It's the Little Things: Reflections on October 17th-20th, 2004

Like any other respectable Red Sox fan, part of my COVID quarantine time has been spent reflecting on our great fortune over the past 16 years. Those of us who have been around long enough realize how different this run has been from the decades prior, when it seemed like every crucial moment was almost guaranteed to go against our beloved team.

Most recently many of us have been re-living for the umpteenth time that incredible four-day stretch during the 2004 American League Championship Series (ALCS), when fate finally chose to smile upon us. This time around my focus settled on the subtle yet critical aspects of these games. The big plays are well-documented and etched in Red Sox history: Roberts’ steal, Papi’s walk-off heroics, Schilling’s sock, A-Rod’s slap, Damon’s slam, Foulke’s arm, the magical revival of Derek Lowe. But there are many other turning points that only careful examination illuminate as pivotal. These games never get old for the die-hard fan since, similar to a connoisseur enjoying a favorite wine, the finer aspects refresh and enliven each re-acquaintance. Plays that may have appeared minor or at most noteworthy at the time, yet now seem enormous in retrospect - it's the appreciation of these moments that distinguishes the true "kókkineskáltsophile" (from the Greek meaning "lover of red socks").

Game 4: October 17th-18th, 2004

Our first taste comes early in Game 4, played at Boston's historic Fenway Park. The crowd was just getting into it, having taken some time to shake off the hangover from the Game 3’s embarrassing 19-8 loss, a tilt that was even more lopsided that the final score indicates. In fact we should begin this recitation of almost-forgotten heroics by honoring a memory from that previous night: Tim Wakefield taking one for the team after the game was well out of reach. A slow-motion suicide mission that lasted 3-1/3 innings and 64 pitches, Wake fell on the grenade and in doing so abandoned all hope of a redemptive post-season start after having suffered Aaron Boone’s walk-off the autumn before.

In the top of the second with no score, Hideki Matsui (aka Godzilla) – whose performance would have won him the ALCS MVP award in any other universe – lined a double to left. He advanced to third on Bernie Williams’ weak grounder to second, and Jorge Posada stepped in. Lowe got ahead 0-2, then missed twice. Posada then put the ball in play – a not-too-sharply hit grounder to the left side between Bill Mueller and Orlando Cabrera. And Hideki chose to break for home.

Despite the adage that a third baseman should field any ball he can reach, Mueller deferred to O-Cab and retreated to cover third. This put him in position in case Matsui retreated or was caught in a rundown. Also, moving to his left would have made the throw home slightly more awkward for Mueller, and perhaps he sensed that. But it wasn't an easy play for Orlando either as it’s to his backhand side. He fielded it with the panache we were blessed to witness for such a short time in Red Sox colors, hesitated for an instant, (perhaps to re-grip the ball?), then fired to the plate. Matsui read Varitek’s positioning perfectly and slid to the foul side of the plate, trying to elude the tag to put the Yankees on the board first. But the throw was on target, and Varitek’s ballet-like swipe tag caught the Yankee right-fielder’s shoulder before he reached the dish. A valiant gamble gone for naught, the game remained scoreless. Needless to say, and like many other moments we will re-live together here, had these few seconds not gone the Red Sox way, the now-glorious “2004” would have been instead taken its place alongside other ignominious integers, such as 1946, 1978, and (dare I even type it?) 1986.

This next memory is a personal favorite because it’s both enormous and so easily overlooked. By the bottom of the 5th inning the Yankees led 2-0 thanks to a 2-run A-Rod moonshot over everything in left. And this game was beginning to feel like so many that preceded it over the years – we had all seen this movie before and hated the ending. Millar led off with a walk (foreshadowing?) and was erased at second when Mueller hits a high-hopper to the gigantic Tony Clark at first. Millar went hard into second and Derek "Captain Intangibles" Jeter chose to pocket the ball rather than risking the relay to pitcher Orlando Hernandez ("El Duque") covering the bag. It's unclear if Jeter had a shot at turning two, but it was an interesting and perhaps fatal choice, though we’ll never know. But that’s not what brings us to this point in our story.

Bellhorn then worked a walk off the aging Cuban hurler, moving Mueller to second. As customary, Johnny Damon then took his place in the (nota bene) left-handed batter’s box. It’s easy to forget how bad Damon had been to that point in the series, with only one hit in 13 at-bats. In fact both he and Bellhorn seemed truly lost, though they would redeem themselves later. But Hernandez was clearly tiring, having thrown seventy pitches to this point and missing the plate in ten of his twelve previous attempts this inning. Of the next five pitches, Posada and El Duque chose to target four of them toward the outside part of the plate. On the fifth delivery, Damon waved late at an 88-mph fastball away and the count went full. Yet inexplicably, the obvious plan to induce a double-play ball on a grounder to the left side seems to have been lost on second baseman Miguel Cairo. Though he remains unseen in the videos the author could find of the upcoming moment, it’s clear that he must be shading Damon to pull. Of course it was important to defend against a weak grounder finding its way into right field, yet …

Posada again set up outside and El Duque hit the target. As designed, Damon slapped the pitch sharply to Jeter at shortstop. At this instant, most experienced Red Sox fans instinctively cursed and got up for another beer, having previously borne witness to countless inning-ending double-play squanders. Jeter gracefully scooped and sidearmed the ball toward second. But ... Cairo was late getting to the bag. He had to take the throw before arriving, then look down and stab his toe at the base. Having forced Bellhorn, he pivoted and fired to Clark … a step too late to get the speedy Damon. So the inning continued. The light-hitting Cabrera hit a 2-2 pitch to Cairo’s left into right field to score Mueller, Manny Ramirez walked, and David "Big Papi" Ortiz singled to drive in two more (all off of Hernandez who should have been shaking hands and heading to the showers almost twelve minutes earlier). When Varitek struck out to end the 6th the score Red Sox led 3-2. If Cairo had been in the right spot four batters earlier, it would have been 2-0 Yankees. Yet even devout Red Sox fans rarely acknowledge this moment when recapping this glorious four-game run.

In the top of the 6th the Yankees scored twice to re-take the lead. It could have been worse. Sheffield grounded out, then Matsui tripled and Lowe gave way to Mike Timlin. Williams chopped one off the plate and for a moment it looked like Cabrera might cut down Hideki at home again, but he couldn’t barehand it cleanly and it went as an infield hit and an RBI. A wild pitch moved Bernie to second, and Posada then walked. Timlin then uncorked another wild one that Varitek partially blocked but it rolled to his right and Williams broke for third. He slid in hard feet-first and appeared to beat Varitek’s quick throw. However, slow-motion replay revealed that Bill Mueller had dropped his leg into harm’s way, blocking Williams from reaching the bag until after the tag had been applied. The third base umpire Randy Marsh was in perfect position and got the call right. Remember that there was no replay back then, so had Marsh ruled incorrectly the lives of Red Sox fans everywhere would have unfolded differently. Two infield singles followed that plated Posada but the Sox trailed by only one run thanks to Mueller taking the spike.

The 7th and 8th innings were unremarkable by comparison. One item of historical note is Francona’s decision to go to Foulke with one out in the 7th. This marked the beginning of a 50-hour stretch during which Keith would make three appearances, pitch five innings, and throw 100 high-leverage pitches.

Any Red Sox fan can recite the highlights of the bottom of the 9th: Millar led off and walked, Roberts stole second, and Mueller put one past Rivera’s attempted kick save to tie the game. A deservedly-forgotten 9th inning moment (resurrected here purely out of spite) is in this fan’s opinion the worse-ever at-bat by a Red Sox player – Cabrera’s strikeout with Mueller, representing the winning run, at third base and one out. Three flailing hacks (with a take mixed in), each swing missing by what looked like a foot or more, when practically any contact at all would have sent the faithful home in jubilation (not that yours truly is bitter about it).

In the top of the 11th, Alan Embree came in and gave up a single to Cairo who advanced to second on a perfectly executed sacrifice bunt by St. Derek. A-Rod stepped in, and Sox fans recall that eight innings and what seems like a hundred years earlier, he had launched a ball onto the parking garage roof across Lansdowne Street that later re-appeared in center field not once but twice (a story for another time perhaps).  After a questionable strike call and two pickoff throws to second, Embree again fired plateward and A-Rod lashed a low liner toward the hole. Cabrera dove to his right, his glove stretched backhand across his body, and somehow snared the ball an inch or two above the cut of the outfield grass. Though Cairo had to freeze with only one out, if that ball had gotten past Orlando it’s terrifying to imagine our hopes resting on Manny charging in and making a perfect throw to the plate (particularly when the replay shows him looking statuesque – and not in a good way – as he watches Cabrera’s acrobatics).

Next up was Sheffield who got ahead of Embree 3-0 and was then intentionally walked. Mike Myers was summoned to face Godzilla. It’s seems likely that the game plan and maybe even Myers’ spot on the ALCS roster was specifically designed for him to get Matsui out in just such a situation, though their only prior match-up this series resulted in a meaningless solo home run that accounted for the Yankees' 19th run the night before. Myers failed again here, though the walk he surrendered didn’t wreak havoc the way that a hit certainly would have. But it did load the bases for the man who at the time was the all-time leader in post-season home runs and RBIs: Bernie Williams.

This moment marks the beginning of another often-overlooked yet critical sequence – the last thirteen pitches of Curt Leskanic’s career. A mid-season acquisition, over 11 years in the majors he made 609 appearances, faced over 3000 batters, threw almost 12000 pitches, and logged over 718 innings. But the final 1-1/3 were, without question, the pinnacle. With the season on the line, Leskanic surprised Williams with a first-pitch slider over the heart of the plate, taken for strike one. He then got Bernie to chase a low-and-away fastball that he lifted to center and Damon put it away, ending the threat.

The Sox had another chance in the bottom of the 11th, thanks to a two-out walk and stolen base by Damon. But Cabrera failed again to convert, and Leskanic returned to the hill for the top of the 12th. The last hit he would ever surrender was a Texas Leaguer to right by Posada. Then on a 2-1 pitch, Ruben Sierra drove a one-hopper right back through the box. Inexplicably, the baseball gods chose to let it hit Leskanic on the back of the leg instead of continuing into center field. He recovered to get Sierra at first – if that ball goes through into center field even the lead-footed Posada most likely would have advanced to third, and with none out would be 88% likely to end up scoring (according to Tom Tango’s seminal run frequency matrix).

After a brief visit from manager Terry Francona and trainer Jim Rowe, Leskanic took one practice toss and announced he was fit to continue. Clark lofted the next pitch to Manny in left – a fly-out that might have led to a play at the plate but for Leskanic’s butt-save on the previous pitch (though Posada would likely have been held at third). Cairo took a slider for strike one. The next pitch sailed above Cairo’s head but Varitek somehow managed to snag it. Leskanic then got a generous strike call on an inside fastball and finally, unbeknownst to all at the time, finished his career with an 82-mph slider away that Cairo couldn’t reach.

Minutes later, Papi’s homer over Sheffield into the visitors’ bullpen at 1:23 am gave the veteran pitcher his final and only post-season win. And Game 5 would begin in less than sixteen hours.

Game 5: October 18th, 2004

Game 5's early 5:15 pm start time was driven by the one-day postponement of Game 3 due to rain. This consumed what would have been the scheduled off-day for travel, and pitted this tilt against the NLCS Game 5 which had the prime-time slot. It was the very definition of a back-and-forth affair. The Red Sox scored two and left the bases loaded in the 1st, the Yankees answered with one on a Williams' HR in the 2nd.  A possible game-changing moment occurred in the top of the 3rd, when Jeter led off and slashed a ball down the right field line that somehow found the narrow sliver of foul territory just shy of Pesky's pole. He would later strike out, but had that ball stayed fair he might have scored later that inning.

Then Trot Nixon made a terrific play to rob A-Rod on a ball sliced into right, sprawling on the warning track near the foul line. In the radio broadcast, Trupiano points out that this ball could have been a triple or even an inside-the-park homer had Nixon failed to snare it. Sheffield followed with a walk and Matsui continued his dominant performance with a single, but Pedro got Bernie on strikes to end the threat. It's easy to imagine this scoreless half-inning ending instead with the Yankees on top.

The Yankees rallied for three runs in the 6th. With one out, Posada beat out a chopper off the plate that bounded over Pedro's head, and Sierra followed with a single to center. Clark came next, and as an example of how critical ball and strike calls can be, consider this 3-2 offering. Pedro got the strikeout and Red Sox fans everywhere agree wholeheartedly. But it's actually a close call and had it gone the other way there might have been no 2004 Red Sox championship.

The inning continued with Cairo getting grazed by a pitch to load the bases. Jeter then cleared them with a double sliced to right field off of Pedro's 100th offering of the night - though in today's era of replay, Cairo might have been called out at the plate despite his terrific slide. It's uncanny how often Pedro's outings would go south right at the century mark - ask Grady Little. But Francona leaves him out there for A-Rod (who got drilled with a tailing fastball) and Sheffield who followed with a walk to re-load the bases. Matsui then slashed a sinking liner to right field, and once again Trot Nixon sprawled to save the season for the Red Sox:

By the top of the 8th, still down by two, the early enthusiasm of Red Sox fans in Fenway had given way to muffled anxiety. This worsened after Cairo led off with a double and Jeter moved him to third with another textbook sacrifice bunt. Timlin got a huge strikeout of A-Rod, but was too fine with Sheffield and walked him. Francona went to Foulke to pitch to Godzilla. He got him out on a good running catch by Manny, and Ortiz led off the home half, facing Tom Gordon. Papi got the crowd back into it with an opposite field blast of the Volvo sign, narrowing the Yankees' lead to 4-3. Then for the second time in less than 24 hours, Millar worked a crucial walk and Roberts ran for him. The count went to 3-1 with Roberts apparently unable to get comfortable with Gordon's move. Finally Tito put on the hit-and-run and Nixon converted with a single up the middle, moving Roberts to 3rd. Torre went to Rivera to face Varitek. He lofted a 2-0 cutter to Williams in center field scoring Roberts and tying the score. Rivera got Mueller and Bellhorn and the game moved to the 9th.

Foulke stayed on and got Bernie and Jorge to pop to first where mid-season acquisition and defensive specialist Doug Mientkiewicz had replaced Millar. But he walked Sierra which led to another compelling moment in our drama. The count ran to 1-2 to Tony Clark. Foulke went inside with the fastball but it leaked back to the inside corner, and Clark turned on it and hammered it to right. A long drive down the line, out of many ballparks in Fenway's unique dimensions it remained in play. As Sierra churned around the bases, the ball landed fair and kicked toward the stands. It had just enough momentum to vault the wall by mere inches – an automatic double that prevented Sierra from scoring, returning him to third. Foulke then got Cairo with the inning's third P-3, stranding the Yankees' 13th and 14th baserunners of the night. Had Clark's ball stayed in play, Sierra would have scored and the Yankees would have advanced to the Series. A Lawrence MA native and Red Sox fan, Dick Turmel, purports to have illicitly deposited his late father's ashes in that exact spot earlier in the 2004 campaign, and claims heavenly assistance from his dad Richard.

The bottom of the 9th went scoreless, as did the 10th, 11th, and 12th innings. The Red Sox threatened in the 11th with back-to-back singles to start the frame, but Damon popped up his sac bunt attempt and Cabrera hit into a 6-4-3 double play to douse the flames. With the bullpen decimated, Francona opted for Wakefield in the 12th but left Varitek in to catch. Back-up catcher Doug Mirabelli had been the receiver for almost every Wakefield knuckleball that season, but as Francona said later, making the switch then would have put the Sox one foul tip away from having to put backup second baseman Pokey Reese behind the plate. With one out Wake gave up a single to Cairo that Manny misplayed to give him second. In a foreshadowing what was to come in the 13th, Wakefield's first pitch to Jeter went through Varitek's legs. But it hit home plate umpire Jeff Kellogg's foot, and Cairo was unable to advance. Jeter ended up lining out to Kapler (in relief of Nixon in right) who had to put on a hard charge and caught it on the run. Had Cairo been on third it might have been a close play at the plate.

In the bottom of the 12th, Manny popped out and Ortiz singled. With Mientkiewicz at the plate and the count 2-1, Ortiz took off for second. But Doug must have missed the hit-and-run sign as he did not swing at the pitch. The throw from Posada was high and wide and Jeter had to leap for it while David slid around him to reach for the bag with his hand. On replay, Jeter's swipe tag looks too late, but Randy Marsh punched out Ortiz anyway. Mientkiewicz struck out and the game continued.

For Red Sox fans, the top of the 13th was probably the most nerve-wracking half-inning of the series. With few options left in the bullpen, Wake stayed in and Tek remained behind the plate. Sheffield led off and the knuckleball was electric. Sheff hacked wildly and misses a 2-2 offering, but the ball dove past Varitek and instead of the inning's first out, the Yankees had a leadoff baserunner. With Matsui at the plate, the 1-1 pitch was wild low but Tek covered the five-hole with his glove and kept Sheff at first. Wake then got Hideki to ground slowly to Bellhorn who flipped to Cabrera to get the lead runner. Bernie then flew out to right – two down. Posada stood in, and Varitek botched the first delivery but it didn't roll far enough for Matsui to advance. After a called strike, the 1-1 delivery darted outside and caromed off the heel of Varitek's glove, putting the go-ahead run in scoring position. The Sox then chose to walk Posada and pitch to Sierra. Wake got ahead 1-2, then missed outside and again it went off the heel of Tek's glove and to the backstop. Both runners moved up, putting the Yankees lead run just 90 feet away. The crowd fell practically silent, a palpable dread hanging in the air. The count ran to 3-2, Sierra swung through an inside knuckler, and this time Varitek hung on. And Fenway exhaled as one.

The Red Sox went down without a whimper in the 13th. Wake again took the hill for the 14th. Tony Clark drove an 0-2 offering deep down the right field line but it twisted foul. The next knuckler dropped in for a called third strike. Cairo flew to center, Jeter grounded to short, and we went to the bottom of the 14th.

Facing Estoban Loaiza who had been in the game since the 11th, Bellhorn struck out. Damon worked a walk but Cabrera fanned. Manny had a patient plate appearance that resulted in the second walk of the inning, putting the winning run in scoring position for Papi. A masterful at-bat culminated with a 2-2 offering being fisted into shallow center, allowing Damon to come around with the winning run. For the second time that day, the Red Sox (and specifically David Ortiz) had staved off elimination in extra innings.

Game 6: October 19th-20th, 2004

The next chapter of our saga opens with the underdog Red Sox venturing into enemy territory (old Yankee Stadium), looking to continue their quest to conquer odds no team had ever before overcome. The wounded hero they followed into battle led with blood on his uniform. And would take two interventions by the baseball equivalent of the gods (in this case, Joe West's umpiring crew) to enable their journey to continue. In the classical sense, this epic game was the most dramatic of the series, and would leave contrasting but indelible marks on the careers of two major-league greats - Curt Schilling and Alex Rodriguez.

Schilling had hurt his right ankle late in the regular season. Then two fielding plays in game 1 of the ALDS against the Angels had aggravated the injury, tearing the bands that hold down a primary tendon in the ankle, the peroneus brevis. As a result, during the mechanics of his pitching delivery, the unconstrained tendon would snap over Schilling's ankle bone, causing sharp pain and distraction.

Despite the injury, Schilling had continued to pitch. But his effectiveness was dramatically diminished, as evidenced by his Game 1 performance: three innings pitched, six hits, six earned runs, and two walks. There was much doubt as to whether he would start again in the post-season. In reality, the story of Game 6 began the previous day, when Red Sox orthopedic surgeon Dr. Bill Morgan performed a groundbreaking experimental procedure to stitch Schilling's tendon to the surrounding tissue, thereby limiting its excursions and in theory reducing the pain and distraction while pitching. The television coverage of this game provided an image that will live forever in Red Sox lore - an oozing reddish stain, presumably blood, seeping through Schilling's right sock. Yet he would go on to log one of the most celebrated pitching performances in post-season history.

The 1st inning was unremarkable except perhaps for the surprisingly effective work of the Red Sox starter. In the top of the 2nd, the Red Sox loaded the bases with one out but Bellhorn hit into an easy double play. In the bottom, Posada launched a drive that carried deep to right field but was caught by Nixon on the track. The 3rd was uneventful, but the action spiked in the top of the 4th.

The first two Red Sox hitters, Ortiz and Nixon, made easy outs and it looked like Yankees' starter Jon Lieber would continue to cruise. Kevin Millar stepped in, and turned on the first offering he saw - an inside fastball - launching it down the left-field line. He lingered momentarily at the plate as the ball seemed destined to twist foul. But the same left-to-right breeze that carried Posada's fly ball the prior half-inning straightened out Millar's, and it landed at the base of the left-field wall just barely fair. Despite his hesitation, Millar slid into second ahead of the throw.

Varitek was next, and worked a craftsman-like at-bat. The first two offerings were outside sliders, both framed well by Posada, that garnered strike calls from the notoriously-poor ball-and-strike umpire behind the plate, crew chief Joe West. Lieber spiked a curveball on the next pitch and it bounced far enough away for Millar to take third. Batting left-handed, Varitek then chopped a fastball foul off his back (left) foot. Lieber followed with a change-up away taken for a ball, then a two-seamer in the dirt, blocked nicely by Posada, to run the count full. Varitek fouled back two sliders - one away and one inside. Then came a tailing two-seamer, and Varitek grounded it weakly toward Tony Clark at first. But the spin carried it just foul, and Tony Clark's half-hearted attempt to deceive the umpire into calling it fair had no effect. Had this ball been about a foot to the left the inning would have ended and it's likely that the Red Sox would not have won the 2004 World Series.

The next pitch, the tenth of this at-bat, was drilled into center-field, driving in the first run of the game.

Cabrera followed and swatted Lieber's first pitch into shallow left, advancing Varitek and keeping the inning alive for Bellhorn. Mark had struggled mightily to this point in the series, though he did manage a double the previous night. Lieber got ahead in the count 1-2, then tried to slip a two-seamer by him on the outside corner. Bellhorn went with the pitch and lofted it deep into left. Matsui went back onto the track but the ball continued to carry toward the fence. It then caromed onto the field ... but off of what? The umpire stationed down the left-field line, Jim Joyce, made no call, which meant that the ball was still in play. The runners proceeded with Varitek and Cabrera crossing the plate and Bellhorn cruising into second. The Red Sox third-base coach Dale Sveum frantically gave the home run signal, as did many in the Red Sox dugout. The TV replay immediately revealed the ball had in fact cleared the fence and had hit a spectator standing in the front row, making it a home run. But as noted earlier this game took place before the institution of officiating replays. Terry Francona vaulted onto the field to plead his case, and the umpires convened to discuss.

At this time, the practice of umpires conferring on a close or questionable call was still relatively rare and almost never resulted in a reversal. For most of the history of baseball, umpiring etiquette dictated that the official who was responsible for the call made it, and the others deferred out of professional courtesy. After all, no one likes to be second-guessed on the job. But more recently the culture had shifted slightly to place greater emphasis on getting calls right.

About two minutes after Bellhorn struck the ball, the umpires reversed Joyce's call, signaled home run, and Mark was permitted to finish his circuit of the bases. The Red Sox led 4-0, and would not score again this night. On a June night almost six years later, Joyce would eclipse this blown call by robbing Armando Galarraga of what would have been only the 19th perfect game pitched in the modern era on a close play at first base. These errors undoubtedly contributed to today's ubiquitous use of replay officiating in the majors.

In the bottom of the 4th, the Yankees mounted a comeback attempt. A-Rod and Sheffield both singled to begin the frame. After Matsui popped out to Millar, Bernie Williams came to the plate. Schilling started him off with a change-up that stayed up, and Bernie hooked it hard down the right-field line. Once again, angular momentum (aka spin) played a big part in a close play, and the ball curved just foul. Had it stayed fair, at least one and perhaps two runs would have scored, and Bernie would have likely ended up at second with one out. This in turn would have almost certainly caused Francona to get Bronson Arroyo up in the bullpen in anticipation of an early exit for Schilling.

Instead, a couple of pitches later, Bernie grounded a ball to Millar who knocked it down and tossed to Schilling covering the bag (despite his bad ankle) for the second out of the inning. Posada then grounded out to Millar unassisted and the Red Sox had the shutdown inning.

Both starters cruised through the 5th and 6th innings. Then with one out in the top of the 7th, Williams hit an right-field upper-deck shot to get the Yankees their first run in over fourteen innings of play. But Schilling got Posada and Sierra, then offered his kudos to Joe West as he left the field with a 4-1 lead, signalling the end of arguably the gutsiest start in Red Sox history. Since this mythical night, Schilling has done much to tarnish his image among Red Sox fans and New Englanders in general. But as he hobbled to the dugout in the middle of the 7th this chilly October night, he was Boston's favorite son.

The Red Sox got singles from Manny and Gabe Kapler (batting for Nixon) in the 8th but didn't advance a man past second. The bottom half would be more memorable. Arroyo came in for Schilling and Mientkiewicz took over for Millar at first. Bronson struck out Tony Clark, but Cairo followed with a double. Jeter drove him in with a single to left, bringing A-Rod to the plate as the tying run. Arroyo got ahead 1-2, and then fooled A-Rod completely and he watched what was intended to be an inside slider split the plate. But Varitek caught it awkwardly, and Joe "Box O' Chocolates" West once again proved that you never know what you're going to get, calling the pitch a ball.

Given what was to come, A-Rod surely must wish he had been called out on strikes. Arroyo chose to spin a 72 mph curveball plate-ward that got A-Rod off-balance, but he kept his hands back and chopped it weakly to the right side. Arroyo pounced on the ball and continued toward the line to tag A-Rod as Jeter headed for second. As the two drew close (with Mientkiewicz also nearby), Arroyo reached to tag A-Rod. The ball came loose and bounded down the line, Jeter circled the bases, and A-Rod wound up on second. After Mientkiewicz retrieved the ball and time was called, bedlam ensued. The video replay memorialized a signature moment in the career of the great Alex Rodriguez: as Arroyo attempted to apply the tag, A-Rod slapped the pitcher's gloved left hand, dislodging the ball. Randy Marsh umpiring at first base appears to have been screened by Mientkiewicz from witnessing the critical moment of impact. Again Francona sprung onto the field to beseech the rest of the umpiring crew to intervene, again the men in black huddled for about two minutes, and again they reversed the call on the field. Rodriguez was called out for interference, and by rule, Jeter had to return to first base. Arroyo then induced Sheffield to foul out to Varitek, and the Red Sox carried a two-run lead into the 9th.

Prior to the institution of replay, umpiring decisions were almost never overturned, especially in post-season. Many egregious post-season mis-calls have been allowed to stand, some of which almost certainly influenced the outcome of games and even series. If the following names are unfamiliar, ask any knowledgeable baseball fan and you will hear the stories of Don Denkinger, Ed Armbrister, and Jeffrey Maier. Until this fateful game, the only prior post-season call reversal this fan can recall happened the previous year in the ALCS between these same two teams when in Game 1 right field umpire Angel Hernandez missed seeing a Todd Walker home run hit the right field foul pole and was quickly overruled by home plate ump and crew chief Tim McClelland. But to have two calls reversed in the same game, with both of them having been potentially series-altering, remains hard to believe even so many years later.

The Red Sox got a couple of baserunners in the top of the 9th but were unable to extend the lead. And for the third night in a row, Francona gave the ball to Keith Foulke. Always the warrior, Foulke gamely took the hill, but his recent workload appeared to weigh on him. He walked Matsui, then with the tying run at the plate he managed to strike out the dangerous Williams as the clock struck midnight. Posada then popped up to third (a ball on which Bill Mueller made a nice play in shallow left). Sierra worked a walk and with two on and two out, Tony Clark stood in, representing the winning run. Laboring, Foulke got behind 2-0, then got a called strike on an 88-mph fastball on the outside corner. He went back to the fastball again and Clark fouled it back for strike two. The next offering was a change-up in the dirt that did not draw a swing, and the exhausted Varitek (logging his 35th inning of work in a 52-hour span) somehow summoned the energy to make a critical block. Now with the runners in motion representing the tying runs, Foulke delivered a fastball high-and-away. The 88-mph offering eluded Clark's sweeping bat, tying the series at three games apiece. It was Foulke's 28th pitch of the inning, his 100th in just over two days. And for the first time in major league history, a team down 3-0 in a post-season series had won three consecutive do-or-die games.

Game 7: October 20^th, 2004

At the conclusion of Game 7, announcer Joe Castiglione would say that "the Boston Red Sox have pulled the greatest victory in team history!" This is provably hyperbolic given that the franchise had previously won five world championships, including one on a game 8(!) extra-inning walkoff, while this win only punched their ticket to another best-of-seven challenge against the St. Louis Cardinals. But the sentiment is accurate. By winning Game 7 of the 2004 ALCS the Red Sox had accomplished what had never been done in major league history in twenty-four previous opportunities - winning four games in a row after starting a series with three losses. And they had done it against their most hated rivals, the New York Yankees, who had vanquished them from the post-season the year before in the most heartbreaking fashion, a seventh-game, extra-inning walkoff home run, in that same ballpark.

Even so (and to the relief of Red Sox fans everywhere), Game 7 lacked the high drama of its three immediate predecessors. The Red Sox scored six runs in the first two innings thanks to a two-run homer by David Ortiz in the first and a Johnny Damon grand-slam in the second. Derek Lowe once again rose to the occasion, holding the fearsome Yankees' offense to just one run over 6-plus innings of work. And the only moment of real theater in this match came after Lowe ran out of gas in the 7th when, with the Red Sox leading 8-1, Terry Francona surprisingly tapped Pedro Martinez to make a rare relief appearance. The New York crowd exploded at the sight of Pedro taking the mound, as he had been victimized there in Game 7 the prior fall, having been left in the game too long by the aforementioned Grady Little. Presumably Francona wanted to give Pedro a bit of Yankee Stadium redemption, but the move almost backfired, and the Yankees scored twice off of Martinez and had a runner on when Miguel Cairo drove a ball to the track in right field that Nixon caught to end the inning.

With the crowd now fully revived, Bellhorn led off the 8th and muffled the din with a long fly to right that hit the foul pole for his second homer in as many nights. Mike Timlin had a shutdown 8th, the Sox tacked on another in the 9th, and at the end Alan Embree got Ruben Sierra to hit a grounder to Pokey Reese to seal the greatest comeback in baseball history.

The Red Sox went on to sweep the Cardinals in four straight, winning their first championship in 86 years - the only time a team has finished the post-season by winning eight consecutive games. A well-earned outcome that will forever be cherished by their fans, that also was a product of a lot of little things going their way.