2007 World Series
The 2007 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 2007 season. The 103rd edition of the World Series,[2] it was a best-of-seven playoff between the National League (NL) champion Colorado Rockies and the American League (AL) champion Boston Red Sox; the Red Sox swept the Rockies in four games. It was the Rockies' first appearance in a World Series. The Red Sox's victory was their second World Series championship in four seasons and their seventh overall; it also marked the third sweep in four years by the AL champions. The series began on Wednesday, October 24 and ended on Sunday, October 28.
2007 World Series | |||||||||||||
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Dates | October 24–28 | ||||||||||||
MVP | Mike Lowell (Boston) | ||||||||||||
Umpires | Ed Montague (crew chief), Laz Díaz, Ted Barrett, Chuck Meriwether, Mike Everitt, Mike Reilly[1] | ||||||||||||
Broadcast | |||||||||||||
Television | Fox (United States) MLB International (International) | ||||||||||||
TV announcers | Joe Buck and Tim McCarver (Fox) Dave O'Brien and Rick Sutcliffe (MLB International) | ||||||||||||
Radio | ESPN WRKO (BOS) KOA (COL) | ||||||||||||
Radio announcers | Jon Miller and Joe Morgan Joe Castiglione and Glenn Geffner (WRKO) Jeff Kingery and Jack Corrigan (KOA) | ||||||||||||
ALCS | Boston Red Sox defeated Cleveland Indians, 4–3 | ||||||||||||
NLCS | Colorado Rockies defeated Arizona Diamondbacks, 4–0 | ||||||||||||
World Series Program | |||||||||||||
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Terry Francona became the second Red Sox manager to win two World Series titles, following Bill Carrigan, who won the 1915 and 1916 World Series. Including the last three games of the AL Championship Series, the Red Sox outscored their opposition 59–15 over their final seven games. Francona also became the first manager to win his first 8 World Series games. The Rockies, meanwhile, became the first NL team to get swept in a World Series after sweeping the League Championship Series, and just the second team ever to suffer such a fate, following the Oakland Athletics in 1990. This fate would again be suffered by the 2012 Detroit Tigers, being swept by the San Francisco Giants in the World Series after sweeping the New York Yankees in the ALCS.
Background
The Rockies entered the Series having won 21 of their last 22 games, going back to the end of the regular season, including sweeps of the Philadelphia Phillies in the NLDS and the Arizona Diamondbacks in the NLCS. They also beat the San Diego Padres in the NL Wild Card tie-breaker. The Red Sox swept the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in the ALDS and defeated the Cleveland Indians in the ALCS after trailing three games to one, taking the final three contests by a combined score of 30–5. Neither participating team was in the previous year's postseason. The Rockies' eight-day layoff was the longest in MLB postseason history, caused by their sweep in the NLCS, the ALCS going seven games, and scheduling by MLB.
Per the 2006 Collective Bargaining Agreement,[3] the Red Sox had home-field advantage in the World Series following the American League's 5–4 win in the 2007 All-Star Game. The first two games took place in Boston, with games 3 and 4 in Denver.
Summary
Boston won the series, 4–0.
Game | Date | Score | Location | Time | Attendance |
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1 | October 24 | Colorado Rockies – 1, Boston Red Sox – 13 | Fenway Park | 3:30 | 36,733[4] |
2 | October 25 | Colorado Rockies – 1, Boston Red Sox – 2 | Fenway Park | 3:39 | 36,370[5] |
3 | October 27 | Boston Red Sox – 10, Colorado Rockies – 5 | Coors Field | 4:19 | 49,983[6] |
4 | October 28 | Boston Red Sox – 4, Colorado Rockies – 3 | Coors Field | 3:35 | 50,041[7] |
Matchups
Game 1
Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |||||||||||
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Colorado | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 0 | |||||||||||
Boston | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | X | 13 | 17 | 0 | |||||||||||
WP: Josh Beckett (1–0) LP: Jeff Francis (0–1) Home runs: COL: None BOS: Dustin Pedroia (1) Attendance: 36,733 Boxscore |
The Red Sox cruised to a blowout win in Game 1 behind ALCS MVP Josh Beckett, who struck out nine batters, including the first four he faced, over seven innings en route to his fourth win of the 2007 postseason. Mike Timlin and Éric Gagné pitched a perfect eighth and ninth, respectively.
Boston Hall of Famer Carl Yastrzemski threw the ceremonial first pitch,[8] as he had done before Game 1 in 2004. Rookie Dustin Pedroia led off the Sox' first inning with a home run over the Green Monster in Fenway Park off of Jeff Francis. Pedroia's homer was only the second lead-off home run to start a World Series (the only other one was hit by Baltimore's Don Buford in 1969). Kevin Youkilis then doubled to right, moved to third on David Ortiz's groundout, and scored on Manny Ramirez's single. After Mike Lowell flew out, Jason Varitek singled before J. D. Drew doubled to score Ramirez and make it 3-0 Red Sox.
The Rockies got on the board in the second when Garrett Atkins doubled with one out off Beckett and scored on Troy Tulowitzki's double one out later, but the Red Sox got that run back off of Francis when Youkilis walked with two outs and scored on Ortiz's double. In the fourth, the Red Sox loaded the bases with two outs on a single, double, and intentional walk when Varitek's two-run double put them up 6–1.
They put the game out of reach with seven runs in the fifth. Julio Lugo hit a leadoff single off of reliever Franklin Morales before Jacoby Ellsbury bunted into a forceout at second. After Pedroia popped out, a balk moved Ellsbury to second before he scored on Youkilis's double. Ortiz's double and Ramirez's single scored a run each. The Red Sox loaded the bases on a double and walk before Drew's single scored another run. Ryan Speier relieved Morales and walked all three batters he faced to force in three more Boston runs. Matt Herges relieved Speier and got Youkilis to fly out to right to end the inning.
Though Herges and two relievers held Boston scoreless for the rest of the game, the Red Sox finished with 13 runs, the most ever in a World Series Game 1, and tied another record with nine extra base hits. The last 11 of the Red Sox runs came with two outs.
Game 2
Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |||||||||||
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Colorado | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 0 | |||||||||||
Boston | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | X | 2 | 6 | 1 | |||||||||||
WP: Curt Schilling (1–0) LP: Ubaldo Jiménez (0–1) Sv: Jonathan Papelbon (1) Attendance: 36,730 Boxscore |
The ceremonial first pitch was thrown by Andrew Madden, a 13-year-old heart transplant recipient, accompanied by Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame member Dwight Evans.[9] After the debacle of Game 1, Colorado appeared to return to form, scoring quickly on a groundout by Todd Helton with runners on second and third in the first. However, this would be the only time the Rockies ever led in the series as postseason veteran Curt Schilling (5 1⁄3 IP, one run, four hits) and Boston's bullpen (Okajima, 2 1⁄3 IP; Papelbon, 1 1⁄3 IP) allowed no other runs in the contest. The Red Sox tied the game in the fourth off of Ubaldo Jimenez on Jason Varitek's sacrifice fly with runners on second and third, then took the lead next inning on Mike Lowell's RBI double with runners on first and second. Matt Holliday had four of Colorado's five hits in Game 2, including a base hit off Papelbon with two outs in the eighth. Before throwing another pitch, Papelbon caught Holliday leaning too far off first base and picked him off—Papelbon's first career pickoff.
Game 3
Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |||||||||||
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Boston | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 10 | 15 | 1 | |||||||||||
Colorado | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 11 | 0 | |||||||||||
WP: Daisuke Matsuzaka (1–0) LP: Josh Fogg (0–1) Sv: Jonathan Papelbon (2) Home runs: BOS: None COL: Matt Holliday (1) Attendance: 49,983 Boxscore |
This was the first World Series game ever played in Colorado. At 4 hours 19 minutes, it became the longest nine-inning game in World Series history until game five of 2017. Game 3 was also the 600th World Series game ever played. Starting pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka pitched five innings of scoreless ball and left in the sixth with no runs allowed. The Red Sox struck first with a six-run third inning. Rookie Jacoby Ellsbury hit a leadoff double, moved to third on Dustin Pedroia's single, and scored on David Ortiz's double. After Manny Ramirez was intentionally walked, Mike Lowell's single scored two more runs. J. D. Drew popped out before Ramirez was thrown out at home on Jason Varitek's single with Lowell advancing to third. After Julio Lugo walked to load the bases, Matsuzaka hit a two-run single for his first base hit and RBI in the Major Leagues. Ellsbury capped the scoring with his second double of the inning to knock Colorado starter Josh Fogg out of the game. The Rockies' bats came to life in the sixth and seventh innings against a normally-solid but now-shaky Boston bullpen. After Matsuzaka walked two straight in the sixth with one out, reliever Javier López allowed back-to-back RBI singles to Brad Hawpe and Yorvit Torrealba. Mike Timlin allowed two straight leadoff singles in the seventh before NLCS MVP Matt Holliday brought the Rockies to within one run with a three-run home run off Hideki Okajima. Brian Fuentes gave back those runs in the eighth by walking Lugo with one out and allowing a subsequent single to Coco Crisp before Ellsbury and Dustin Pedroia, who had four and three hits, respectively, on the night (the first time in World Series history two rookies had at least three hits in a game) hit back-to-back RBI doubles, raising Boston's lead to 9–5. Jonathan Papelbon came on for a four-out save, getting Holliday to fly out on one pitch, leaving runners on first and second. Jason Varitek would tack on Boston's tenth run in the top of the ninth off of LaTroy Hawkins with a sacrifice fly, scoring Mike Lowell who, not generally considered a stolen base threat, had just stolen third base—the first time a Red Sox baserunner stole third base in the World Series since 1975—after hitting a leadoff single and moving to second on a sacrifice bunt. Papelbon came back out in the bottom of the ninth to complete the save, getting the first two outs before surrendering a two-out triple to Brad Hawpe, then finishing the game with a groundout from Yorvit Torrealba. The Red Sox took Game 3 by a final score of 10–5.
The Red Sox continued to set World Series records during Game 3:
- Ellsbury (four hits) and Pedroia (three) combined to score three runs and drive in four, while being the first rookies to bat 1–2 in a World Series lineup.
- Ellsbury became the third rookie in Series history with four hits in a game, joining Freddie Lindstrom of the New York Giants (Game 5, 1924) and Joe Garagiola of the Cardinals (Game 4, 1946).
- Matsuzaka became the first Japanese pitcher to start and win a World Series game. The only pitchers in Red Sox history, other than Matsuzaka, to have two RBI and be the winning pitcher were Babe Ruth in 1918 and Cy Young in 1903.
- The Red Sox' 16 doubles tied a World Series record, set by the 1982 Champion Cardinals. The Red Sox would break the record in Game 4, finishing with 18.
Game 4
Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |||||||||||
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Boston | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 9 | 0 | |||||||||||
Colorado | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 0 | |||||||||||
WP: Jon Lester (1–0) LP: Aaron Cook (0–1) Sv: Jonathan Papelbon (3) Home runs: BOS: Mike Lowell (1), Bobby Kielty (1) COL: Brad Hawpe (1), Garrett Atkins (1) Attendance: 50,041 Boxscore |
The Red Sox struck early. Rookie Jacoby Ellsbury began the first inning with a double and was advanced by Dustin Pedroia with a groundout, followed by an RBI single from David Ortiz. In the seventh inning, series MVP Mike Lowell hit a home run to give Boston a 3–0 lead and knock starter Aaron Cook out of the game. Lowell also hit a leadoff double in the fifth and scored on Jason Varitek's single. The Colorado offense answered when left fielder Brad Hawpe hit a home run off of a Manny Delcarmen fastball, bringing the Rockies within two. Relief pitcher Brian Fuentes gave back that run abruptly, allowing Boston pinch-hitter Bobby Kielty to hit a ball into the left field stands on the first pitch of the inning, extending the Red Sox lead to 4–1. In the bottom of the inning Boston pitcher Hideki Okajima allowed a one-out single to Todd Helton followed by a Garrett Atkins two-run home run, bringing the Rockies within one. Jonathan Papelbon relieved Okajima and earned his third save of the series. At 12:06 a.m. EDT on Monday, October 29, Papelbon struck out Colorado pinch hitter Seth Smith for the final out of the 2007 season. Boston had won its second World Series title in four years and seventh all-time.
The Rockies became the third team in Series history (the 1937 Yankees and 1966 Orioles were the others) not to commit an error in a World Series of any length.
Composite line score
![](../I/Boston_Red_Sox_George_W._Bush.jpg.webp)
2007 World Series (4–0): Boston Red Sox (A.L.) beat Colorado Rockies (N.L.).
Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |||||||||||
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Boston Red Sox | 4 | 1 | 6 | 3 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 29 | 47 | 2 | |||||||||||
Colorado Rockies | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 29 | 0 | |||||||||||
Total attendance: 173,127 Average attendance: 43,282 Winning player's share: $308,236 Losing player's share: $233,505 |
Ticket controversy
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On October 17, 2007, a week before the first game of the World Series, the Colorado Rockies announced that tickets would be made available to the general public via online sales only, despite prior arrangements to sell the tickets at local retail outlets.[11] Five days later, California-based ticket vendor Paciolan, Inc., the sole contractor authorized by the Colorado Rockies to distribute tickets, was forced to suspend sales after less than an hour due to an exorbitant number of purchase attempts.[12]
The Rockies organization said that they were the victims of a denial-of-service attack.[13] The FBI started its own investigation into these claims.[14] Ticket sales resumed the next day, with all three home games selling out within 2 1⁄2 hours.
The Red Sox also relied primarily on online sales to sell the game tickets, although some Fenway Park tickets were sold on the phone and at the box office. The Sox held a random drawing for the right to buy post season tickets on October 15, and winners bought tickets at a private online sale. Street prices were lower in Boston this time than in 2004: the average price, according to StubHub, was about $1500 in 2007, down about $300 from three years previously.[15] Some Sox fans found that it was cheaper to travel to Denver to see World Series games than to pay the street price for Boston game tickets.[16]
Celebration
While the celebratory crowd at Kenmore Square was not as unruly as in 2004, cars were overturned and 37 arrests were made.[17] The Red Sox victory parade, yet again in duck boats and called a "Rolling Rally" as in 2004, was on October 30, 2007 with closer Jonathan Papelbon doing his infamous "Riverdance" while local punk band the Dropkick Murphys played their hit "I'm Shipping Up to Boston".
The Red Sox World Series win in 2007 continued the success of Boston-area teams in recent years.[18] The Celtics won their 17th championship, their first championship since 1986, the last time the Red Sox lost in the World Series, 7 1⁄2 months later. Furthermore, the New England Patriots had victories in 2001, 2003, 2004, 2014, 2016 and 2018, the Boston Bruins in 2011, and the Red Sox three years earlier in 2004 and six years later in 2013 and five years after that in 2018.
Quotes from the Series
All quotes are from Joe Buck unless otherwise noted.
Game over, series over, and the Red Sox are world champs again.
— calling the final out in Game 4
Swing and a miss! It's over! The Red Sox are world champions of baseball for 2007!
— Joe Castiglione calling the same out.
Broadcasting
The World Series was televised by Fox in the United States, with Joe Buck and Tim McCarver as booth announcers. The starting time for each television broadcast was 8:00 pm EDT (6:00 pm MDT). The series broke with the recent tradition of starting the World Series on a Saturday, as Major League Baseball had become convinced that weekend games drew lower television ratings. Prior to this season, every World Series since 1985 had opened on a Saturday, with the exception of the 1990 World Series. This was the first World Series to start on a Wednesday since 1968.
Rogers Sportsnet (RSN) in Canada used the MLB International feed with Dave O'Brien and Rick Sutcliffe as booth announcers. NASN showed the games live to most of Europe, while in the UK, all games were shown terrestrially on Five. NHK aired the Series in Japan.
On radio, the Series was broadcast nationally by ESPN Radio, with Jon Miller and Joe Morgan announcing. Locally, Joe Castiglione and Glenn Geffner called the Series for the Red Sox on WRKO in Boston, while Jack Corrigan and Jeff Kingery called it for the Rockies on KOA in Denver. Per contractual obligation, the non-flagship stations on the teams' radio networks carried the ESPN Radio broadcasts.
Notes
- "Montague to head World Series crew". MLB.com. October 23, 2007. Archived from the original on October 30, 2007. Retrieved October 23, 2007.
- "2007 World Series". Baseball-Reference. Retrieved January 6, 2014.
- Bloom, Barry M. (October 25, 2006). "MLB, union announce new labor deal". MLB.com. Retrieved October 30, 2007.
- "2007 World Series Game 1 - Colorado Rockies vs. Boston Red Sox". Retrosheet. Retrieved September 13, 2009.
- "2007 World Series Game 2 - Colorado Rockies vs. Boston Red Sox". Retrosheet. Retrieved September 13, 2009.
- "2007 World Series Game 3 - Boston Red Sox vs. Colorado Rockies". Retrosheet. Retrieved September 13, 2009.
- "2007 World Series Game 4 - Boston Red Sox vs. Colorado Rockies". Retrosheet. Retrieved September 13, 2009.
- Caron, Tom (August 26, 2014). "Yaz was a man of the people". Portland Press Herald. Retrieved October 21, 2018.
- Cafardo, Nick (October 26, 2007). "Throwing 1st pitch a dream come true for heart patient". The Boston Globe. Retrieved October 21, 2018 – via Boston.com.
- "Rockies announce change to World Series ticket policy" (Press release). Colorado Rockies. October 17, 2007. Archived from the original on October 27, 2007. Retrieved October 30, 2007.
- "Club statement regarding World Series tickets" (Press release). Colorado Rockies. October 17, 2007. Archived from the original on October 23, 2007. Retrieved October 22, 2007.
- "Rockies sell out World Series tickets day after 'malicious attack'". CBS Sports. October 23, 2007. Archived from the original on October 31, 2007. Retrieved October 30, 2007.
- "FBI investigates Rockies ticket 'attack'". Vail (Colo.) Daily. October 26, 2007. Retrieved January 6, 2018.
- Mohl, Bruce (October 23, 2007). "This time, the tickets cost a smaller fortune". Boston Globe. Archived from the original on July 27, 2008. Retrieved October 30, 2007.
- Cook, Robert M. (October 28, 2007). "Sox fans save big bucks by heading to Denver to see the World Series". Foster's Daily Democrat. Archived from the original on October 29, 2007. Retrieved October 30, 2007.
- "At least 37 arrested during Red Sox 'celebrations'". USA Today. October 29, 2007. Archived from the original on October 30, 2007. Retrieved November 1, 2007.
- "New Jerseyans, New Yorkers revel in Giant win". NBC Sports. Associated Press. February 3, 2008. Archived from the original on February 7, 2008. Retrieved April 27, 2009.
External links
- 2007 World Series at WorldSeries.com (MLB.com)
- 2007 World Series at Baseball Almanac
- 2007 World Series at Baseball-Reference.com
- The 2007 Post-Season Games (box scores and play-by-play) at Retrosheet