. But Wong was caught flat-footed by Koji Uehara, who picked him off. Wong was a person who was in one of those, "Want to get away?" commercials.

It was not the first time a Series game ended with a runner thrown out on the basepaths. In fact, the 1926 Series ended with of all people Babe Ruth getting thrown out trying to steal. The winning team was St. Louis.

Despite these quirky plays, I think this series will be remembered as a valedictory for David Ortiz. He is the only Boston player who was on all three of their recent championships, and has been the face of this organization in its recent mini-dynasty. In this series he was an almost impossible out, hitting .633, with an OPS of 1.948. For a time he was carrying the team, as the rest of the lineup was hitting under .200. In game six, the Cards suddenly realized they couldn't get him out, so he walked four times, but this still hurt them, as he scored twice.

I had been on the fence about his Hall of Fame credentials, but I think this Series ended all doubt. He has 431 lifetime home runs, not a big number for a guy who is a slugger, and a .287 lifetime batting average. He also has a slight PED stain, and has spent most of his career as a DH, which is new ground for Hall of Fame voters, even though it has been a rule for 40 years. But this series has erased all doubt. Ortiz has mighty post-season numbers, some of the best in the game's history, with a litany of clutch homers. He also has a larger than life persona that is worth an intangible quality.

At the post-season celebrations, it was mentioned over and over again that this was the first time the Sox had won a title on home turf in 95 years, a fact I think is kind of overblown. What seemed more worthy of attention was that this was a tough year for Boston, what with the marathon bombing. The Sox endured a nightmare season last year, hobbled by injuries and the ego of Bobby Valentine, but came back with purpose and took on the responsibility of representing a wounded city. For that I salute them. This does not mean, though, that the Patriots need to win another Super Bowl.