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Red Sox sweep Rockies for another World Series Championship Justin Kauffman ’09

On October 28, Jonathan Papelbon closed out game four of the World Series to bring the Boston Red Sox their second Championship in the last four years. The 2007 playoff run resembled the path Boston took last time they received their rings. Similar to 2004, Boston got through the first round with ease and came back from a large deficit in the ALCS. After knocking out any American League competition, the Sox have been so inspired by their performance that both World Series proved to be a smooth victory. The Colorado Rockies were the National League team that faced the Sox in the final series of the season. Their performance prior to the four games was extremely unexpected by baseball viewers everywhere. At the close of the regular season, the Rockies didn’t have a sufficient enough record to take the top place in their division, yet they overran the competition in the final games of the season to win the National League Wild Card, insuring them a playoff spot. The Colorado Rockies had won twenty-one out of their last twenty-two games, when entering the World Series. Although the Red Sox had the best record in Major League Baseball for the majority of the regular season, many thought the Rockies had potential to stop the Boston powerhouse, the reason for this being their unprecedented momentum. The Rockies constructed their team around a multi-dynamic batting order. The first six hitters really allowed for the team to accumulate the most crucial wins. Matt Holliday, Todd Helton and Garrett Atkins had a reputation in 2006 as being all star sluggers, who were known to bat in timely runs, and Rookie Troy Tulowitski and Kas Matsui were the one and two hitters that completed the Rockies’ offense. Many people see the series against the Red Sox as an anticlimactic ending for the Colorado Rockies. Danny Rosenberg, a WHS Sox fan, was quoted saying, “Yeah. I was so pumped when we won the Series, but the for a while, there I was worried the Rockies were a real threat because of their recent level of play.” It was evident that the opponent the Rockies faced would not cower away from any competition. The Sox won the ALCS by rallying back from a 3-1 lead in the seven game series the previous week, and their momentum almost matched that of the Rockies. “Many people thought the Rockies had a solid chance to beat Boston, but they were definitely not the only team with momentum,” said Nick Sullivan, a junior here at the high school. The Red Sox had numerous weapons the entire season. Every pitcher in the rotation played a solid role in the postseason, but ace Josh Beckett is said by many to have high potential for winning a Cy Young Award, the award granted to the best pitcher in both the American and National Leagues. In addition, Curt Schilling demonstrated his veteran abilities in this year’s postseason. On the offensive side, every Red Sox hitter managed to contribute in one way during the course of the postseason. Mike Lowell, the World Series’ MVP, Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz played their typical roles, getting opportune hits to run up the score. However, certain unexpected players also flexed their muscles by contributing in various ways. JD Drew hit a critical grand slam in the ALCS that insured a Red Sox victory, and despite his lack of playing time in the final two games, Kevin Youkilis had arguably the best postseason of any Red Sox player. Rosenberg was angered by Youkilis’ lack of play. “It was really disappointing to see “Youk” sit on the bench, because he was play really well the whole postseason,” he said, commenting on the Red Sox first baseman’s performance. The Red Sox refused to lose and break the hearts of Boston fans yet again. They ultimately pulled through and gave their fans the opportunity to witness another World Series Championship, something that is not an often occurrence in Boston Red history.