Introduction and Game One recap
Game Two recap
Game Three recap
Game Four recap
UPDATE (3:49pm): Box score is now up.
To counteract a team with momentum, opposing managers will sometimes shake things up by altering their lineup a bit. I thought that in real life, a manager facing a team coming off a late-inning, come-from-behind-win and that could close out a series at home might pull a switch or two to give his own club a spark.
So instead of running Tim Wakefield back out for Game Five, I decided to give Bronson Arroyo the start for the Red Sox. He hadn’t pitched since his 3.2 innings in relief of Wakefield in Game One, so you know he’s “fresh.”
It turned out to be the right decision, at least for the Red Sox. Only in one of his six innings did Arroyo allow a baserunner past second. The Cardinals second opened with a whiff of Scott Rolen and a Jim Edmonds flyball out. Renteria then doubled, Mabry got plunked for the second time this series, and Mike Matheny (returning from his ankle injury) stroked a single to score Renteria. Cardinals hurler Woody Williams whiffed to end it.
Williams, on the other hand, had a start reminiscent of Jason Marquis’ in Fake Game Four: Lots of hits and lots of walks. Only this time, Woody was helped out by three double plays to keep things close. The first inning started with a walk to Johnny Damon. Orlando Cabrera came aboard via fielder’s choice groundout, and then Manny Ramirez earned a walk. But David Ortiz bounced one right back to Williams to start the 1-6-3.
The Red Sox second started out with another leadoff walk, this time to Jason Varitek. Trot Nixon followed with a double that managed to score Varitek from first. Williams managed to escape further damage by whiffing Bill Mueller, intentionally passing MarK Bellhorn, whiffing Arroyo and getting Johnny Damon to pop out to left.
The third and fifth innings were similar to the first for Williams. Cabrera’s leadoff single in the third was followed by a 6-4-3 by Ramirez. A walk to Ortiz was neutralized by another comebacker, this time from Varitek.
A perfect fourth begat Arroyo’s single to lead off the fifth, which of course, was negated by a Damon double-play grounder. The sixth inning saw yet another leadoff hit, this time a double by Ramirez. Williams somehow balked Ramirez to third, not that that mattered, because Ortiz crushed one into the left-field bleachers to make it 3-1. A Varitek strikeout was followed by a Nixon single. Mueller flied out to center, and Bellhorn drew a legitimate walk. But Rolen snatched an Arroyo liner to end that threat. And that was all she wrote for Williams: 6 innings, 6 hits and 6 walks, but only three runs thanks to those double plays.
The Cardinals half of the sixth saw only a meaningless Pujols single. And so it went for the Cardinals until the ninth. With Keith Foulke in to close things out, Rolen led off with a single. Edmonds then guessed wrong and struck out. But Edgar Renteria singled to right, allowing Rolen to take third. Renteria stole second to whip the crowd into a frenzy, but Mabry and Matheny both whiffed. Ballgame. The series now stands at 3-2. Siiiiighhhhh… back to the Fens to face Curt Schilling and possibly Pedro Martinez.
BOS A 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 - 3 8 0 STL N 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 1 7 0
BATTING
Boston Red Sox AB R H RBI BB SO Damon cf 4 0 0 0 1 1 Cabrera ss 5 0 1 0 0 0 Ramirez lf 4 1 1 0 1 0 Ortiz 1b 3 1 1 2 1 0 Varitek c 3 1 1 0 1 1 Nixon rf 4 0 2 1 0 0 Mueller 3b 4 0 0 0 0 2 Bellhorn 2b 1 0 0 0 3 1 Arroyo p 3 0 1 0 0 1 Kapler ph 1 0 1 0 0 0 Totals 32 3 8 3 7 6
FIELDING - DP: 1.
BATTING - 2B: Nixon (2,off Williams); Ramirez (4,off Williams); Varitek (1,off King) . HR: Ortiz (2,off Williams). Team LOB: 9.
St. Louis Cardinals AB R H RBI BB SO Womack 2b 4 0 0 0 0 0 Walker rf 3 0 1 0 1 0 Pujols 1b 4 0 1 0 0 1 Rolen 3b 4 0 1 0 0 1 Edmonds cf 4 0 0 0 0 1 Renteria ss 4 1 2 0 0 1 Mabry lf 3 0 1 0 0 1 Matheny c 3 0 1 1 0 1 Taguchi ph 1 0 0 0 0 1 Williams p 2 0 0 0 0 1 Lankford ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 33 1 7 1 1 8
FIELDING - DP: 3.
BATTING - 2B: Renteria (3,off Arroyo); Walker (1,off Arroyo). HBP: Mabry (2,by Arroyo). Team LOB: 7.
BASERUNNING - SB: Renteria (1,2nd base off Foulke/Varitek).
PITCHING
Boston Red Sox IP H R ER BB SO HR Arroyo W(1-0) 6 4 1 1 0 4 0 Mendoza 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 Myers 0.3 0 0 0 1 0 0 Timlin 0.2 0 0 0 0 0 0 Foulke S,2 1 2 0 0 0 3 0 Totals 9 7 1 1 1 8 0
St. Louis Cardinals IP H R ER BB SO HR Williams L(1-1) 6 6 3 3 6 4 0 Calero 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 King 1.3 2 0 0 1 1 0 Tavarez 0.2 0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 9 8 3 3 7 6 0
BK: Williams (1). IBB: Williams (1,Bellhorn).
