By Sarah Bigelow
Three years ago, I sat in my Mehling dorm room and watched history in the making. After 86 excruciating years, the Red Sox "Reversed the Curse" and won the World Series.
Last Sunday, I sat in my Tyson living room, again glued to the TV. And while four seasons will never rival that infamous dry spell, it feels good to call my team World Champions once more.
That shiny new trophy is just days old and the celebration has barely begun in Red Sox Nation. Already there's chatter about a Red Sox dynasty (finally!) and rumors that the team's management might try to bring A-Rod, fresh out of his Yankees contract, to Boston. The future has never looked brighter for the team that, at one time, seemed destined never to see the light of world champion glory ever again.
But in this post-Series cacophony, we can't forget about the men who garnered us this glory in the first place.
Sure, that 2004 team was great.
This 2007 team is even better.
This team is the perfect combination of experience and fresh talent, the combination that made all the difference last week. Just look at the World Series results. Not only did the Sox sweep the Rockies, they also outscored Rockies 29-10.
Déjà vu? Me too. Just like in 2004, the Sox proved their mettle in the American League Championship Series before decimating their National League rivals in the Fall Classic.
A handful of players from that 2004 team remained on the 2007 roster, but those players are some of the most incredible athletes in the game. There's Manny Ramirez, the 2004 World Series MVP. There's Curt Shilling, who, at 40, pitched 24 innings with 16 strikeouts during the playoffs. There's Jason Varitek and Kevin Youkilis who each had 10 postseason RBIs.
Youkilis alone scored 16 of the 99 Sox runs; he tied with another 2004 vet, David Ortiz, for the Sox top scorer. By comparison, the Rockies only scored 44 runs during the postseason; the top scorers had only six runs each.
But don't underestimate the newbies. They're pretty talented, too. Josh Beckett pitched 35 strikeouts in the post season. Oregon State's own Jacoby Ellsbury scored eight runs, and fellow rookie J.D. Drew scored seven. You can thank Ellsbury for your free taco, by the way.
With manager Terry Francona at the helm, guiding the Sox just as he did in 2004, it's no wonder that Sox fans are eager to christen the team with the d-word.
Dynasty might be a dangerous word to throw around, but after all, the Red Sox is the only team to have won multiple World Series in the new millennium.
Who would have thought?
Definitely not the Rockies, who learned the hard way that the Sox are on their way to becoming invincible.
But when you boil it down, the Rockies had a couple of problems that made it difficult to win a world championship. Look at the numbers. During the post season, the Rockies had 86 base hits, but they converted only 44 of those hits into runs. In Game Three, for example, the Rockies had 11 base hits but only five runs. It doesn't matter how many guys you get on base, if you can't convert those base hits, you're not going to win championships.
Of course, the Rockies were up against some of the best pitchers in the country. Besides Shilling and Beckett, the Sox have developed a phenomenal pitching staff. Jon Lester, the starting pitcher in Game Four, is a cancer survivor. If you can overcome cancer and still hit the mound, chances are, you're pretty good. Daisuke (pronounced "Dice-K") Matsuzaka pitched five strikeouts in five and a half innings during Game Three. The Rockies didn't even score until the sixth inning.
And then there's Jonathan Papelbon. The 26-year-old is perhaps the best closer in the nation. You can't shake this guy. He stares players down, and nothing will break his concentration until the game's over. Then he'll favor fans with his own unique version of an Irish jig in the infield.
The stars aligned for the Red Sox again this year; the Rockies didn't stand a chance. The Sox had better pitching and the magic combination of experienced players and invaluable rookie talent. Don't underestimate how important those veterans were to the team. Beckett learned from Shilling; Ellsbury and Drew learned from Veritek and Youkilis. The Rockies couldn't match the Sox with experience, and, in the end, it showed.
If this team stays together - and here's to hoping it will - the Red Sox will be baseball's newest dynasty.
And you can bet I'll be watching every minute of it. Will you?
