2006 World Series — Rockies and Red Sox

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By Ron Griffitts
Contributing Columnist

In 2007 the Colorado Rockies (90-73) appearing in their first World Series were managed by Clint Hurdle with general manager Dan O’Dowd faced the Boston Red Sox (96-66) managed by Terry Francona and general manager Theo Epstein.

The Rockies were led in batting by Troy Tulowitzki 24 HR, 99 RBI, .291 BA, 104 RS, Garrett Atkins 25 HR, 111 RBI, .301 BA, Matt Halliday 36 HR, 137 RBI, .340 BA, 120 RS, Willy Taveras .320 BA, 33 SB, and Brad Hawpe 29 HR, 116 RBI, .291 BA.

Their pitching staff was led by Josh Fogg 19-9, Jeff Francis 17-9, Aaron Cook 8-7 with Brian Fuentes 20 SV and Manny Corpas 4-2, 2.08 ERA, 19 SV.

The Red Sox were led on offense by David Ortiz 35 HR, 117 RBI, .332 BA, 118 RS, Mike Lowell 21 HR, 120 RBI, .324 BA, Dustin Pedoia .317 BA, 86 RS, Manny Ramirez 20 HR, 88 RBI, .296 BA, and Coco Crisp 28 SB, 85 RS.

Their pitching staff was led by Josh Beckett 20-7, Daisuke Matsuzaka 15-12, Tim Wakefield 17-12, 40 year old Curt Schilling 9-8 and 23 year Jon Lester 4-0 with Jonathan Pepeiban 32 SV, 1.85 ERA, and Hideki Okaiima 3-2, 2.22 ERA, 5 SV in the bullpen.

The 105th World Series opened at Fenway Park in Boston and the Red Sox set the tenor of the game by scoring three runs in the first inning and led by three hits each by Manny Ramirez, David Ortiz and shortstop Julio Lugo and five players driving in at least two runs each with the Red Sox taking game one 13-1.

Bosox starter Josh Beckett pitched seven innings of one-run baseball and Dustin Pedroia added a home run for Boston.

Game two was a much more tightly pitched game between starters Ubaido Jimenez and Curt Schilling with the Rockies scoring one run in the first inning and the Red Sox answering with one run each in the fourth and fifth innings. Mike Lowell’s RBI double in the fifth scoring David Ortiz was the winning run and the Sox go up two games to one in the series with a 2-1 victory.

In the first World Series game ever played in Coors Field in Denver, the Red Sox continued their winning ways with a six-run third inning helped by two run singles by Mike Lowell and Daisake Matsuzaka and the Bosox go up three games to none with a 10-5 win.

Matt Halliday added a three-run home run for the Rockies.

Looking for a sweep, the Red Sox opened up a 4-1 lead going into the bottom of the eighth inning behind the pitching of Jon Lester and solo home runs by Mike Lowell and Bobby Keilty.

The Rockies made it interesting with a two-run home run by Garrett Atkins in the bottom of the eighth to make it 4-3 Red Sox, but Jonathan Papelbon came on and retired the last five Rockies batters for a 4-3 Boston win and World Series title.

After not winning a World Series since 1918, the Sox won two in four years, both by sweeping their opponents.

Mike Lowell got the series MVP and the Red Sox returned in 2013 while the Rockies have not been back to the Fall Classic since 2007.

Jon Lester went on to have a distinguished career and appeared in two more World Series winning efforts — one with Boston in 2013 and one with the Chicago Cubs in 2016. He has compiled a 200-117 record in 16 major league seasons and is presently with the St. Louis Cardinals.

The Red Sox manager Terry Francona after winning World Series titles in 2004 and 2007 in Boston is now the manager of the Cleveland Indians whom he led to an American League pennant in 2016.

Terry played for 10 years in the majors and his father Tito Francona spent 15 years as a major league ballplayer between 1956 and 1970.

Statistics for this article were from baseball-reference.com.

Ron Griffitts a contributing columnist for The Daily Advocate.

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