Nine years later they are bearded bedraggled and relentless a formula that has carried the Boston Red Sox back to the World Series.
The Red Sox are American League champions again a title they earned with a dramatic 5 2 victory over Detroit in Game 6 of the league championship series Saturday night mostly because of another grand slam off the Tigers suspect bullpen.
With Boston trailing by a run with one out in the seventh inning Shane Victorino hit a blast off relief pitcher Jose Veras for the second grand slam of his postseason career. And for the fourth time in their storied history and the second time in 10 seasons the Red Sox will meet the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series completing a remarkable one year transformation from worst to first in the American League.
The World Series will begin at Fenway Park on Wednesday
Certainly we hoped and prayed for it said the Red Sox chief executive and president Larry Lucchino who was on hand in St. Louis in 2004 when Boston won its first title in 86 years. But we didn t specifically plan for this. We never thought we could come so far so fast. We just wanted to get going in the right direction.
That direction was up out and over the wall off the bat of the slumping Victorino.
Just as they did in Game 2 of this series the Red Sox patiently waited for Detroit s fearsome starter Max Scherzer to leave the game and then punished the Tigers bullpen. In Game 2 David Ortiz did the honors with a game tying shot. On Saturday it was Victorino s turn. He and Jim Thome are the only players to have hit two postseason grand slams.
It was a special moment Victorino said. It s been a special year. We all battled and special moments like this you cherish it.
Victorino one of Boston s many off season additions who helped cleanse a toxic clubhouse from the two previous seasons hit his other slam with Philadelphia in a National League division series in 2008 those Phillies went on to win the World Series.
Boston became the first team to have two grand slams in the seventh inning or later during one postseason let alone one series.
Victorino s blast on Saturday which sailed over the Green Monster and into the dense pages of Red Sox history came one at bat after Detroit shortstop Jose Iglesias botched a ball that could have ended the inning with a double play.
Before Victorino batted John Henry the Red Sox principal owner went from his suite to the Red Sox baseball operations suite which held his general manager Ben Cherington and Cherington s staff.
They told me he was going to hit a first pitch curveball Henry said. It wasn t on the first pitch but it was a curveball and it was incredible. We all just went crazy.
So did Victorino who pumped his fist and jumped as the ball cleared the Green Monster and then pounded his chest as he rounded the bases.
No disrespect to them Victorino said. I hope they understand it was a special moment for me and for the city.
David Ortiz echoed that after the game jokingly referring to his profane but heartfelt declaration from April when after the Boston Marathon bombings he swore during a ceremony at Fenway Park. On Saturday night Ortiz addressed the joyous crowd with the same words almost.
This is our bleeeep city he said to roars of approval.
Victorino noted that he failed to get down a bunt in the third inning with runners on first and second and nobody out Scherzer caught the ball in the air and said the play weighed on him until he made up for it four innings later.
That question was definitely in my head how am I going to explain not getting the bunt down he said. In a crucial situation you ve got to minimize the mistakes. Every single thing counts. It makes it that much more special. I knew all along this was going to be a special team.
How special will be determined over the next 10 days as two great clubs face off again. This World Series will be a rematch of 2004 when Boston put to rest the curse that had supposedly been put on the team for its selling of Babe Ruth to the Yankees after the 1919 season.
The Cardinals and the Red Sox also met in the 1946 and 1967 Series both of which St. Louis won in seven games. More recently the Red Sox played in the World Series in 2007 sweeping Colorado in four games for their second title in a four year span.
This article has been revised to reflect the following correction
Correction October 20 2013
An earlier version of this article misspelled the name of a Tigers relief pitcher. He is Jose Veras not Joe Veras.
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