the red sox played st. louis cardinals in 2004 world series.
the red sox played st. louis cardinals in 2004 world series.
who did the red sox play in 2004 world series?
st. louis cardinals
the red sox faced the st. louis cardinals in the 2004 world series. the cardinals had posted the best record in the major leagues that season, and had previously defeated the red sox in the and series, with both series going seven games. the third time would be the charm, however, as the momentum and confidence boston had built up in the alcs would overwhelm st. louis. the red sox began the series with an 11–9 win, marked by mark bellhorn's game-winning home run off pesky's pole. he later on said that he "just did what he needed to do." it was the highest scoring world series opening game ever (breaking the previous record set in ). the red sox would go on to win game 2 in boston (thanks to another sensational performance by the bloody-socked schilling). the red sox won both these games despite making 4 errors in each game. in game 3, pedro martínez shut out the cardinals for seven innings. the cardinals only made one real threat — in the third inning when they put runners on second and third with no outs. however, the cardinals' rally was killed by pitcher jeff suppan's baserunning gaffe. with no outs, suppan should have scored easily from third on a larry walker ground ball to second baseman bellhorn, who was playing back, conceding the run. but as bellhorn threw out walker at first base, suppan inexplicably froze after taking several steps toward home and was thrown out by sox first baseman david ortiz as he scrambled back to third. the double play was devastating for st. louis. the red sox needed one more game to win their first championship since the 1918 world series. in game four the red sox did not allow a run, and the game ended as édgar rentería (who would become the 2005 red sox starting ss) hit the ball back to keith foulke. (this was the second time that rentería had ended a series, as he had won it for the marlins seven years prior in the 1997 world series.) after foulke lobbed the ball to doug mientkiewicz, the sox had won their first world championship in 86 years. the sox held the cardinals' offense (the best in the nl in 2004) to only three runs in the last three games, never trailing in the series. manny ramírez was named world series mvp. the red sox won game four of the series on october 27, eighteen years to the day from when they lost to the new york mets in the 1986 world series. in fact, it came 18 years to the day they lost their last world series game, as they would sweep the 2004 series.
2004 boston red sox season
the red sox were presented with their world series rings on april 11, 2005, at a ceremony before the team's first home game of the 2005 season. former red sox players bobby doerr, dom dimaggio, johnny pesky, and carl yastrzemski were all present, as were the boston symphony orchestra and the boston pops orchestra. during the ceremony, five red pennants were first unfurled at the top of the green monster, showing the years of each of the red sox' previous world series wins. a much larger banner was unfurled that covered the entire wall and read "2004 world series champions". james taylor, himself a boston native and a red sox fan, performed "america the beautiful", and 19 members of the united states army and marine corps who had fought in the iraq war walked onto the field. moments of silence were held to honor the deaths of pope john paul ii, who had died nine days earlier, and former red sox relief pitcher, dick radatz. the rings were handed out by the team's owner, john w. henry. former red sox players lowe and dave roberts, who had joined the los angeles dodgers and san diego padres respectively during the off-season, were also present to collect their rings. the ceremony, which lasted around an hour, ended with stars from other boston sports teams, including the celtics' bill russell, the bruins' bobby orr and the patriots' tedy bruschi and richard seymour, throwing ceremonial first pitches. the presence of bruschi and seymour made evident the recent success of boston-area teams. the day after the red sox won the series, shaughnessy and the rest of the news media said of the red sox home opener: "the team in the third-base dugout? the new york yankees, sweet." in a sign of respect, the red sox rivals came to the top step of the visitors dugout and gave the red sox a standing ovation. the fenway park crowd burst into cheers when yankees pitcher mariano rivera was introduced, breaking from the tradition of fans booing opposing players, due to him having blown save opportunities in games 4 and 5 of the 2004 alcs. rivera was a good sport about it and laughed while waving his arms in mock appreciation of the fans.
2004 world series