BOSTON — John Farrell walked out to the mound, with two on and two out in the seventh inning of a five-run game. The Red Sox manager does not make that trip except to pull his pitcher.
But before he reached the mound, John Lackey was making his case, and quite forcefully: “John, this is my guy.”
Farrell went back to the dugout without his pitcher. After a wild pitch and much talk about Grady Little, who notoriously and disastrously left Pedro Martinez in too long in the 2003 AL championship series against the New York Yankees, Lackey walked Matt Holliday to load the bases.
Junichi Tazawa finished the inning, and Lackey’s win was secure.
“I wanted to stay in there. I wanted to get that last out in the inning,” Lackey said. “But the bullpen guys shut it down. It was a great team win for a great team.”
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Lackey allowed one run in 6º innings to help the Red Sox beat St. Louis 6-1 in Game 6 of the World Series on Wednesday night and clinch their third championship in 10 years.
Fisk gets his chance
Carlton Fisk had been waiting almost 40 years for his chance.
The Hall of Fame catcher, who famously waved his fly ball fair for the winning home run in Game 6 of the 1975 World Series, threw out a ceremonial first pitch before this year’s sixth game.
Fisk donned a fake beard to make his first pitch.
Fisk said on Wednesday that he was also scheduled to throw out a ceremonial first pitch at Fenway Park in the 2004 World Series. The Red Sox were saving him for Game 6 that year, but they swept the Cardinals to end their 86-year championship drought. Three years later, Boston was back in the series and Fisk was again slated to throw out the ceremonial first pitch before Game 6. Again the Red Sox ended it in four games, and again they clinched it on the road.
Late-arriving Cardinals
The Cardinals spent most of their travel day not traveling at all.
The team’s plane sat on the tarmac at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport for about seven hours on Tuesday and didn’t arrive in Boston until about 11 p.m.
Manager Mike Matheny said there was no complaining from his players.
“I can’t tell you how impressed I was with how everybody handled it,” Matheny said.
