- [Host] It's October 17th, two thou--
Oh, actually it's now October 18th, 2004.
It's past 1:00 AM.
We're in frigid Boston, Massachusetts,
where game four of the American League Championship Series
between the Red Sox and the New York Yankees has gone long.
We're in the 12th inning with the game still tied.
But with a man on first, no outs,
and David Ortiz at the plate,
Boston is hoping to end this game
and hoping to begin a historic comeback.
The Sox are down three games to nothing,
so hope is all these fans have.
They are struggling.
Before we proceed, let's examine that sliver of hope.
Let's see what the Sox are up against,
how they fell in this hole and what it would take
to even begin an unprecedented climb out of it.
Let's rewind.
(light music)
So besides the 40-ish degree temperatures
and it being well past bedtime,
what are the Red Sox up against?
Well, for one they are the Red Sox,
and those are the Yankees,
and for almost a century that has meant the same thing.
1918 is the last year the Red Sox won the World Series.
Since 1918, the Yankees have won 26 World Series,
as recently as 2000.
In related news, we've been hearing Yankee fans
chant "1918" for decades and constantly during this series.
For most of that history, those opposite trends
happened in parallel.
The Yankees and Red Sox always clashed during the season,
but New York made their post season runs
at someone else's expense.
Recently though, the Red Sox have been pretty good.
Being good is good, but it also puts you in the playoffs,
which means you might have to face your loathsome Goliath
of a rival with much more at stake.
1999's ALCS was the first ever playoff series
between these two teams,
and the Yankees made it hurt from the outset.
With clutch hitting from their all-star lineup,
and clutch pitching from their monolith
of a closer, Mariano Rivera.
Boston took game three, but the Yankees closed the door
in games four and five then won the World Series in a sweep.
New York's second in a row.
Second of three it turned out.
And if '99 was a new, more intimate version of pain,
then last season was a full on attack.
Boston again played an excellent season.
Again, won their divisional series.
And again, faced the Yankees in the '03 ALCS.
Except this time they competed.
The Sox won game one, then game four,
then they made a stirring comeback in game six
to force a decisive final contest in New York.
A decisive final contest that Boston led five to two
in the top of the eighth, only to watch
the brilliant Pedro Martinez come undone
in the bottom of the inning.
The Yankees rallied for extra innings
where unlikely hero Aaron Boone
ended the ALCS on a walk-off,
sending New York to another World Series.
At least they didn't win it all this time.
So even after 85 years of drought,
the Red Sox keep finding new ways to suffer,
new interpretations of the same old story.
But hey, if last season's narrow heartbreaking defeat
wasn't your thing, the torment of this ALCS
has been nothing like it.
It is an absolute blowout,
with Boston pitchers wearing the blame.
In game one, all-star acquisition
Curt Shilling tried to gut his way
through an ankle injury and got wrecked.
In game two, the Yankees only got to Pedro a little bit,
but three runs was enough.
And in game three, the Yankees got to Bronson Arroyo a lot
and then they got to literally every other pitcher
the Red Sox threw at them.
The Sox gave their home crowd eight runs last night
and still got crushed.
Just miserable.
Altogether, this '04 ALCS is about as one-sided as it gets.
Games one through three constituted 27 innings,
and the Red Sox held a lead for half
of one of those innings.
If the specifics of this circumstance weren't so dire,
so hopeless, you might ask the question
how often do Major League baseball teams recover
from 3-0 deficits to win a seven game playoff series?
And you'd get the following answer:
never, that does not happen.
Good thing you didn't ask.
Three games to nothing is terminal,
which is why this morning you could already read
obituaries for this Red Sox team.
Bob Ryan called the deficit a death sentence
and anticipated a long, cold winter.
He contrasted this series to '03 for its lack of what-ifs,
no second guessing, no turning point,
no room for wonder or reflection, it's just a rout.
Elsewhere in the globe, Jackie MacMullan agreed.
It's over, and honestly, Boston fans
were kind of foolish for having hope.
If the Red Sox themselves harbored such thoughts
entering game four, they didn't say so.
Kevin Millar stomped into the clubhouse
shouting "Don't let us win tonight,"
projecting visions of a Sox comeback.
It's not unlike Millar to bring this team together.
He's the one who dubbed them, fondly, as a bunch of idiots.
And honestly, it takes a degree of idiocy
to psych yourself up for such an impossible comeback.
In any event, if Boston's game four motto was
"Don't let us win tonight," New York's was "Okay."
Derek Lowe started this game for Boston.
He's headed for free agency,
which means this could be the last game
in his often excellent Boston career
which dates back to 1997.
And, well, he'd like another crack at farewell.
If Boston gets eliminated, Lowe's last memorable act
as a Sock will be letting the despised Alex Rodriguez
fire this two-run missile over the Green Monster.
Although it didn't stay put over there
- [Sports Announcer] And it comes back.
- [Host] After the Red Sox finally took a lead,
Lowe promptly surrendered a triple to Hideki Matsui.
That got Lowe pulled in the sixth,
and it ignited a sort of small ball Yankee rally.
Bernie Williams' bouncy little infield chopper
was enough to bring Matsui home and tie the game.
And Tony Clark, of all people, drove in another run,
despite barely leaving the infield.
(crowd cheering)
- [Sports Announcer] The Yankees lead again.
- [Host] Mike Timlin pitched the Sox
out of that sixth inning before it got outta hand,
but Boston once again found themselves trailing,
back to the usual.
So that, from 1918 to last year, to this series,
through most of tonight, is the many-layered story
of the Yankees kicking the shit out of the Red Sox.
Clearly it's not the entire story,
not tonight or last night, this morning,
whatever, it's so late.
As you can see, Boston came back with some offense.
We'll get to that, but offense hasn't really been
their problem this series, so let's first appreciate
that since Timlin ended that yucky sixth inning,
the Red Sox have not allowed a run.
That's impressive.
It took some heroic pitching.
It took Keith Foulke running down the Yankee lineup
unscathed in the seventh and eighth and ninth,
and Curt Leskanic surviving
this bases loaded mess in the 11th.
Bernie's a tough third out. And don't forget the defense.
A-Rod might have added another critical RBI in the 11th
if Orlando Cabrera didn't lay out
to pick his low liner outta the air.
So yeah, keeping the Yankees pinned
at four runs took some mettle
we haven't seen from Boston so far this series.
But I know you're more interested in this number four,
so let's see some offense.
In this nesting doll of impossible odds,
the bottom of the ninth inning
was the tiny nightmarish core.
Down four to three, the Red Sox
sent the bottom of their order
to meet the last face you want to see in this scenario,
they were absolutely boned.
Besides one notable exception in the 2001 World Series,
Rivera is as close as you can get
to guaranteed lights-out pitching to close a playoff game.
The Red Sox should know.
Mariano Rivera has never blown
a playoff save opportunity against Boston.
He's a perfect six for six.
In last season's nail biter of a game seven,
Rivera ate up three scoreless innings,
recording an instant classic win once Boone walked it off.
Rivera's availability entering this series was in doubt.
He returned to his home country of Panama last week
to mourn a sudden family tragedy.
But Mariano flew back to New York
immediately after the funeral
and closed game one that night,
securing yet another post season save.
The next day, he got another save.
And well, the Yankees didn't really
require his services in game three.
Rivera entered this game in the eighth inning
and after surrendering a single to Manny Ramirez,
mowed down the heart of the Boston lineup.
So the bottom of the ninth, down a run,
with these guys facing that guy felt,
well, it felt like this has all felt: doom.
But the guys at the plate didn't seem to think so.
Kevin Millar, he of the "Don't let us win tonight" pep talk
just stared down Rivera, working a five pitch walk.
Desperate for a run, Boston manager Terry Francona
made this totally transparent move
replacing Millar on first base with Dave Roberts.
Everyone knew what this meant.
- [Sports Announcer] He can run.
- [Host] Roberts had been an everyday player for the Dodgers
but when the Red Sox acquired Roberts
in a relatively minor mid-season trade,
they had one job in mind for the newcomer, run.
And run he did.
Yankee catcher Jorge Posada very nearly caught Roberts,
but speed is speed, man in scoring position.
One good swing would tie the game,
guaranteeing at least extra innings.
The man at the plate was Bill Mueller,
who had one very good reason to believe
he could get the job done.
Back in July, the Red Sox found themselves
sliding in the division standings.
Rivera closed a one run Yankee victory in Boston
that put the Sox nine and a half games back
of their first place enemies.
The next game got weird, A-Rod got beaned,
things got testy, benches cleared,
weather suspended play for like an hour,
and the Sox once again faced a deficit
in the bottom of the ninth.
It was gonna hurt.
But, regular season Mariano Rivera proved vulnerable,
and a last ditch Boston rally
ended with Bill Mueller swatting this two run homer
to walk it off against the odds.
Many consider that the turning point of this season,
but seasons can have multiple turning points.
Tonight Mueller showed bunt, so it seemed
like it would be someone else's job to bring Roberts home
until Mueller changed course and did it himself,
spitting one right back at Mariano.
Tie game, the Sox finally got
to Mariano Rivera in the post-season.
Yes, Rivera averted a walk off, ending the inning
with a David Ortiz pop out, but still,
scoring off him with a season on the line was a miracle.
Which is nice, but no one's gonna give a shit
about the steal and the single
if the Sox go down in a sweep.
So let's talk about this guy.
David Ortiz isn't one of Boston's many 2004 newcomers,
but he's still a relatively fresh face for this team.
Ortiz spent six years as a Minnesota Twin
battling slumps, lineup log jams and injuries,
improving bit by bit before the Twins
just cheaped out and released him after the 2002 season.
Ortiz found a new home in Boston,
beside his friend and fellow Dominican, Pedro Martinez.
The Red Sox, unlike the Twins, saw what they had in Ortiz
and cleared their own log jam to make a role for him.
Before long, he became the regular designated hitter,
a move that paid off when, for instance,
Ortiz rescued Boston from the brink
of first round elimination with his lead-changing double
in game four of last year's ALDS.
In his eighth major season,
David Ortiz has suddenly become an all star,
a headliner, a genuine MVP candidate.
He's even got a new nickname.
This is a big deal in Boston.
It's not like there was a vacuum.
The Sox did recently trade away Nomar Garciaparra,
who had been the guy for a while,
but they still have Manny Ramirez.
And you'll note that Manny's on base here.
Ramirez spent most of this summer
hitting behind Ortiz, but in August they swapped.
That's how Ortiz ended up in a spot like this one.
Batting cleanup for the highest scoring offense in baseball
is a big job and it creates big opportunities,
some of them in the postseason.
Some of them against the Yankees.
At times, Big Papi's clutch hitting
against New York has gone squandered.
History will remember the Boone walk off
to end last year's game seven.
It won't remember that before all that
Ortiz homered to build Boston's eighth inning lead,
then doubled himself into scoring position
in extra innings only to get stranded.
Papi didn't get to be the ALCS hero last year.
This post season, he's already delivered a signature moment,
ending an ALDS sweep of the Angels with one swing.
Against the Yankees, Ortiz hasn't quite made his mark.
He has been squandered, and he has squandered.
In games one through three, Papi absolutely raked.
But we know how the Red Sox failed to capitalize.
Here in game four, Ortiz has driven in runs,
but whiffed two opportunities to play hero.
In the bottom of the eighth, before the steal,
Ortiz faced Rivera with Ramirez
representing the tying run on first,
and struck out on a yucky check swing.
Facing Rivera after the steal,
with two outs and the bases loaded,
Papi could have walked it off, but as you know, did not.
This time, at least he's not facing Rivera.
He's facing Paul Quantrill, who's already shown this series
that he can beat Papi with a sinker inside.
If he wants to make good
on this third attempt to snatch game four,
David Ortiz will have to locate that pitch.
The Red Sox said, "Don't let us win tonight."
And the Yankees almost obliged,
until a miracle steal and single
pulled this game four even.
With one more big moment, the Red Sox
could at least extend the series into tomorrow,
or tonight, I guess.
They can take one initial step toward an impossible climb.
A climb out of a deficit no one has ever overcome,
against a rival that has crushed Boston for decades.
Welcome to the beginning of something else.
Welcome to a moment in history.
(crowd cheering)
- [Sports Announcer] Ortiz into deep right field.
Back at Sheffield, we'll see you later tonight.
(crowd cheering)
(musical tones)