Sports FRIDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2013 Red Sox rout sloppy Cards BOSTON: An easy toss on a sure out that skittered away. A There was no dispute, however, that the umpires properly routine popup that somehow dropped between Gold Glovers. ruled Kozma had not caught a soft toss from second baseman And something even more startling - umpires reversing a key Matt Carpenter on a potential forceout. That’s what crew chief call. Most everything fell into place for the Boston Red Sox in John Hirschbeck told Matheny. “I just explained to him ... that the World Series opener. five of us were 100 percent sure,” Hirschbeck said. “Our job is Mike Napoli hit a three-run double right after a game- to get the play right. And that’s what we did.” changing decision in the very first inning, Jon Lester made the “I said, ‘I know you are not happy with it, that it went early lead stand up and the Red Sox romped past the sloppy against you, but you have to understand that the play is cor- St. Louis Cardinals 8-1 Wednesday night for their ninth rect,’” he said. straight Series win. The normally slick-fielding Cardinals looked sloppy at every A season before Major League Baseball is expected to turn. Wainwright bounced a pickoff throw, Molina let a pitch expand instant replay, fans got to see a preview. The entire trickle off his mitt, center fielder Shane Robinson bobbled the six-man crew huddled and flipped a ruling on a forceout at carom on Napoli’s double and there was a wild pitch. The second base - without looking at any video. Cardinal Way? More like, no way. “I think based on their group conversation, surprisingly, to “We had a wakeup call. That is not the kind of team that a certain extent, they overturned it and I think got the call we’ve been all season,” Matheny said. “And they’re frustrated. right,” Boston manager John Farrell said. I’m sure embarrassed to a point.” David Ortiz was robbed of a grand slam by Carlos Beltran - Game 2 is late yesterday, with 22-year-old rookie sensation a catch that sent the star right fielder to a hospital with Michael Wacha starting for St. Louis against John Lackey. bruised ribs - but Big Papi later hit a two-run homer following Wacha is 3-0 with a 0.43 ERA this postseason. Beltran is day to third baseman David Freese’s bad throw. day after X-rays were negative. Lester blanked the Cardinals The Red Sox also capitalized on two errors by shortstop on five hits over 7 2-3 innings and struck out eight for his third Pete Kozma to extend a Series winning streak that began win this postseason. when they swept St. Louis in 2004. Boston never trailed at any “We wanted to set the tone and get them swinging,” he point in those four games and coasted on this rollicking night said. Ryan Dempster gave up Matt Holliday’s leadoff home run at Fenway Park, thanks to a hideous display by the Cardinals, in the ninth. Boston brought the beards and made it a most It got so bad for St. Louis that the sellout crowd literally hairy night for St. Louis. The Cardinals wrecked themselves laughed when pitcher Adam Wainwright and catcher Yadier with just their second three-error game of the season. The Molina, who’ve combined to win six Gold Gloves, let an easy umpires made a mistake, too, but at least they got to fix it in a popup drop untouched between them. hurry. Serious-minded St. Louis manager Mike Matheny didn’t After the control-conscious Wainwright walked leadoff find anything funny, especially when the umpires changed a man Jacoby Ellsbury, Dustin Pedroia singled him to second call by Dana DeMuth at second base. with one out. “Basically, the explanation is that’s not a play I’ve ever seen Ortiz then hit a slow grounder to Carpenter, and it didn’t before. And I’m pretty sure there were six umpires on the field appear the Cardinals could turn a double play. Hurrying, that had never seen that play before, either,” Matheny said. Kozma let the backhanded flip glance off his glove. “It’s a pretty tough time to debut that overruled call in the DeMuth instantly called Pedroia out, indicating that Kozma World Series. Now, I get that they’re trying to get the right call, dropped the ball while trying to transfer it to his throwing I get that. Tough one to swallow,” he said. hand. Farrell quickly popped out of the dugout to argue while DeMuth said he never actually saw Kozma drop the ball. Pedroia went to the bench. Farrell argued with every umpire “My vision was on the foot. And when I was coming up, all I he could and must’ve made a persuasive case. As the fans could see was a hand coming out and the ball on the ground. hollered louder and louder as they studied TV replays, all the All right? So I was assuming,” DeMuth told a pool reporter. umpires gathered on the dirt near shortstop and conferred BOSTON: Junichi Tazawa No. 36 of the Boston Red Sox pitches against the St. Louis Cardinals in the eighth inning of Game One of the 2013 World Series at Fenway Park. — AFP and decided there was no catch at all. “You rarely see that, especially on a stage like this,” Napoli said. “But I think that was good for the game.” Pedroia came bounding from the dugout and suddenly, the bases were loaded in the first. Napoli unloaded them with a double that rolled to the Green Monster in left-center. Napoli, with maybe the bushiest beard of all, certainly picked up where he left off the last time he saw the Cardinals in October. In the 2011 Series, he hit .350 with two home runs and 10 RBIs as Texas lost in seven games to St. Louis. The Red Sox added to their 3-0 lead with two more runs in the second. A fielding error by Kozma set up Pedroia’s RBI sin- gle. The whole inning got going when Stephen Drew’s popup in front of the mound landed at Wainwright’s feet, a step or two from Molina. The ace pitcher and the star catcher both hung their heads. “I called it. I waited for someone else to take charge. That’s not the way to play baseball. It was totally my error,” Wainwright said. Ortiz, who hit a tying grand slam at Fenway in the AL cham- pionship series win over Detroit, sent a long drive to right-cen- ter. Beltran, playing in his first World Series, braced himself with one hand on the low wall in front of the bullpen and reached over with his glove to make the catch. “At least I got an RBI and we were up four and got the momentum,” Ortiz said. Beltran hurt himself on the play and left in the third inning. Ortiz homered in the seventh and the Red Sox got another run in the eighth on a sacrifice fly by 21- year-old rookie Xander Bogaerts. The Red Sox almost made a terrific play to finish the game. With two outs in the ninth, BOSTON: Randy Choate No. 36 of the St. Louis Cardinals pitches against the Boston Red Sox during Game One of the 2013 Freese hit a sharp single and right fielder Shane Victorino World Series. — AFP nearly threw him out at first base. —AP.