2007 World Series

2007 World Series

Team (Wins) Manager Season Boston Red Sox (4) Terry Francona 96–66, .593, GA: 2 Colorado Rockies (0) Clint Hurdle 90–73, .552, GB:   1⁄2
Dates:	October 24 – 28
MVP:	Mike Lowell (Boston)
Television:	Fox
TV announcers:	Joe Buck and Tim McCarver
Radio:	ESPN
Radio announcers:	Jon Miller and Joe Morgan
Umpires:	Ed Montague (crew chief), Laz Díaz, Ted Barrett, Chuck Meriwether, Mike Everitt, Mike Reilly[1]
ALCS:	Boston Red Sox over Cleveland Indians (4–3)
NLCS:	Colorado Rockies over Arizona Diamondbacks (4–0)
World Series Program

The 2007 World Series, the 103rd^[2] edition of Major League Baseball's championship series, began on Wednesday, October 24 and ended on Sunday, October 28.

It featured the National League champions Colorado Rockies (making their first World Series appearance) and American League champions Boston Red Sox. The Red Sox swept the Rockies to collect their second World Series championship in four seasons and their seventh overall; it also marked the third sweep in four years by the AL champions.

Terry Francona became the second Red Sox manager to win two World Series titles, following Bill Carrigan, who won the 1915 and 1916 World Series. Including the last three games of the ALCS, the Red Sox outscored their opposition 59–15 over their final seven games. Francona also became the first manager to win his first 8 World Series games. The Rockies, meanwhile, became the first National League team to get swept in a World Series after sweeping the League Championship Series, and just the second team ever to suffer such a fate, following the Oakland Athletics in 1990.

Background

The Rockies entered the Series having won 21 of their last 22 games, going back to the end of the regular season, including sweeps of the Philadelphia Phillies in the NLDS and the Arizona Diamondbacks in the NLCS. They also beat the San Diego Padres in the NL Wild Card tie-breaker. The Red Sox swept the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in the ALDS and defeated the Cleveland Indians in the ALCS after trailing three games to one, taking the final three contests by a combined score of 30–5. Neither participating team was in the previous year's postseason. The Rockies' eight-day layoff was the longest in MLB postseason history, caused by their sweep in the NLCS, the ALCS going seven games, and scheduling by MLB.

Per the 2006 Collective Bargaining Agreement,^[3] the Red Sox had home-field advantage in the World Series following the American League's 5–4 win in the 2007 All-Star Game. The first two games took place in Boston, with games 3 and 4 in Denver.

Summary

AL Boston Red Sox (4) vs. NL Colorado Rockies (0)

Matchups

Game 1

The Red Sox cruised to a blowout win in Game 1 behind ALCS MVP Josh Beckett, who struck out nine batters, including the first four he faced, over seven innings en route to his fourth win of the 2007 postseason (and the sixth of his career). Mike Timlin and Eric Gagne pitched a perfect eighth and ninth, respectively.

Rookie Dustin Pedroia led off the Sox' first inning with a home run over the Green Monster in Fenway Park off of Jeff Francis. Pedroia's homer was only the second lead-off home run to start a World Series; (the only other one was hit by Baltimore's Don Buford in 1969). Kevin Youkilis then doubled to right, moved to third on David Ortiz's groundout, and scored on Manny Ramirez's single. After Mike Lowell flew out, Jason Varitek singled before J. D. Drew doubled to score Ramirez and make it 3-0 Red Sox.

The Rockies got on the board in the second when Garrett Atkins double with one out off Beckett and scored on Troy Tulowitzki's double one out later, but the Red Sox got that run back off of Francis when Youkilis walked with two outs and scored on Ortiz's double. In the fourth, the Red Sox loaded the bases with two outs on a single, double, and intentional walk when Varitek's two-run double put them up 6-1.

They put the game out of reach with seven runs in the fifth. Julio Lugo hit a leadoff single off of reliever Franklin Morales before Jacoby Ellsbury bunted into a forceout at second. After Pedroia popped out, a balk moved Ellsbury to second before he scored on Youkilis's double. Ortiz's double and Ramirez's single scored a run each. The Red Sox loaded the bases on a double and walk before Drew's single scored another run. Ryan Speier relieved Morales and walked all three batters he faced to force in three more Boston runs. Matt Herges relieved Speier and got Youkilis to fly out to right to end the inning.

Though Herges and two relievers held Boston scoreless for the rest of the game, the Red Sox finished with thirteen runs, the most ever in a World Series Game 1, and tied another record with nine extra base hits. The last 11 of the Red Sox runs came with 2 outs.

Game 2

After the debacle of Game 1, Colorado appeared to return to form, scoring quickly on a groundout by Todd Helton with runners on second and third in the first. However, this would be the only time the Rockies ever led in the series as postseason veteran Curt Schilling ( 5 ¹⁄₃ IP, one run, four hits) and Boston's bullpen (Okajima,  2 ¹⁄₃ IP; Papelbon,  1 ¹⁄₃ IP) allowed no other runs in the contest. The Red Sox tied the game in the fourth off of Ubaldo Jimenez on Jason Varitek's sacrifice fly with runners on second and third, then took the lead next inning on Mike Lowell's RBI double with runners on first and second. Matt Holliday had four of Colorado's five hits in Game 2, including a base hit off Papelbon with two outs in the eighth. Before throwing another pitch, Papelbon caught Holliday leaning too far off first base and picked him off—Papelbon's first career pickoff.

Game 3

This was the first World Series game ever played in Colorado. At 4 hours 19 minutes, it became the longest nine-inning game in World Series history. Game 3 was also the 600th World Series game ever played. Starting pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka pitched five innings of scoreless ball and left in the sixth with no runs allowed.The Red Sox struck first with a six-run third inning. Rookie Jacoby Ellsbury hit a leadoff double, moved to second on Dustin Pedroia's single, and scored on David Ortiz's double. After Manny Ramirez was intentionally walked, Mike Lowell's single scored two more runs. J.D. Drew popped out before Ramirez was thrown at home on Jason Varitek's single with Lowell advancing to third. After Julio Lugo walked to load the bases, Matsuzaka hit a two-run single for his first base hit and RBI in the Major Leagues. Ellsbury capped the scoring with his second double of the inning and knock Colorado starter Josh Fogg was taken out of the game. The Rockies' bats came to life in the sixth and seventh innings against a normally solid but shaky Boston bullpen. After Matsuzaka walked two straight in the sixth with one out, reliever Javier López allowed back-to-back RBI singles to Brad Hawpe and Yorvit Torrealba. Mike Timlin allowed two straight leadoff singles in the seventh before NLCS MVP Matt Holliday brought the Rockies to within one run with a three-run home run off Hideki Okajima. Brian Fuentes gave back those runs in the eighth by walking Lugo with one out and allowing a subsequent single to Coco Crisp. before Ellsbury and Dustin Pedroia, who had four and three hits, respectively, on the night (the first time in World Series history two rookies had at least three hits in a game) hit back-to-back RBI doubles, raising Boston's lead to 9–5. Jonathan Papelbon came on for a four-out save, getting Holliday to fly out on one pitch, leaving runners on first and second. Jason Varitek would tack on Boston's tenth run in the top of the ninth off of LaTroy Hawkins with a sacrifice fly, scoring Mike Lowell who, not generally considered a stolen base threat, had just stolen third base, the first time a Red Sox baserunner stole third base in the World Series since 1975, after hitting a leadoff single and moving to second on a sacrifice bunt. Papelbon came back out in the bottom of the ninth to complete the save, getting the first two outs before surrendering a two-out triple to Brad Hawpe, then finishing the game with a groundout from Yorvit Torrealba. The Red Sox took Game 3 by a final score of 10–5.

The Red Sox continued to set World Series records during Game 3:

• Ellsbury (four hits) and Pedroia (three) combined to score three runs and drive in four, while being the first rookies to bat 1–2 in a World Series lineup.
• Ellsbury became the third rookie in Series history with four hits in a game, joining Freddie Lindstrom of the New York Giants (Game 5, 1924) and Joe Garagiola of the Cardinals (Game 4, 1946).
• Matsuzaka became the first Japanese pitcher to start and win a World Series game. The only pitchers in Red Sox history, other than Matsuzaka, to have two RBI and be the winning pitcher were Babe Ruth in 1918 and Cy Young in 1903.
• The Red Sox' sixteen doubles tied a World Series record, set by the 1982 Champion Cardinals. The Red Sox would break the record in Game 4, finishing with eighteen.

Game 4

The Red Sox struck offensively early in the game. Boston Rookie Jacoby Ellsbury began the first inning with a double and was advanced by Dustin Pedroia with a groundout, followed by an RBI single from David Ortiz. In the seventh inning, series MVP Mike Lowell hit a home run to give Boston a 3–0 lead. The Colorado offense answered when left fielder Brad Hawpe hit a home run off of a Manny Delcarmen fastball, bringing the Rockies within two. Relief pitcher Brian Fuentes gave back that run abruptly, allowing Boston pinch-hitter Bobby Kielty to hit a ball into the left field stands on the first pitch of the inning, extending the Red Sox lead to 4–1. In the next inning Boston pitcher Hideki Okajima allowed a one-out single to Todd Helton followed by a Garrett Atkins two-run home run, bringing the Rockies within one. Jonathan Papelbon relieved Okajima and earned his third save of the series. At 12:06 am EDT on Monday, October 29, Papelbon struck out Colorado pinch hitter Seth Smith for the final out of the 2007 World Series. Boston had won its second World Series title in four years and seventh all-time.

Composite line score

Victorious Red Sox players being honored at the White House by President George W. Bush.

2007 World Series (4–0): Boston Red Sox (A.L.) over Colorado Rockies (N.L.)

Ticket controversy

The countdown page seen by many people attempting to buy World Series tickets: when the countdown completed it would either load a page to select seats or just restart the countdown.

On October 17, 2007, a week before the first game of the World Series, the Colorado Rockies announced that tickets would be made available to the general public via online sales only, despite prior arrangements to sell the tickets at local retail outlets.^[9] Five days later, California-based ticket vendor Paciolan, Inc., the sole contractor authorized by the Colorado Rockies to distribute tickets, was forced to suspend sales after less than an hour due to an exorbitant number of purchase attempts.^[10]

The Rockies organization said that they were the victims of a denial-of-service attack;^[11] The FBI has started its own investigation into these claims.^[12] Ticket sales resumed the next day, with all three home games selling out within  2 ¹⁄₂ hours.

The Red Sox also relied primarily on online sales to sell the game tickets, although some Fenway Park tickets were sold on the phone and at the box office. The Sox held a random drawing for the right to buy post season tickets on October 15, and winners bought tickets at a private online sale. Street prices were lower in Boston this time than in 2004: the average price, according to StubHub, was about $1500 in 2007, down about $300 from three years previously.^[13] Some Sox fans found that it was cheaper to travel to Denver to see World Series games than to pay the street price for Boston game tickets.^[14]

Celebration

While the celebratory crowd at Kenmore Square was not as unruly as in 2004, cars were overturned and 37 arrests were made.^[15] The Red Sox victory parade, yet again in duck boats and called a "Rolling Rally" as in 2004, was on October 30, 2007 with closer Jonathan Papelbon doing his infamous "Riverdance" while local punk band the Dropkick Murphys played their hit "I'm Shipping Up to Boston".

The Red Sox World Series win in 2007 continued the success of Boston-area teams in recent years.^[16] The Celtics won their 17th championship, their first championship since 1986, the last time the Red Sox lost in the World Series,  7 ¹⁄₂ months later. Furthermore, the New England Patriots had victories in 2001, 2003, 2004, and 2014, the Boston Bruins in 2011, and the Red Sox three years earlier in 2004 and six years later in 2013.

Broadcasting

The World Series was televised by Fox in the United States, with Joe Buck and Tim McCarver as booth announcers. The starting time for each television broadcast was 8:00 pm EDT (6:00 pm MDT). The series broke with the recent tradition of starting the World Series on a Saturday, as Major League Baseball had become convinced that weekend games drew lower television ratings. Prior to this season, every World Series since 1985 had opened on a Saturday, with the exception of the 1990 World Series.

Rogers Sportsnet (RSN) in Canada used the MLB International feed with Dave O'Brien and Rick Sutcliffe as booth announcers. NASN showed the games live to most of Europe, while in the UK, all games were shown terrestrially on Five. NHK aired the Series in Japan.

On radio, the Series was broadcast nationally by ESPN Radio, with Jon Miller and Joe Morgan announcing. Locally, Joe Castiglione and Glenn Geffner called the Series for the Red Sox on WRKO in Boston, while Jack Corrigan and Jeff Kingery called it for the Rockies on KOA in Denver. Per contractual obligation, the non-flagship stations on the teams' radio networks carried the ESPN Radio broadcasts.

Notes

External links

• 2007 World Series at WorldSeries.com (MLB.com)
• 2007 World Series at Baseball Almanac
• 2007 World Series at Baseball-Reference.com
• The 2007 Post-Season Games (box scores and play-by-play) at Retrosheet

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