On the ninth edition of the 20th anniversary series of the 2004 Boston Red Sox, Gabby takes a look back at all four games of the World Series and dives into a game-by-game breakdown of each one. From Keith Foulke's consistent usage, to Pedro Martinez and Curt Schilling being locked in, you won't want to miss an episode filled with every play that led to the sweep.
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[MUSIC PLAYING] It's the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. [MUSIC PLAYING] Here there, that's what cooked when you order juicy beef sounds like. The steaming hug of two slices of melted cheese, the crunch of tangy pickles and sliced onions, all topped with a toasted sesame seed bun. That's the sound of a McDonald's quarter bounder with cheese. First beef had participating US McDonald's. Excludes Alaska Hawaiian US territories. Take your business further with a smart and flexible American Express business gold card. You can earn four times points on your top two eligible spending categories every month, like transit, US restaurants, and gas stations. That's the powerful backing of American Express. Four times points on up to $150,000 in purchases per year, terms apply, learn more at american express.com/business gold card. The Red Sox had a ton of momentum heading into the 2004 World Series. But what exactly did it take for them to sweep the Cardinals? More on today's Lockdown Red Sox. [MUSIC PLAYING] You are locked on Red Sox with your daily Boston Red Sox podcast, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello, and welcome to Lockdown Red Sox, your daily Boston Red Sox podcast, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team, every day. I'm your host, Gabby Herlba, former ESPN social media associate, and also currently the host of the Boston Balling Podcast as well. And I am here to bring you the latest in all things Boston Red Sox, Monday through Friday, straight to your favorite podcast feed. And the best part is it's all free. So who doesn't love free? You might as well check it out. Right, Lockdown Red Sox is here for you every day. This episode of Lockdown Red Sox is brought to you by booking.com. Booking. Yeah. The right stay can make you a fan of any city, even your rivals. Check out booking.com for your stay today. And I will be telling you a little bit more about booking.com. A little bit later on the show. But today is Thursday. And if you're a regular listener of the show, which, by the way, I thank you very much for continuing to tune in with me and enjoying this ride that is talking about the Boston Red Sox. So if you are one of those people, you know that every Thursday for the past several weeks, I've had a tradition of dropping an episode that looks back on the 2004 Boston Red Sox. A team that finally broke an 86-year curse and won the World Series. And this is the 20th anniversary of that special season. So to commemorate that, I am dropping a 10-episode series where I take a look back on some aspect of that season. This is week nine. So next week is the grand finale of this series. But that's not to say that I won't continue to talk about or reference the 2004 Red Sox team throughout the time that this season goes on, especially if the Red Sox have a bad loss. We might want to think about some happier times. So don't think that I'm going to be stopping talking about the team. The series is just going to conclude. And if you've missed the series, take a look back on some previous episodes. I did have Bronson and Royo on the show recently, looking back on the 2004 season, as well as pitcher Lenny DiNardo, who was part of that team as well. So if you missed former episodes within this series, be sure to look back on that. But over the last two weeks, I did a game-by-game breakdown of the 2004 ALCS and what they actually entailed and how the Red Sox truly initiated that comeback and beating the Yankees and moving on to the World Series. So people seem to like those episodes. So I decided what better way than to kick off this episode by talking about the World Series itself after the Red Sox have made this big comeback and they have all this momentum. On today's show, I'm going to be doing a game-by-game look back at the 2004 World Series in which the Red Sox just completely motored right by the St. Louis Cardinals. And game one, they just had so much momentum on their side. They were ready to go after an unfortunate history of failing to close the deal when it came to winning the World Series. They were determined. They had gone to game seven the last four times that they had gotten that far, which was in 1946, 1967, 1975 and 1986. It had been 18 years since they were even in the World Series. So they were ready to go and amped up. And actually, when the series concluded, Dave Roberts actually quoted, "It didn't matter who we faced at that point. We were going to go right through them. We had something special going. We weren't going to be denied a championship." Now, heading into that series, people still thought the Cardinals were the favorite. They had dominated the NL Central that year with 105 regular season wins, finishing a full 13 games ahead of second place Houston. Isn't that crazy to think about the fact that Houston was in the National League at that time? It makes me feel so old now to think about that. They had beaten the Dodgers three games to one in the division series, then fought hard for a win over the Astros and the NLCS, taking game six and 12 innings and then winning game seven. So both teams had been battle tested and were feeling really gritty and confident going into this series. Game one was played on a Saturday night at Fenway Park. Manager Tony LaRouza's Cardinals started veteran right-hander Woody Williams. He'd had an 11 and eight season with a 4.18 ERA, but the team's best pitcher, which was Chris Carpenter, was unavailable that day due to pain in the biceps of his throwing arm and the other pitchers needed more rest after the NLCS. Williams was hit for four runs in the bottom of the first inning. So the Red Sox came out of the gates swinging. Tim Wakefield had started for the Red Sox and it was particularly special for the Knuckleballer to open the World Series because he had been the victim of Aaron Boone's extra inning home run in game seven of the 2003 ALCS, which had denied that year's Red Sox team for making it to the World Series. So the idiots in 2004 that were suiting up for the World Series thought it was a good full circle moment to have Wakefield start that game. But he was not one of the Red Sox top pitchers that year. He was 12 and 10 with a 4.87 ERA, but he got through the first inning with only a double by Larry Walker. Then Woody Williams, the Cardinals starter, faced lead-off batter Johnny Damon and threw him 10 pitches, the 10th one having been laced into the left field corner for a double. Then he hit Orlando Cabrera with a pitch and got Manny Ramirez to fly out to right and then Damon tagged and took third on that fly out. David Ortiz, of course, being David Ortiz and just how much of a monster he was in the postseason that year, hit a three run homer to right field, right over, but just inside the foul pool to give the Red Sox a quick three, nothing lead. It was maybe 18 inches fair, but he was ready to go and just knew that ballpark inside and out. So he was able to squeeze it out. Kevin Mallar then doubled to left high off the wall and moved up on a trot Nixon fly ball and then he scored out a single by Bill Miller. So good first inning for the Red Sox, giving them an early lead. And then the Cardinals got one run in the top of the second on a bunch single by Jim Edmonds, a walk, a sacrifice, buns and a sacrifice fly. So manufacturing runs, which is something the Red Sox today are pretty good at doing. They then had another run in the top of the third when Larry Walker homered past the pesky pole and right field. Then we went to the bottom of the third inning with one out in the inning. The Red Sox worked two walks around a single and had the bases loaded for Johnny Damon, who singled in one run. With the bases still loaded, Larissa then changed pitchers and turned to Dan Heron to replace Williams. This had been Williams' shortest outing in 2004. The first batter that Heron came into face was Orlando Cabrera, who singled off the left field wall and drove in another run. Manny Ramirez then grounded into a force out at second base and another run scored to make it seven to two Red Sox. In the top of the fourth inning, given adverse weather conditions and consequent difficulty getting a good grip on the ball, Wakefield did walk three batters and there was a past ball in the mix as well. So he was just having difficulty with his command at that point. Kecher Mike Matheney's sacrifice fly scored one run and the relay throw from first to third went wild, allowing another run to score. Left field are so Taguchi grounded out third to first, but drove in a run in the process to make it seven to five. And then after Wakefield walked another batter, Terry Francona came in to replace him with Bronson and Royo to relieve. He got out of the inning and set down the Cardinals one, two, three and the fifth inning. Then in the sixth, St. Louis tied the score after two outs, Taguchi singled and then shortstop Edgar Renteria doubled to center to drive him in and then Walker doubled to right, which was his fourth hit of the game to drive in Renteria. The Red Sox then went back in front nine to seven in the bottom of the seventh inning. Chico Calero was pitching in place of Heron for the Cardinals. He walked Mark Vellhorn and Orlando Cabrera with an out in between, then gave up an RBI single to Manny Ramirez, who had driven in 130 runs in the regular season, by the way, but didn't drive in one during all seven ALCS games against the Yankees. So he had absolutely been due. Ray King then replaced Calero and then David Ortiz had a hard shot that bounced once and struck second baseman Tony Womack in the collarbone, basically maneuvering its way into shallow right field and easily bringing in Orlando Cabrera. It was a little bit scary because Womack had to leave the games. People didn't really know if he was gonna be okay. And he was then replaced by Marlon Anderson. But for David Ortiz, it was his 19th RBI during the 11 postseason games played in 2004 up until that time. So he was just on an absolute tear. Mike Timlin had pitched the seventh inning for the Red Sox without a runner reaching base. He gave up a one out single in the top of the eighth and Francona called on Alan Embry to come in to relieve. And then Roger Sedano, pinch hit for Taguchi and singles to right. With runners on first and second, Francona called in his closer Keith Foki. This was the fifth time in the 2004 postseason that Foki have been asked to pitch more than one inning. Renteria then singled in one run to make it nine to eight. Manny Ramirez's spikes actually got caught in a drainage plug and he flubbed picking up Larry Walker's ball hit to left field, which resulted in the tying run scoring because the throw home was just a moment too late. You know, in baseball, timing is everything. So then it was knotted up again at nine. And then Foki intentionally walked Albert Pujols to load the bases. There was still just one out at the time, but he got Scott Rowland to pop up to third base and then struck out Edmonds. Then in the bottom of the eighth, Julian Tavares took over on the mound for the Cardinals. Bill Miller first grounded out and then Jason Veratak, who was pinch hitting for catcher, Doug Mirabelli, hit a ground or two, but his actually took a bad bounce and Renteria couldn't haul it in. It ended up being ruled an error on a call that could have gone either way and was the only error of the game for the Cardinals while the Red Sox had committed for. So definitely a sloppy fielding game for Boston, which resulted in the game being closer than it probably should have been. Mark Bellhorn then hit a two run homer that hit off the foul pole and right field to make it 11 to nine Red Sox. Bellhorn had now homered in three consecutive postseason games dating back to game six and seven of the ALCS. So he had brought his power bat in some of those late games. And then in the ninth inning, Foki struck out Reggie Sanders, gave up a double to Marlon Anderson, got Yaddier Molina to pop up to first base and then struck out Cedeno for the Red Sox to grab the win 11 to nine. The game had lasted exactly four hours, but compared to some of those ALCS games, four hours probably didn't feel that long to these players. After the game, Manny Ramirez talked about Mark Bellhorn homering, which alleviated some of the pressure that might have fallen more heavily on his shoulders for having allowed the tie and run to score. He said, that's what we do. That's what we do. We pick each other up. Mark Bellhorn picked me up. And then Kevin Milar said, he's our unsung hero. The guy has 40 doubles and drives in 80 runs. Yeah, he's never really talked about. That guy is just amazing. And yet he always stays the same. His demeanor never changes. So this was truly a team effort and the Red Sox really had that attitude of next man up mentality. And coming up, I'm going to be taking a look back on games two and three of the World Series and what those looks like for the Red Sox. Are you taking that dream vacation this summer about dreading the cost? 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See terms at discover.com/creditcard. - On today's show, I am breaking down each of the four games of the 2004 World Series when the Red Sox swept to the St. Louis Cardinals and they have come off of a good 11 to nine win in game one. Game two was not as high scoring though. It ended up being six to two with the Red Sox coming out on top. The Cardinals never led the game in game one but they had twice come back from significant deficits to tie it. So the Red Sox were definitely making sure they kept that in mind going into game two. So the match up for the second game was showing for the Red Sox against Matt Morris of the Cardinals. Shilling had been 21 and six with a 326 ERA in the regular season but had suffered a serious ankle tendon injury in the playoffs that looked to keep him out of the post season. Then team Dr. Bill Morgan performed temporary surgery to basically hold that tendon in place. So that's how the bloody sock game came to be in game six of the ALCS because you could see the blood seeping through his socks. So he was ready though to pitch game two and was determined to get the Red Sox the win. He and Randy Johnson had shared MVP honors in the 2001 World Series when the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the New York Yankees. So he had exposure to being on the big stage. Before the game he said don't kid yourself, I'm terrified. That's part of the motivation, the fear of failure. I always felt good players use the fear of failure in a positive way. Now Morris had been one of three Cardinals with 15 wins in 2004. He was also one in four in postseason play, having pitched for St. Louis in 2001, 2002 and earlier in 2004. He was 15 and 10 with a 472 ERA in the 2004 regular season and was pitching on three days rest. So not exactly the best physical shape for either pitcher but the morning of the game, Shilling did have a scare and didn't think he was going to be able to pitch at all. He had woken up a few hours early in pain. But Dr. Morgan quickly diagnosed the problem and removed an extra stitch he had placed, which had punctured a nerve. So once that got removed, the problem almost instantly went away and he was able to pitch. St. Louis' first baseman Albert Pujos doubled off of Shilling in the top of the first inning but was the only Cardinal to reach base. And then in the bottom of the first, Morris got center fielder Johnny Damon and shortstop Orlando Cabrera to ground out. But then he walked Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz. The Red Sox had drawn eight walks in game one. So the walking pattern was starting again. Switch hitting catcher, Jason Veratak, batted left-handed against the writing Morris. He hit a ball to the deepest part of Fenway in the center field triangle off the edge of the Red Sox bullpen near the 420 foot marker. He had an easy triple and had given the Red Sox a two to nothing lead. Then Morris walked Kevin Malar but got trot Nixon to ground out. Then in the Cardinal's second inning, a one-out walk and a single put runners on first and second. But Cardinals catcher Mike Matheney lined into an unassisted double play at third base. Pujos doubled into the left field corner to lead off the fourth inning. He tagged up and took third base on a fly to a diving trot Nixon in right field. Then after Edmunds struck out, left fielder Reggie Sanders reached base on the second error of the game by third baseman Bill Miller. And Pujos ended up scoring to make it two to one Red Sox. So the errors kept piling up in this series for the Boston Red Sox. Lots of sloppy play in the field. In the bottom of the fourth inning, the Red Sox reasserted themselves. With one out, Kevin Malar was hit by a pitch. And then with two outs, Miller, who was batting left-handed, atoned a bit for his errors with a two base hit into the right field corner. And then up came Mark Bellhorn, who had homered three games in a row. This time he didn't homer, though. He doubled off the base of the center field wall to score both Malar and Miller and give the Red Sox a lead. They ended up not relinquishing after that. Neither team scored in the fifth inning. The Red Sox committed two errors in the top of the sixth, but Schilling was able to escape the inning unscathed. Boston then picked up two more runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to take a six-to-one lead with Cal Eldred pitching. He had come in during the fifth inning and got the last two outs. And then in the sixth, Trot Nixon singled over second base to lead off. And then after a couple of outs, Jottie Damon singled between short and third into left field. And then Orlando Cabrera drove a ball high off the left field wall to drive in two runs. Cabrera had to hold up at first base, though, and could not advance. Manny Ramirez then singled, but Tony LaRusa called him left-hander Ray King, who came in and struck out David Ortiz, the end, the inning. Schilling's night was then over. He had worked six innings and given up just one unearned run. And Jason Veritek said after the game, you could see he was battling with his ankle. We did the right thing, getting him out of there. Ellen Embry then faced three batters in the top of the seventh inning and struck out all three. Mike Timlin came in to pitch for the Red Sox in the top of the eighth. He watched Edgar Renteria, who advanced a second base as Larry Walker grounded out, Timlin to first base, and then Pujol single to put runners on first and third. Renteria scored on a sacrifice fly by Scott Roland, and then Keith Foki relieved and struck out Jim Edmonds. In the ninth inning, Terry Francona had gave Kapler pay left field in place of Manny, and then Foki struck out Reggie Sanders, got Tony Womack to line out to Nixon and Wright, and then got Matthew to ground out shortstop to first base. So game two was then in the books, a six to two Red Sox win. The Red Sox had left nine men on base. The 320 game was a win for Schilling in a loss for Morris, and Foki had now pitched in nine of the 12 postseason games for a total of 12 innings without allowing a run. Fun fact too, with the win, Kurt Schilling became the first pitcher to ever win three World Series games for three different teams. The 1993 Phillies then the 2001 Diamondbacks, and then now this 2004 Red Sox team. So that was a pretty cool thing for him to experience, and then the Red Sox had to travel to St. Louis for game three, which took place on October 26th. And the Red Sox won game three, four to one, as the momentum kept rolling for them. The Cardinals hoped that since they were back at home, they could change the narrative of the series, but that was not the case. The Red Sox were still ready to go even on the road, and the Cardinals didn't have exactly great home-and-away splits. They had won 53 regular season games at home and 52 on the road, but they had their winningest pitcher ready to go in Jeff Shupan, who had a 16 and nine record and four 16 ERA, and he had been pitching better in the post season. So the Red Sox were thinking, you know, maybe it could make a difference because there was no designated hitter in the time, in the NL, so would that make a difference for the Red Sox? And it turns out it did not. So Pedro was on the mound in the game. Three times saw a young award winner. He had what was for him a down season. He was 16 and nine with a 3.90 ERA. He was one in one in the post season with a 5.40 ERA, having given up 12 runs in 20 innings. In seven prior post season games, he did not yet had a plate appearance. Once again, the Red Sox scored first and in the first inning. This time it was only for one run, but that still put them on the board. After two solidly hit outs, Manny Ramirez hammered a high fastball several rows deep into the left field seats, which was a no-douter to make it one to nothing. David Ortiz then singled, but Jason Veratak hit into a fourth play at second base to end the inning. This was Pedro's first World Series game that he was pitching in, but he was amped up and ready to go. In the bottom of the first inning, before he settled down, he did struggle flirting with potential disaster. There was a one-out walk, a single that Bill Miller couldn't handle at third base, and then another walk. Jim Edmonds flied out to left field, which might have tied the game, but Manny Ramirez caught it while running in and made a perfect one-hop throw to Veratak at the plate, which ended up nailing Larry Walker, who had tagged up at third and tried to score, so the inning was then over. Neither team reached base in the second inning, and then Supon hit an infield single off of Pedro, leading off the bottom of the third inning, and Edgar Rensheria doubled over Troughton Nixon's head in right field to put Supon on third. Walker grounded out to second baseman Mark Bellhorn, who was playing deep Bellhorn through to Ortiz, who was playing first base since there was no DH. Ortiz then stepped on the bag and noticed that Supon was off the bag at third. He had headed for home, as expected, and gotten fully halfway there, but then held up, retreated, have heartedly started for home again before trying to get back to third. Ortiz then took a couple of steps to our third base, planted his feet and threw a strike to Miller, who tagged Supon out. Albert Pujols then grounded out third to first base, rather than the score being tied, the inning was over at an embarrassing base, running the wonder by the Cardinals. Somebody on the Cardinals, who was unnamed, set afterward to change the whole game, we weren't the same after that. This isn't us, I don't know why, but this isn't us. In the top of the fourth inning, Supon got Ortiz to ground out to Pujols at first base, and he struck out Veratac. Miller hit the ball to left center and hustled to second base to make it a two base hit. Swinging at the first pitch, Nixon singled over Walker's head and right field. Miller then scored easily, and the Red Sox had a two to nothing lead. Supon hit Bellhorn with a pitch, but struck out Pedro to end the inning. Nixon's hit produced the ninth two out run Red Sox batters had produced in the World Series to this point. Pedro retired St. Louis one, two, three in the bottom of the fourth, and then the Red Sox added two more runs in the fifth inning. Johnny Damon led off with a double, which like Nixon's in the fourth, went over Walker's head and short hopped the right field wall. Orlando Cabrera lined a single to right field, and the Red Sox had runners on first and third with nobody out, and Manny Ramirez coming to bat. He skittered a ball through the infield between short and third to score Johnny Damon. Supon retired Ortiz on a fly ball to center, and then Veratac's ground ball forced Manny at second. Miller aligned a single to right fields for yet another two out run to make it four to nothing Red Sox. And LaRusa had seen enough at that point. He brought in Alberto Reyes to relieve. He pitched one pitch and Nixon flat out to end the inning. In the fifth, sixth and seventh innings, Pedro buckled down and retired all nine batters in order, never one seeing a ball hit out of the infield. It went four strikeouts, two pop ups, two ground outs, and a line out. Mike Timlin then took over for him in the bottom of the eighth, and induced three consecutive ground outs, two of them by pinch hitters Roger Sedeno and John Mabry. Keith Vokey then came in again and works the bottom of the ninth inning, the only blemish being the one that prevented a shutout. Walker hit a long home run to nearly straight away center field, a little bit toward left field, and into the first row of seats, which spoiled Vokey's postseason scoreless innings streak at 12 and a third innings. Full holes hit a long drive to left field, but it was caught by Manny just in front of the warning track, and then Vokey struck out Scott Rowan looking to end the game. The Cardinals just weren't hitting. The number four, five and six batters in their lineup were one for 31, and the one base hit was Rowan's bunt back in game one. So they just were ice cold at the plate, and the Red Sox had taken the first three games of the series with a final score of four to one in game three. And then it led to a legendary game four where the Red Sox had the chance to break the curse. So coming up, I'm going to be going over that legendary games. You definitely won't want to miss that. This episode of "Locked on Red Sox" is brought to you by booking.com. Booking. Yeah. With summer travel heating up, especially travel for baseball games, it's time to explore those US cities you always secretly wanted to learn more about. Yes, we're talking about your rivals' cities. With hotels, bed and breakfasts, vacation rentals, resorts and so much more on booking.com, you might just find your perfect stay, even in your baseball rivals' city. The right stay can make you a fan of any US city, even your rivals. 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Again, create an account and redeem code L-O-C-K-E-D-O-N-M-L-B for $20 off. Download game time today. Last minute tickets lowest price guarantee. You definitely will not be disappointed with game time. It will save you so much money on tickets, I promise you. Also, this is a reminder to check out Walkdown Sports Today on YouTube or Amazon Fire TV in the free Fire TV channels app as we have launched the first ever National Sports 24/7 streaming channel to keep you up to date on all things going on in sports. So make sure that you check that out today as well. The Red Sox had won the first three games of the World Series. They had all of the momentum still going into game four. They were ready to finally break an 86 year curse and give these Red Sox fans a championship. And they went into game four, seeing that finish line and feeling that momentum. They were so, so close to finishing the deal. And that's exactly what they did in game four. Three to nothing shut out for the Red Sox. They were just so hungry going into that game. And the Cardinals just wanted to try to put a win on the board. They were ready to go. The number of runs, the Red Sox scored in each of the three preceding games, declined from game to game, but so had the number of runs scored by the Cardinals. So both teams were having offensive problems later on as the games progressed. So going into game four, St. Louis, Skipper Tony LaRusa entrusted the ball to right-handed starter Jason Marquis, who was 15 and seven on the year with a 3.71 ERA during the regular season. Derek Lowe was Terry Francona's choice to start. He had a disappointing 5.42 ERA during the regular season and a record of 14 and 12. He had lost three postseason games in 2003, but in 2004, he had won the clinching game of both the Division Series and the ALCS. So he had really stepped up under pressure. In all three of the 2004 World Series games, the Red Sox had scored in the first inning, and game four followed that pattern. On the fourth pitch of the game, center fielder Johnny Damon homered into the Cardinals bullpen and right center field, the ball seeming to hit off the bench. It was Damon's first home run of the World Series and also the only run the Red Sox needed since low-pitched seven innings of shutout ball, allowing only three base hits in a walking only one. Then three relievers of Bronson and Royo Allen Embry and Keith Vokey combined to throw the final two innings, similarly shutting out St. Louis while collectively allowing just one base on balls and one base hits. So the pitching was dominant in this game. Marquis started by walking Manny Ramirez, but otherwise escaped any further damage in the first inning. Lowe took the mound and gave up a leadoff single to Tony Womack that rose just over the glove of a leaping Orlando Cabrera at shortstop. Larry Walker was then up next. He already had two World Series homers and six in the 2004 postseason. He ended up surprising probably everybody by dropping a bunt toward third base. Unfortunately for him though, the bunt was closer to the mound than the baseline and low-pounced on it to fire to first base. He had been going for a base hit but still helped the team by advancing Womack to scoring position with just one out. If the Cardinals could score at least one, they'd erase the one to nothing Red Sox advantage, but they didn't. Albert Pujols had been the MVP of the NLCS with four home runs and nine RBIs. He driven in five runs in the division series but hadn't driven in even one run in the World Series. He grounded out to Mark Bellhorn at second base and Womack was able to take third. Scott Roland was up next and he hit a ball that skittered down the first baseline, staying fair, but low ran over to the line, snagged the ball and tagged Roland for the out that ended the inning. In the second inning, Trent Nixon doubled to right center with one out and Bellhorn blocked. Low then contributed with the sacrifice, but Damon grounded out to first unassisted and then the Cardinals went down in order in that inning. The Red Sox scored two more runs in the top of the third inning. With one out, Manny Ramirez singled between short and third. He ran his postseason game hitting streak to 17 games, Ortiz then doubled into the right field corner with Manny holding at third base. Jason Veratack hit the ball hard to first base and Pujols didn't hesitate. He fired the ball home and Manny was out at the plate. Bill Miller then walked to load the bases. Trent Nixon was up and took three balls. Mark, he had been behind most of the batters he faced, but rather than take the next pitch, Nixon aggressively swung and it paid off for the Red Sox. He hit the ball to right center off the base of the wall for a two run double to make it three, nothing Red Sox. And then with low on deck, Marky intentionally walked Bellhorn and then struck out low. As he had in the second inning, Low set the Cardinals down in order in the third and then again in the fourth. Marky settled down, retiring the side in the fourth and allowing only one base runner in the fifth. Edgar Renteria doubled in the bottom of the fifth and Low uncorched a wild pitch to the next batter, but no run was able to score. Dan Herron relieved Marky and secured a one, two, three seventh inning. Low allowed nothing but a single to Renteria. In the eighth Miller singled off Herron and Ortiz doubled, LaRouza then called on Jason Istringhausen to relieve. He watched Bellhorn on six pitches. Low was due up but Francona pinch it for him. Kevin Miller struck out and then Johnny Damon grounded to first base and once more poules threw home with Yachty or Molina applying the tag. And then Cabrera struck out. There was bases loaded, nobody out and the Red Sox had failed to add even one insurance run, but it didn't matter because of the pitching stepping up. Bronson Arroyo came into the game and walked Reggie Sanders with one out in the bottom of the eighth. And then Embry came in, struck out a batter and got a pop fly to short from the other. And then the game went to the ninth inning with the Cardinals still having yet to get on the board. Veritac singled in the top of the ninth but there was nothing more. So then the Red Sox were three outs away from winning their first World Series in 86 years. For the fourth game in a row, the ball was handed to Keith Vokey at what the Red Sox hoped would be the end of the game. Poules singled through Vokey's feet right up the middle and into center field and then Roland flied out to right. Jim Edmond struck out on three pitches and it was up to Rancheria to save the Cardinals season as it was. He had had two of St. Louis' four hits so he was seeing the ball well. He swung at the second pitch and hit the ball directly to Vokey on one hop. As Red Sox radio announcer, Joe Castiglione called it Vokey to the set, the one-nothing pitch. Here it is. Swinging a ground ball, stabbed by Vokey, he has it. He underhands to first and the Boston Red Sox of the world champions. For the first time in 86 years, the Red Sox have won these balls world championship. Can you believe it? Obviously, he said it in his own Castiglione away, not how Gabby would say it, but it was a special moment for the Red Sox, Keith Vokey being able to contribute to recording the last out of the World Series. It's just probably an unimaginable feeling unless you're in that situation and the Red Sox watched their fans just absolutely scream and cry and erupt when they came back for the parade. And it was just a really special time for that Red Sox team, a team that just had broken a curse of so long. And it truly was a special moment. And being part of that team must have just been nothing short of special. So there you have it, folks. The Red Sox legendary run to winning the 2004 World Series. And who knows, maybe the 2024 team will go to the World Series as well. But I mean, we don't know, but that's why we have to keep the faith go, Red Sox, and I will catch you on the flip side. Here, there. That's what cooked when you ordered juicy beef sounds like. The steaming hug of two slices of melted cheese, the crunch of tangy pickles and sliced onions all topped with a toasted sesame seed bun. That's the sound of a McDonald's quarter bounder with cheese. First beef had participating US McDonald's. Excludes Alaska Hawaiian US territories. Walmart plus members save on meeting up with friends. Save on having them over for dinner with free delivery with no hidden fees or markups. That's groceries plus napkins plus that vegetable chopper to make things a bit easier. Plus, members save on gas to go meet them in their neck of the woods. 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