Boston Leaves Worries Behind and Learns to Be Happy
BOSTON - They don't even worry about the Red Sox here anymore. Why would they? At Fenway Park, the fans sing:
Every little thing gonna be all right.
It is more than the at-bat anthem for Shane Victorino, the sprightly right fielder who drove in four runs in Game 6 of the World Series on Wednesday as the Red Sox won their third championship in 10 seasons. After decades of well-founded fatalism, it is now a way of life.
The Red Sox dumped the St. Louis Cardinals, 6-1, to win their first title at home in 95 years. After championships on the road in 2004 and 2007, it was bound to happen, sooner or later. The Red Sox have the farm system, the finances and the fan base to be the envy of the majors for years to come.
'People call this the cathedral of baseball, and I absolutely, 100 percent agree - this place is a special place to play,' Victorino said. 'It's been great. It's been fun. We all understand the magnitude of tonight's game, the fact that we haven't won a championship in Fenway since 1918.'
Victorino spoke before the game in a red brick interview room off the clubhouse, his headphones on the table in front of him. Written across was the slogan 'Boston Strong,' the city's rallying cry after the bombings at the Boston Marathon in April.
In his on-field interview with Fox television after Game 6 of the American League Championship Series, when he knocked out Detroit with a grand slam, Victorino repeated that phrase, reflexively but with passion: Boston strong. Boston strong.
Twelve of the 25 players on the World Series roster had never played for the Red Sox before this season. Yet they took to their new surroundings, some as a condition of employment.
The Red Sox, with a chance to reshape their roster after a bailout trade with the Los Angeles Dodgers last August, signed seven free agents last off-season, mostly for their talent and affordability. But they had seen the corrosive effect that miserable players could have on the clubhouse, and as they revamped a last-place team, they made sure the imports really wanted to be here.
'We knew we would be tested, and there would be skepticism, rightfully so, along the way,' General Manager Ben Cherington said. 'So we felt like if we had a core, kind of a critical mass of guys in the clubhouse who really wanted to be there for the right reasons, they would embrace everything that came along with being in Boston.
'You can either see playing in New York or Boston as an opportunity or a burden,' he added. 'The more guys who see it as an opportunity, the more likely they are to get through the adversity or whatever happens during a season. So it wasn't so much a character question as, 'Is he a good guy?' It was more, 'What's his motivation, does he want to be here?' '
Their will to stay in Boston will be tested this winter, with Stephen Drew, Jacoby Ellsbury, Mike Napoli and Jarrod Saltalamacchia all facing free agency. Teams change every season, and the bearded brigade might even shave this winter.
They grew the beards as a form of team bonding. They know they look ridiculous.
'Some Detroit fan was getting on me and I started laughing, and he's like, 'I can't believe you're laughing,' ' catcher David Ross said after the A.L.C.S. 'I love fans, you know? It's cool. As long as you're not angry and being vulgar or obscene, it's fun to come to the yard and make fun of my beard. I know it looks terrible. You're not telling me anything I don't know.'
Ross stayed in the lineup for Game 6, instead of Saltalamacchia, because his double off Adam Wainwright had brought in the go-ahead run on Monday. Saltalamacchia went hitless in the World Series, but he had the winning hit in Game 2 of the A.L.C.S., a ninth-inning single to left for Boston's first win against the Tigers.
Before Wednesday, the combined World Series average of all Red Sox not named David Ortiz was .151, with Ortiz the outlier at .733. But almost all have had big moments in October, despite setting a postseason record for strikeouts by an offense.
Napoli homered for the only run in Game 3 in Detroit, and he homered again in a one-run victory in Game 5. Xander Bogaerts, 21, won the starting job at third base in the middle of the A.L.C.S., becoming the youngest Red Sox player in a postseason lineup since Babe Ruth. Bogaerts entered Wednesday's game with the team's best postseason average, after Ortiz's.
Jonny Gomes had one hit through the first five World Series games, and it was a three-run, go-ahead homer in Game 4. Dustin Pedroia doubled to start the tiebreaking rally in Game 5. Ellsbury singled to start a three-run outburst in the third inning of Game 6, then doubled in the three-run fourth.
The Red Sox faced a gantlet of ace starters in the postseason, and beat them all: Matt Moore and David Price of Tampa Bay; Justin Verlander, Anibal Sanchez and Max Scherzer of Detroit; Adam Wainwright (twice) and Michael Wacha of St. Louis.
Jon Lester and John Lackey started nine of Boston's 16 postseason games, winning seven. Lackey, once reviled as a free-agent flop, rebuilt his arm and his physique, worked a crucial inning of relief in Game 4, and then started and won the clincher.
When Lackey faltered in the seventh, Junichi Tazawa got a groundout to leave the bases loaded. Brandon Workman followed, and Koji Uehara - Boston's third option as closer this season - completed a magical season, for himself and his team.
'Playing in front of these fans every single night, it doesn't get any better,' Victorino had said, a few hours earlier. 'I'm excited to see what happens. And as I said, we've still got a long, tough task ahead of us.'
The task lasted only nine innings, and it was not really tough. The Red Sox left no doubt, in Game 6 or in the larger scope of the sport. They belong on top, again. Every little thing is all right.
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