Empyreal Environs

Jon Lester and Adam Wainwright faced off again, this time on Wainwright’s home field. Just as he did in Game 1 of this Fall Classic Wainwright surrendered a run in the first inning. But unlike that game Wainwright got back on track quickly.

Lester lasted 7⅔ innings with no walks and seven strikeouts. Only Matt Holliday tallied a run on him with a fourth-inning blast to center field. Lester made Cardinals hitters look almost as bad as he looked in his three at bats.

The Cardinals started a rally in the bottom of the third with David Freese’s leadoff gutshot single. Pete Kozma followed with a bunt that Lester chased down and barehanded. The lefty ace flipped to David Ortiz, who did his signature snappy snare and step off the bag.

Ortiz’s duende extended beyond his fielding. He paired with Dustin Pedroia with doubles in the first inning for an early lead. The single danced down the first base line with Allen Craig’s mitt nowhere near it. Ortiz was 3-for-4, increasing his World Series stats to historic proportions: .733/.750/1.267. His teammates call him Cooperstown, and he may eventually be the first designated hitter enshrined there.

While the bottom part of the Red Sox lineup has been lackluster at the plate they strung together baserunners when it mattered. Xander Bogaerts knocked a single up the middle with one out and Stephen Drew worked a base on balls in the seventh inning. David Ross was at the plate and Lester was in the on-deck circle. As sparkling as Lester’s pitching was, he failed to advance the runners on a bunt attempt in the fifth inning, wasting Bogaerts’s and Ross’s singles.

David Ross didn’t send the ball over the fences like Jonny Gomes, but his ground-rule double to left was still thrilling. The initial angle didn’t show where the ball landed but the replay showed it was mere inches from being foul.

It’s baseball, and something like Jose Lobaton’s home run could always happen somehow. But give Koji Uehara, a closer at the pinnacle of his craft, a two-run lead in the ninth and you can put an “S” on your scorecard in ink without fear of scratching it out.

The Cardinals’ charter was delayed for six hours due to mechanical problems. They could have used a more flightworthy craft, like the one the Best Fans in Baseball made and flew towards the mound in the seventh inning.

World Series Game 5: October 28, 2013
Boston Red Sox 3-2	3	W: Jon Lester (2-0) S: Koji Uehara (2)
		2B: Dustin Pedroia (2), David Ortiz (2), David Ross (1)
St. Louis Cardinals 2-3	1	L: Adam Wainwright (0-2)
		2B: David Freese (1) HR: Matt Holliday (2)