Derek Lowe ends up as the winning pitcher in all 3 postseason series-clinchers for the Sox, the 1st pitcher of any team to do so. (Andy Pettitte became the 2nd in 2009.) Johnny Damon hits a home run for Boston. Manny Ramirez is voted Series MVP‚ as he leads Boston to the 4-game sweep with a .412 batting average and 4 RBI. The last out was Cardinal shortstop Edgar Renteria grounding back to pitcher Keith Foulke, who threw to 1st baseman Doug Mientkiewicz.
With the New England Patriots having won Super Bowl XXXVIII 9 months earlier, this win also gave Boston its 1st MLB-NFL double. They would achieve it again in 2018-19. Sports Illustrated had previously named entire national teams as a collective Sportspeople of the Year -- U.S. men's hockey in 1980, U.S. women's soccer in 1999 -- but, in 2004, for the 1st time, they gave the award to an entire major league sports team, the Red Sox.
Some people had joked that the Red Sox winning the World Series would be a sign of the Apocalypse. Well, according to the Bible, one such sign is the Moon turning blood red -- and, in fact, there was a full lunar eclipse during the game. (Although this was hardly a surprise, as newspapers and news networks had mentioned it before nightfall.)
A sign held aloft at the victory parade in Boston sums it all up: "Our (late) parents and g'parents thank you." So many people said, "We wanted them to win it in our lifetime, just once." Well, as Dan Shaughnessy of The Boston Globe, who has written more and better about the franchise than anyone, said in the following weeks, "There was no spike in the obits. We checked. All those people who said they couldn't die until the Red Sox won a World Series decided to live a little longer."
Of course, they didn't win it just once in those people’s lifetimes – except for those who died between October '04 and October '07.
And now that we know that the Red Sox are a bunch of lying, cheating, dirty, low-down, no-good bastards, we can tell the truth: They still haven't really won a World Series since 1918*. The Curse lives.
So all those Sox fans who weren't old enough to suffer through Harry Frazee, Johnny Pesky, Harry Agganis, Tony Conigliaro, Larry Barnett, Bobby Sprowl, Bucky Dent, John McNamara and Bill Buckner – though most of them did get through what Nomar, Pedro and Grady put them through – and showed more bastardry in victory than their forebears ever showed in defeat can kiss my 27 rings (well, 7 in my lifetime – for the moment), and then they can kiss my Pinstriped ass.
UPDATE: The Red Sox have a team Hall of Fame. From the 2004 World Champions, they have inducted designated hitter David Ortiz, left fielder Manny Ramirez, center fielder Johnny Damon, right fielder Trot Nixon, catcher Jason Varitek, 1st baseman Kevin Youkilis; pitchers Pedro Martinez, Curt Schilling, Derek Lowe and Mike Timlin; team president Larry Lucchino, scout George Digby, executives Dick Bresciani and Elaine Weddington Steward, farm system director Ben Mondor, guest relations director Al Green, broadcasters Jerry Remy and Joe Castiglione, and longtime vendor Arthur D'Angelo. Team owner John W. Henry, manager Terry Francona and general manager Theo Epstein have not yet been inducted.
From their 2007 World Champions, add 2nd baseman Dustin Pedroia, 3rd baseman Mike Lowell, and pitchers Jon Lester and Jonathan Papelbon.
*
October 27, 2004 was a Wednesday. It was the last baseball game of the season. Football was in midweek. The NHL team owners had locked the players out, so there were no games. And the NBA season wasn't scheduled to begin until the following Tuesday. So there were no other scores on this historic day.
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