When Boston ended its 86-year championship drought in 2004, Red Sox fans treated it like a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
But this top-of-the-world thing is starting to become routine. It’s a feeling Red Sox Nation hopes will never go out of style.
Boston captured its second title in four years Sunday night, hanging on to beat Colorado 4-3 and give the Red Sox another four-game sweep of the World Series, just as they did against St. Louis in 2004.
Closer Jonathan Papelbon pitched 1 2/3 innings of relief to notch the save, striking out Seth Smith for the final out and tossing his glove high into the air to kick off a celebration that was a little more subdued than the one in ’04.
Nevertheless, this one was a team effort from the outset, with veterans and rookies alike chipping in to get the job done.
“Everybody has to do something special sometimes to be here,” said manager Terry Francona, who is 8-0 in the World Series. “And a lot of guys did.”
Cancer survivor Jon Lester pitched 5 2/3 innings of shutout ball, allowing only three hits to notch the win.
“I’m ecstatic for him,” third baseman Mike Lowell said of Lester after being named the Series MVP for hitting .400 with four RBIs. “I don’t think too many people expected him to be in that situation. We all know the story of what he’s had to overcome.”
Coming back from the dead to beat Cleveland in the American League Championship Series after trailing 3-1, the Red Sox left no doubt in the Series.
They outscored Colorado 29-10, thumping a team that had come into the Series having won 21 of its previous 22.
The Red Sox finished with the third-most runs in any four-game Series, trailing only the 1932 New York Yankees, who scored 37 runs in sweeping the Cubs, and the ’89 Oakland A’s, who scored 32 in beating San Francisco.
The first real hint that the Rockies were in serious trouble in the World Series came when the organization claimed an “external, malicious attack” on their computers stopped their first attempt to sell Series tickets.
It was only an omen of further breakdowns in the system.
The Rockies wound up hitting .218 in the four-game sweep, while the pitching staff compiled a 7.68 earned-run average.
Boston got to Rockies starter Aaron Cook in the first inning.
Rookie Jacoby Ellsbury hit his fourth double in a span of five at-bats and moved to third on a grounder to the right side by Dustin Pedroia.
David Ortiz followed with a first-pitch RBI single to right, and the Rockies were on the defensive once again.
Jason Varitek’s run-scoring single in the fifth brought home Lowell to make it 2-0 before Lowell homered leading off the seventh, sending Cook to the showers.
“Once you have success doing something, you believe in it a little more,” Lowell said.
The Rockies broke the shutout on Brad Hawpe’s solo homer off Manny Delcarmen leading off the bottom of the seventh, but Bobby Kielty answered back in the eighth with a pinch homer off Brian Fuentes, making it 4-1.
Boston left-hander Hideki Okajima, who let the Rockies crawl back into Game 3 by serving up a three-run homer to Matt Holliday, struck again in the bottom of the eighth, giving up a two-run shot to Garrett Atkins, who had only one hit in 12 Series at-bats coming into the inning.
That’s when Francona called on Papelbon, who got the final two outs of the inning and entered the ninth with a one-run lead. Jamey Carroll put a scare into the Red Sox with a line shot to left with one out in the ninth, but Ellsbury made a leaping catch at the wall to save the day.
“For us to come through and do what we thought we were capable of doing is unbelievable,” Lowell said.
The ’04 championship will always remain special to Boston, but now the Red Sox have another trophy to add to the collection.
“There’s no comparison,” Varitek said. “Different battles, different things to go through. This team didn’t hit quite as well as the [’04 team], but we hit well late. It doesn’t compare.”
It doesn’t have to compare. It’s all good.
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psullivan@tribune.com
