Sox in a walk

A Nation gets to celebrate second title in four years.

By MARC TOPKIN, Times Staff Writer
Published October 29, 2007

Red Sox players spray each other with champagne after defeating the Colorado Rockies in Game 4 to win the World Series.
	[AP photo]

ADVERTISEMENT [Getty Images] Boston closer Jonathan Papelbon hugs catcher Jason Varitek after striking out Seth Smith for the final out of the World Series. Boston swept the Rockies to claim their second title in four years.

DENVER - They may not be as stupid as they claimed to be in 2004. They didn't carry the same burden of history. And they didn't say anything about a curse.

But that didn't make it any less of an accomplishment, or any less of a celebration, as the Red Sox swept to a second World Series championship in four seasons with a 4-3 win Sunday night over the Rockies.

Closer Jonathan Papelbon threw his glove and leapt high in the air after striking out Seth Smith for the final out as the Sox raced out of the dugout to celebrate and pull on championship T-shirts before the thousands of red-clad Sox fans that made their way to Colorado. The Sox headed into the clubhouse for the typically wild champagne festivities, then returned to the field to more cheers, with the fans chanting for Papelbon to reprise his Riverdance celebration.

Third baseman Mike Lowell was named Series MVP.

"I'm supposed to have a lot of things to say and maybe be a little bit profound, but it's hard to come up with the right words," said Sox manager Terry Francona, the only manager to have two Series sweeps and no losses. "To go through this from Day 1 to now, with people you really care about, makes it really special."

Just as much as four seasons ago.

"What happened in '04, we'll never forget," Francona said. "But this is '07, and we said that from Day 1. And we accomplished our goal, and that's not easy to do."

The Sox led 3-0 and 4-1, but it wasn't that easy as the Rockies closed the gap to 4-3 on Garrett Atkins' two-run homer in the eighth. Papelbon came on to get the final five outs, though the entire Red Sox Nation held its collective breath as Jamey Carroll's one-out drive soared to the leftfield wall before being caught by Jacoby Ellsbury.

The Red Sox won with clutch hitting and phenomenal pitching, holding the Rockies to 10 runs and a .218 average.

They became the 23rd team to take a 3-0 Series lead and the 23rd to celebrate a championship, the 20th by sweep. It was their seventh overall, their second straight by sweep.

"That's an extreme feat," reliever Mike Timlin said. "Back to back sweeps; that's impressive."

After going 86 well-chronicled and somewhat romanticized years without a Series title, the Sox were celebrating again. If the first one was more of a novelty, the second was a bit more business-like for a reason. After spending heavily to add free agents J.D. Drew, Julio Lugo and Japanese import Daisuke Matsuzaka, the Sox opened the season with a $143-million payroll second only to the Yankees and the expectations to win.

"It's a little different when from the onset a lot of people are expecting you to win a world championship, and if you don't it's a disappointing year," Lowell said. "For us to come through and do what we thought we were capable of doing is unbelievable. We've got a lot of people to give credit to."

"Everyone has to do something special for us to be here," Francona said, "and a lot of guys did."

They held the best record in the majors for much of the season but staggered a bit near the end and were on the brink of elimination by the Indians in the AL Championship Series, trailing 3-1.

But they won Game 5 in Cleveland behind Josh Beckett and haven't lost since, cobbling their first seven-game winning streak of the season at a fine time.

Sunday, they took an early lead behind a strong start by Jon Lester, who capped his inspirational comeback from lymphoma in tremendous fashion.

"I'm so proud of Jon Lester," Francona said.

As much as they are known for their veteran stars, they were carried through the postseason as much by their promising next-generation core, with key contributions from rookies Dustin Pedroia and Ellsbury and young pitchers such Papelbon and Lester.

As much energy as the roaring, towel-waving Coors Field crowd of 50,041 tried to provide, the Sox scored quickly and eventually built a 3-0 lead.

Ellsbury got them started with a leadoff double then scored on David Ortiz's single. They added a second in the fifth, when Lowell doubled and scored on Jason Varitek's single. They made it 3-0 when Lowell opened the seventh with a homer, their first of the Series since Pedroia went deep on the second pitch of the opening game.

The Rockies were shut out until the seventh when Brad Hawpe knocked reliever Manny Delcarmen's pitch into the rightfield seats. They had a chance for more when pinch-hitter Cory Sullivan singled with one out, but veteran Mike Timlin, the Tarpon Springs resident, struck out Kaz Matsui and Troy Tulowitzki.

The Sox immediately made it 4-1 when pinch-hitter Bobby Kielty, in his first Series at-bat, homered on the first pitch of the eighth from Brian Fuentes.

The Rockies weren't done, cutting it to 4-3 in the eighth, on a two-run homer by Garrett Atkins off Hideki Okajima.

That forced Francona, who had to be nervous having already taken sluggers Ortiz and Manny Ramirez out of the game for defensive purposes, to summon Papelbon.

Marc Topkin can be reached at topkin@sptimes.com View his blog at blogs.tampabay.com/rays.

[Last modified October 29, 2007, 01:27:08]