RED SOX WIN! And Some Maildays

THE RED SOX WON THE WORLD SERIES!

The Red Sox have been to the World Series four times in my lifetime, but I was only five in 1986 when they lost and not at all a baseball fan.  So this is really the third time I have watched them in the Series and they have won all three.  It was a very interesting Series, with a couple of surprising endings in Games 3 and 4.  But it all came down to last night and the Red Sox won.

GAME 1:  Red Sox 8 Cardinals 1 (Boston leads 1-0)

Game 1 featured a matchup of aces with Jon Lester pitching against Adam Wainwright in Boston.  The Red Sox offense was going early and Wainwright gave up five runs.  Lester pitched well and David Ortiz hit a home run and drove in three runs.

PLAYER OF THE GAME:

JON LESTER: 7.2 innings, 5 hits, 1 walk, 8 strikeouts, Win.

GAME 2:  Cardinals 4 Red Sox 2 (Series tied 1-1)

Michael Wacha came in to much fanfare and shut the Red Sox offense down until David Ortiz homered with a man on, which momentarily put Boston in the lead.  Then the bullpen failed to shut down the Cardinals and they scratched out three more runs to win.

PLAYER OF THE GAME:

DAVID ORTIZ:  2 for 3, home run, 2 RBIs.

GAME 3:  Cardinals 5 Red Sox 4 (St. Louis leads 2-1)

In the craziest finish to a World Series game I have ever seen, the Cardinals scored the winning run on an obstruction call against Will Middlebrooks who failed to get up after attempting to field a ball and Allen Craig got tied up in his legs.  Boston trailed early but kept coming back until that obstruction play.

PLAYER OF THE GAME:

XANDER BOGAERTS:  2 for 4, triple, run.

GAME 4:  Red Sox 4 Cardinals 2 (Series tied 2-2)

Another crazy ending as the Cardinals had Kolten Wong on first with two outs and Carlos Beltran at the plate, but Koji Uehara picked Wong off of first to end the game.  Jonny Gomes came through with a clutch three-run home run to put Boston ahead for good and Clay Buchholz gutted out four innings.

PLAYER OF THE GAME:

JONNY GOMES:  1 for 2, three-run home run.

GAME 5:  Red Sox 3 Cardinals 1 (Boston leads 3-2)

Jon Lester again outdueled Adam Wainwright and Boston took the lead with two runs in the seventh inning.

PLAYER OF THE GAME:

DAVID ORTIZ:  3 for 4, double, run.

GAME 6:  Red Sox 6 Cardinals 1 (Boston wins 4-2)

Michael Wacha had some trouble this time out as Boston got to him early and often.  Shane Victorino drove in four runs and Stephen Drew homered.  John Lackey pitched well enough to win but had to escape a number of jams to do it.

PLAYER OF THE GAME:

SHANE VICTORINO:  2 for 3, double, 4 RBIs.

WORLD SERIES MVP:

DAVID ORTIZ

.688/.760/1.188, 2 home runs, 2 doubles, 6 RBIs.

Also congratulations to Dustin Pedroia and Shane Victorino for winning Gold Gloves.  Jacoby Ellsbury should have won over Adam Jones and I am shocked that Mike Napoli was not even a finalist at first base considering he lead the league in DRS.

Okay and now to catch up on maildays.  The first was a trade that was completed awhile ago but the other party forgot to send it on time so he added some nice cards to it.

1.  2012 Topps Chrome Dynamic Die Cuts Adrian Gonzalez.  This was supposed to be the only card I got in the trade, but the rest were throw-ins.  I just love these die-cut cards.  Adrian Gonzalez is probably kicking himself today.

2.  2013 Topps Allen & Ginter Across the Years Jacoby Ellsbury.  The biggest question facing the Red Sox this offseason is what will happen to Ellsbury.  I want him back, but he might become too pricey.

3.  2013 Topps Chrome Mike Napoli.  Another free agent.  I do think Boston will bring him back for first base.  He probably deserved a Gold Glove this year.

4.  2013 Topps Chrome Jackie Bradley Jr.  If Ellsbury goes, Bradley takes over in center field.  If not, he could take over in left.

5.  2011 Topps Cognac Jacoby Ellsbury.

The next trade was a small one, but was packed with vintage stuff:

6.  1972 Topps Luis Aparicio IA.  These In Action cards are great.  Aparicio is a Hall of Famer who was in Boston for the final three years of his career.

7.  1970 Topps Rico Petrocelli AS.  Fresh off of his 40 home run season, which was unheard of for an American League shortstop at that time.

8.  1995 Jimmy Dean All Time Greats Carl Yastrzemski.  I love food issues and this is one of the nicer ones I have picked up in a long time.  Even without the MLB license, this is still a great card.

9.  1969 Topps Deckle Edge Ken Harrelson.  Without a doubt one of the worst air-brush jobs I have seen.  The uniform is clearly an A's uniform, but the hat features a B.  Looking at scans of his cards, I am not sure there is a card that actually features him in a Red Sox uniform.  I hate listening to him announce White Sox games, but he was a great player for Boston in 1968, leading the league in RBIs that season.

10.  1968 Topps Game Carl Yastrzemski.  Not in the best shape, but still nice to have.

11.  1968 Topps Game Jim Lonborg.  Same as the Yaz.

Next was a quick and easy trade:

12.  2013 Topps Update Emerald David Ortiz AS.  Now he can add World Series MVP to his growing list of credentials.  His Hall of Fame case is getting stronger.

13.  2013 Topps Update Emerald Daniel Nava.  A terrific season for the outfielder and his second base card in flagship for some ungodly reason.

I traded one of my Blue Prizm parallels for this:

14.  2013 Panini Prizm Red Prizm Mike Napoli.  I really like this one.  Even without the MLB license, though it would look better.  Oddly it lists Napoli as a catcher, a position he did not play at all for the Red Sox.  The beard is beginning.

And the last trade brought me a bunch of cards from my wantlist:

15.  2009 Topps Chrome Jason Varitek.  How did I not have this one?

16.  2013 Pinnacle Jon Lester.  What a great postseason he had.

17.  2008 Upper Deck Timelines Clay Buchholz.  I liked the Timelines set.  I still need a bunch of cards from it.

18.  2008 Upper Deck Timelines Clay Buchholz.  Another card from the Timelines set.

19.  1989 Bowman Lee Smith.  I have no idea why I did not have this one before either.

20.  1987 Donruss Steve Crawford.  Crawford was one of the Red Sox better bullpen arms in the 1986 pennant-winning season.  One year he lead the team in saves with, get this, 12.  How times have changed.  It was not as if Boston had multiple options either.  Bob Stanley saved 10, but after that nobody had more than three.  It was a different time and bullpens were much different.