By Ray Donoghue
After a dream finish to the season, the Colorado Rockies came-to in a rain soaked Fenway Park last night, their first ever World Series appearance ending in a heavy defeat to the Boston Red Sox.
In a game that was very much a meeting of old world baseball with the new, Game One of the 103rd 'Fall Classic' saw the Rockies routed 13-1.
The team from Colorado, just 15 years in existence, arrived at the oldest stadium in the Major Leagues on an improbable run that had seen them tie San Diego for the National League wild card on the last day of the season and then win an epic 13 inning tiebreaker just to make the post-season.
Seven straight victories then put them in the World Series.
However the Rockies, who had won an unprecedented 21 of their last 22 games, ran straight into a Red Sox line-up that had yet to warm down from its Game Seven victory over the Cleveland Indians in the ALCS. Adding to the Rockies' woes was the fact that the Red Sox MVP from that series, pitcher Josh Beckett, carried his impressive post-season form with him into this one.
Beckett struck out the side in an overpowering first inning and then picked up where he left off in the second. Colorado's Todd Helton swung through a fastball to become the fourth victim of the evening for Beckett. The all-time strike out record to lead off the World Series stood at five. It remains five - Garret Atkins put another dent in Fenway's famed left field wall to give Colorado their first hit of the evening. Another hit to the base of the Green Monster (the huge leftfield wall at Fenway) put a Colorado run on the board.
But the Rockies had already shipped some heavy blows in the first. Sox leadoff hitter Dustin Pedroia sent the second pitch of the evening into the seats atop the Green Monster, the home run sparking a five hit inning. The Red Sox never looked back, effectively ending the game with a seven run fifth. By that stage, eight of the nine Red Sox batters had knocked in a run, with four Colorado pitchers failing to prevent a rout.
David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez both picked up three hits each out of a total of 17 for the Red Sox, who cruised to the victory.
It seemed pre-game fears that the Rockies' nine-day lay-off could leave them rusty were well founded. Colorado had won the National League and secured their World Series berth with a sweep of Arizona on 16 October, leaving Boston and Cleveland to go the distance for the right to face them. The Red Sox eventually overcame a three games to one deficit to win the deciding Game Seven against the Indians last Sunday night.
The match practice served them well, with Boston winning by the widest ever margin recorded in the first game of a World Series. Beckett pitched seven innings, striking out nine, to record the win and remain undefeated (4-0) in the 2007 post-season.
