Curse dispersed
ST. LOUIS — Keith Foulke squeezed the ball tightly. After all those years and all that heartache, the Boston Red Sox had the World Series firmly in hand.
A couple of quick steps off the mound, a little underhanded flip to first base, and it was over. Most Valuable Player Manny Ramirez tore in from left field, manager Terry Francona hugged everyone in sight and pitcher Curt Schilling shot out of the dugout.
For the fans sitting in right field at Busch Stadium on Wednesday night, there was this curious sight: Outfielders Gabe Kapler and Johnny Damon running to join the celebration, the numbers on their jerseys lining up next to each other — 19 and 18.
In the end, it all seemed so simple for the Red Sox. No dire moments, no close calls. Their first championship in 86 years, finished off with a four-game sweep in which they never trailed the St. Louis Cardinals.
“The game is over and 1918 is gone forever,” said Trot Nixon, who hit a two-run double in the clinching 3-0 win. “We’re not going to have to hear about that again.
“Any time you don a Red Sox uniform, you have to talk about the history of this team and not having a World Series championship since 1918. Sooner or later that hex had to stop. Everybody thought it was a curse, but to us (curse) was just a five-letter word.”
From Yaz to Youkilis, from Buckner to Bellhorn, from Lonborg to Lowe, no more talk about how the Red Sox couldn’t win in October.
They are now forever a part of New England lore, names such as Pokey Reese right up there with Paul Revere and Plymouth Rock.
They’ll get to celebrate in style. They start next season at Yankee Stadium, then get to raise the World Series flag on April 11 in the home opener at Fenway Park — in front of those eternal rivals from New York.
“Congratulations to the Boston Red Sox, to their ownership and to the people of Boston. The Red Sox deserve all the credit for what they have accomplished,” Yankees owner George Steinbrenner said in a statement. “But make no mistake about it. We are hard at work and will be back with a strong team.”
For sure, but Boston is too busy celebrating at the moment. Spring training is 3 1/2 months away, and there’s plenty of time for the Red Sox to enjoy what they achieved, starting with a downtown parade Saturday.
Shaggy-haired Johnny Damon will be in New York on Monday to appear on David Letterman’s show. The bat Damon used to hit a leadoff home run in Game 4 is headed elsewhere — to the Hall of Fame — for immediate display.
The Cardinals could have used his bat.
After leading the National League in hitting, slugging and scoring, St. Louis looked feeble in the final three games. Following an 11-9 loss in the opener, the Cardinals were held to three runs the rest of the way — their lowest total for a three-game stretch this season.
Albert Pujols, Scott Rolen and Jim Edmonds, all mentioned as MVP candidates, combined to drive in one run. Rolen went 0 for 15 in his first Series, and the Cardinals batted .190 overall.
“When you have the aspiration as a little kid of playing in the World Series, throwing the ball up and hitting it, you at least sneak one hit in there in your backyard,” Rolen said Thursday as the Cardinals cleared out of Busch.
What the Cardinals really didn’t have was a true ace. Five pitchers reached double figures in wins this season, led by Jeff Suppan’s 16 victories.
Chris Carpenter, at 15-5, might’ve been the best among them, but he was hurt and not on the roster.
No one in the rotation, however, was overpowering. So when St. Louis needed a strikeout to strand a runner, it didn’t get it.
Instead, Boston’s Pedro Martinez, Derek Lowe and Schilling shut down the team that led the majors with 105 wins.
Boston became the fourth team in Series history to have never trailed at any point, joining the Oakland A’s (1989), Baltimore Orioles (1966) and Los Angeles Dodgers (1963).