2007 World Series - Boston Red Sox Are World Champs

At the end of the day, the Boston Red Sox proved that they were indeed, the best team in baseball over a long season. Not even a curse that once took control of them for 86 years could be repeated this time, as Boston won the 2007 World Series for the second time in four years. Clinching the title in Coors Field with an exciting 4-3 win over the Colorado Rockies, the Red Sox swept their National League opponents with a powerful display of clutch hitting, precision pitching and all-round tactical genius. Surely now, Terry Francona will go into the record books as one of the best, if not THE best, Boston Red Sox manager in history.

So much for walking into the ballclub on the back of critics' snipes about how he did not deserve the manager's job - the man did not have an impressive resume. Most were betting that he would not even last a year.

Now, Francona is smiling as his carefully assembled team of professional stars and sparkling rookies once again showed that a balanced mix of class and hard work would pay off in the end - no matter how many still claim that the Boston Red Sox are only second to the Yankees for buying their way to trophies. This time, it was MVP Mike Lowell - one of the hardest working honest professional in the game, and starting pitcher Jon Lester, both cancer survivors, who carried the Red Sox on their backs.

Looking at their roster, it would be no surprise if this team goes on to add more World Series rings to their collection. The veterans like Ortiz, Ramirez and Varitek are nowhere near their sell-by date, coupled with an exciting array of rookies like Dustin Pedroia and Jacoby Ellsbury. Their starting pitchers, other than Curt Schilling and Tim Wakefield, are all up-and-comers (if you can even consider World Series 2-time winner Josh Beckett to be one) with strong fundamentals and powerful arms. To illustrate their dominance in this series, consider this - Boston only trailed for three and a half innings to the Rockies in Game 2, in the whole series, and all four starting pitchers won their games - the first team to achieve that since the 1927 Yankees.

Credit to the Colorado Rockies for putting up more of a fight from Games 2 to 4, pushing Boston all the way until their bullpen put up a show for all, in particular Hideki Okajima and Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon. Francona has fashioned a steely bullpen - a traditional weakness of past Boston teams. Many will now make much of the Rockies' eight day layoff prior to the start of the Series, but in truth, they never had any answer to an experienced team that made plays when it mattered most.

While it is back to the drawing board for a youthful Colorado team that showed much promise in the future, the question on everyone's lips would be whether Boston will bring back Lowell, who now becomes a free agent after the Series. While certain quarters have suggested that the Red Sox could pursue Alex Rodriguez (who is scheduled to announce he will be opting for free agency), it would be interesting to see if they would risk bringing in an individual who has had continuing feuds with their captain Varitek. The pair have clashed in the past and did not even speak to each other in the locker room during this year's All-Star event.

Whatever the Boston Red Sox does, you can be sure the aim would be for continued world domination. With a canny manager and an all-action lineup that has learnt to fuse style, class and determination over the years, that can only be another World Series win away.


References:
Red Sox Sweep to 2nd World Series Title in 4 Years
Mountain Men: Sox are Champs