After making four errors in their Game 1 victory, the Red Sox committed four more Sunday night in Game 2, breaking the 1909 Tigers’ record of seven errors over the first two Series games.
The last team to commit more than eight errors in an entire Series was the 1982 Milwaukee Brewers, who made 11 in seven games. Ex-Cubs third baseman Bill Mueller made three errors by himself Sunday, tying a record for most errors in a Series game.
But the Red Sox won, and that was all that mattered.
“That’s a real good sign,” closer Keith Foulke said facetiously. “The way we like to do it is go out there and set as many records as possible. I guess we’ll go out there and set an errors record and still win.”
Manager Terry Francona downplayed the errors, saying the field was “horrendous” because of the slight drizzle.
RETURNED: St. Louis second baseman Tony Womack was back in the starting lineup Sunday after leaving Game 1 when a bad-hop grounder by David Ortiz bounced off his left collarbone. Womack said it was like having a stinger in football.
“I kind of lost feeling in my fingers and my arm,” he said. “That didn’t feel too good. I lost feeling for a while.”
St. Louis manager Tony La Russa said one of the Fenway Park groundskeepers apologized for the bad-hop grounder. “I’ve never had that happen,” La Russa said.
Over the years, Fenway gained a reputation as having baseball’s worst infield.
CONFLICTING: How can the World Series affect the presidential election? That’s a question being debated in New England, where they worry about such things. The thinking is if the World Series goes seven games and ends Oct. 31, the victory parade in Boston would be scheduled on Election Day. That could affect the voters in New Hampshire, some of whom would have to make the choice of staying home and voting or driving to Boston and back to take part in the celebration for the Red Sox. New Hampshire is considered a swing state, and could be important if it’s a close electoral race.
FAVORED: There have been 48 teams that have gotten off to a 2-0 lead in the World Series before 2004, and 37 of them have gone on to win the World Series. That’s 77 percent of the time.
PLANNED: The Boston Red Sox will try to get Curt Schilling ready for another World Series start. They certainly hope they don’t need to use him. Needing only two more wins to clinch the title, the Red Sox hope they can close out the Cardinals before the right-hander’s next scheduled start, in Game 6.
“We’ll do the same thing we always do, evaluate him and prepare for his next start,” Francona said. “This isn’t something we would do for 30 starts, obviously.”
SECLUDED: Not only did St. Louis lose the first two games of the World Series, the team’s hotel was in Quincy, Mass., about a 30-minute drive from Fenway. La Russa was clearly angry about it.
“It was real disappointing,” La Russa said. “That’s why I suggested that we make the Boston hotel in Jefferson City (Mo.). Boston should have taken care of it.”
Jefferson City, the capital of Missouri, is about 90 miles west of St. Louis. The home team is responsible for arranging accommodations for the visitors, and the Cardinals set up the Red Sox at a hotel only blocks from Busch Stadium this week.
SCHEDULED: Cardinals right-hander Jason Marquis is still scheduled to start Game 4 on Wednesday against Boston, even though he pitched in relief Sunday.
MOUTHWATCH
“I think we forget that the mind is a powerful thing, and sometimes we just lose our confidence. You know, these games, you want to win so bad that you sometimes put too much pressure on yourself, and that’s when you start to struggle.”
–Mark Bellhorn
former Cub about coming through in big spots for the Red Sox because he has found a new level of belief in himself
