It’s all over but the screaming and the celebrating as the newly crowned Champion Boston Red Sox, winners of 2 World Series in the last 4 years arrive at Fenway in the afternoon.

As many expected, the Red Sox overwhelmed the Colorado Rockies in sweeping them 4 games to none in the 2007 World Series.

But in the clinching game 4 which Boston won by a 4-3 score, as with game 2, the Rockies made it a tight game. 

The Red Sox touched Rockies starter Aaron Cook for single runs in the 1st, 5th and 7th innings, chasing him in the 7th after series MVP 3rd baseman  Mike Lowell’s leftfield solo homer.  Cook tossed 70 pitches for the game while striking out 2 and issuing no walks.

Meanwhile, Boston starter Jon Lester carried a shutout thru 2 outs in the 6th inning before issuing a walk and being relieved by Manny Delcarmen who got the final out of the inning. 

Centerfielder Jacoby Ellsbury led-off the game with a double, got to 3rd on a groundout and scored on 1st baseman David Ortiz’s single to rightfield.

Both teams registered zeros until the Red Sox scored in the 5th on catcher  Jason Varitek’s long single to rightfield.

In the 7th inning, both teams traded runs on solo homers, Boston’s by Lowell and Colorado’s by rightfielder Brad Hawpe to rightfield.

In the 8th inning, rarely used pinch hitter Bobby Kielty went ballpark to leftfield on reliever Brian Fuentes for what turned out to be the winning run as Boston led 4-1.

In the Colorado 8th, 3rd baseman Garrett Atkins blasted a 2 run homer to leftfield off of lefthanded Japanese reliever Hideki Okajima to draw to 4-3 and to make the 9th inning dramatic.

But with closer Jon Papelbon pitching, the last 1 2/3 innings were lights out for Colorado and wild victory parties and parades in Boston.

AP baseball writer Ben Walker makes some choice observations about this World series for Yahoo sports;

… No NL team could have blocked Boston this October.

At this rate, New England fans might get spoiled. Francona’s team has become a perfect counterpart to coach Bill Belichick’s bruisers on the Patriots.

As for his comment about NL teams, I have to grudgingly agree.  The  National League seems to be suffering a severe shortage in good, young consistent pitching at all levels; starting, middle relief, set-up as well as closers.  But, that’s comment for a blog entry in and of itself.  It’s off-season winter talk.

Mike Lowell’s MVP is well-deserved.  AP Baseball Writer Mike Fitzpatrick offers these thoughts and observations about Lowell;

Earlier in the Series, Lowell called himself “the throw-in” on the 2005 deal with Florida that brought ace Josh Beckett to Boston. Nobody looks at Lowell that way anymore.

“Pretty good throw-in, I guess,” Lowell said, drenched in champagne as he clutched his glistening trophy in the raucous Red Sox clubhouse. “Icing on the cake. This is just extra special.”

“I’m on Cloud 9. It’s unbelievable,” said Lowell, a survivor of testicular cancer. “We’ve got a lot of people to give credit to.”
 
A key cog in Boston’s powerful lineup, Lowell bats fifth behind David Ortiz and  Manny Ramirez.

Few could have done it better this year.

Lowell homered, doubled and scored twice in the Game 4 clincher at Coors Field, dirtying his uniform with a headfirst slide at the plate that typified his whatever-it-takes attitude. He hit .400 (6-for-15) in the Series with four RBIs, three walks and a team-high six runs.

Lowell, who also won a World Series ring with the Marlins in 2003, hit .348 this postseason with two homers and 13 RBIs. He did it quietly, like almost everything. But that doesn’t mean it went unnoticed.

It may be a pipe-dream, but here’s hoping that Mike Lowell finds himself playing 3rd base for the Phillies.  But after the season he’s had and his World Series MVP, it’s too much of a long-shot to bet on.

On the Colorado Rockies behalf, their phenomenal late-season 21 out of 22 game run will be remembered for years to come, as will the Phillies’ September charge to catch and overtake the Mets to win the NL East. 

The Rockies have a lot of real good young players and are going to be a force in the NL Central for years to come.

Well, the 2007 season which has been memorable has drawn to a close.  This blog will be around throughout the off-season commenting on the various award recipients, the annual winter exhibition series in Japan, the winter meetings, the trades, free agency, arbitration, etc. as well as bringing many more all-time baseball highlights, through to spring training for 2008.

Many thanks for your readership throughout these past two seasons. Stay tuned and stay surfing to Blogging Baseball.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 29th, 2007 at 12:18 pm and is filed under All Time Baseball Highlights
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