THE
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2007
SPORTS
9B
MLB
Monster doesn't scare Colorado
ASSOCIATED PRESS
BY HOWARD ULMAN ASSOCIATED PRESS
Boston Red Sox's Curt Schilling, back, jokes around with Dustin Pedroia during practice Tuesday at Fenway Park in Boston. The Boston Red Sox host the Colorado Rockies in Game 1 of the baseball World Series tonight.
BOSTON — The Green Monster in left field. The Pesky Pole in right. Screaming fans all over the place.
The aura of Fenway Park can intimidate visitors. Not the Colorado Rockies. They've seen and heard it all before and done quite well.
In a three-game series in mid-June, they came to the historic ballpark with a losing record and beat the first-place Boston Red Sox twice. In the finale, Jeff Francis had one of his best starts of the year, Josh Beckett had one of his worst and the Rockies won 7-1.
"It was loud. It was energetic," Francis said of his last visit. "Those fans are into the game at all points. There is no limit. You have to get all 27 outs before you can relax."
On Wednesday night, Francis and Beckett will meet at Fenway again in Game 1 of the World Series.
Beckett was 9-10 when he faced Francis. He lasted just five innings, giving up six runs, 10 hits and one walk with a season-low one strike-out. He allowed two homers, including a grand slam by Garrett Atkins in the third inning over the 37-foot high Green Monster in left field.
"It was a fun run," Beckett said after the game of his unbeaten streak.
Boston won the opener of that series 2-1 when Tim Wakefield allowed one run in eight innings and Jonathan Papelbon struck out two and picked up the save. The next day, Colorado tagged Curt Schilling for six runs in five innings in a 12-2 victory.
The Rockies certainly are.
"They took it to us pretty good, I remember that." Boston's Dustin Pedroia said Monday. "They came in here and just beat on us. They swung the bats good. They pitched well. So we're going to have to make some adjustments. But I think we're two totally different teams since then."
Just 33-33 after that series, they finished the regular season at 90-73 with a win over San Diego in a one-game playoff. Then they swept Philadelphia and Arizona in the first two postseason rounds, giving them 21 wins in their last 22 games.
The Red Sox also have changed.
"They had an incredible run to this point," Schilling said. "They're going to play us tough."
Rookie Jacoby Ellsburg replaced slumping Coco Crisp in center field for the last two games of the seven-game AL championship series against the Cleveland Indians and could start again Wednesday, although he'd be hitting lefty against left-hander Francis.
The Red Sox also are on an offensive tear. In winning the last three games against Cleveland after falling behind 3-1, they hit .381 (40-for-105) with two homers and outscored the Indians 30-5.
"The way we turned it on in the series against Cleveland, I couldn't be proud of them," Boston hitting coach Dave Maadan said.
"They hit better at that park than they do anywhere else," Francis said. "We have our work cut out for us, but we are up for the challenge."
The Red Sox hit .279 this season, including .29 at Fenway.
They'll be playing on two days rest, which should help them keep their batting rhythm. The Rockies will finally play after eight days without a game.
"They'll be ready," Pedroia said. "They've waited their whole lives to be in this situation so I don't think nine days of rest is going to affect their play at all."
Colorado manager Clint Hurdle understood the concern that his hitters might lose their edge, but the city of Denver had time to enjoy winning theNL pennant for the first time in the team's 15-year history.
"All the stories about the down time were appropriate. What will it do to the Rockies?" he said. "But to watch the city — not to have us run right into the World Series — has been really cool."
The weather in Boston for the first two games is supposed to be mild, with mostly clear skies and temperatures in the 50s.
There's no snow in the forecast for the weekend games in Denver. Meteorologist Robert Glancy of the National Weather Service said Monday that Games 3 and 4 should be played in around 45-degree weather.
The Red Sox have an edge in experience; Beckett was the MVP of the 2003 World Series and the 2007 ALCS and Manny Ramirez won the award in the 2004 World Series. The Red Sox still have seven players who were on the roster that ended the franchise's 86-year championship drought.
They also have been resilient, coming back from a 3-0 deficit in the 2004 ALCS and the 3-1 deficit this year.
What's the secret?
"You just try to relax and do what you did all year." Boston's J.D. drew said. "I knew I didn't want to walk off that field an LCS loser."
He was a winner on Sunday when the Red Sox clinched the ALCS with an 11-2 win at Fenway Park.
But so far this season, the Rockies are 2-1 there.
"That, at least, gives us some familiarity with the ballpark and a little bit with their pitchers recently." NLCS MVP Matt Holliday said. "But that doesn't mean anything in the World Series."
On Campus Special
1-item Pizza or Pokey Stix
medium $5.99 Large $6.99 Xlarge $7.99
$9.99
All-Nighter
Xtra Large 1-item Pizza
Xtra Large Poke Keyst
8 Pepperoni Rolls
Get 2on $17
Monday & Wednesday
BIG DEAL
$4.99
Large Cheese Pizza or Large Pokey Stix DELIVERED!
Delivery or Pickup Mail present reason when rewriting,
removing or adding text.
841-5000 • Open until 3am or later
BY RONALD BLUM ASSOCIATED PRESS
"I'm sure the Red Sox are used to this every day," he said Tuesday, with more than a bit of awe, "but we've never seen anything like this, the bus pulling up into the parking lot, and the trailers and the satellite dishes."
BOSTON — Jeff Francis looked at Fenway Park and sounded like the wide-eyed World Series rookie he is.
Welcome to the snow, Colorado Rockies, a black-and-purple clad club of Tulowitzki and Torreallabus unknown to many fans even now, after their amazing run of 21 wins in 22 games.
MLB
Rockies new to national eye Experience advantage goes to Red Sox in World Series
A team that didn't even exist until 1993 navigated through the cracked corridors and cramped clubhouse of Fenway, then played catch in front of 37-foot-high Green Monster in left and Pesky's Pole in right. Infielder Clint Barmes plopped into a red seat in row CC to take it all in.
Josh Beckett was set to start Wednesday night's opener for Boston, and Francis was slated to pitch for the Rockies. Much has been made of possible snow when the Series moves to Coors Field this weekend, but there was a 30 percent chance of rain for Game 1.
With Colorado coming off a record eight-day layoff since sweeping Arizona in the NL championship series, there's been a lot of debate about rust vs. rest — and what better place to discuss rust than quirky old Fenway Park, which opened in 1912 and is filled with nearly a century of baseball sounds and smells.
"We will not apologize for winning quickly," Rockies manager Clint Hurdle said to a roomful of laughter.
Last year, of course, the Tigers fumbled and flopped after a six-day layoff and lost to the St. Louis Cardinals in five games — with a Detroit pitcher making an error every night. Teams took notice — a day ahead of Wednesday's opener, Red Sox manager Terry Francona was at the cage running pitchers' fielding practice.
In some ways, the Red Sox have become the Yankees, an October fixture attracting national attention. Manny and his do-rag, Big Papi and Dice-K are TV staples.
The Rockies? They haven't
been on a
FOX Saturday
broadcast
since July 2004
and haven't
appeared on an
ESPN Sunday
night telecast
since June
2002.
"We've been called favorites since Day 1,
names over there, and we're just not."
"We feel anonymous everywhere. They're household names over there, and we're not."
Boston overcame a 1-3 deficit in the AL championship series to beat Cleveland. That was nothing compared to what the Red Sox did in 2004, when they became the first baseball team to bounce back from a 3-0 deficit in a best-of-seven postseason series, upending the Yankees. Then they swept the cardinals for their first World Series title in 86 years, setting off a year of celebrations throughout New England.
Boston was 51-30 at home during the regular season and 5-1 during the playoffs, benefiting from its accumulated knowledge of Fenway's idiosyncrasies and ricochet patterns.
and look at us," David Ortiz said, "here we are dancing and just taking it easy. We just have the edge, the attitude to become champions."
Rockies names might not be known in most homes, but they are scrawled inside The Wall. Colorado came to Fenway in June, winning two of three and
outscoring the Red Sox 20-5, and some Rockies players partook in the ritual of affixing their names inside baseball's most famous fence.
"A lot of special things happen here," Francis said. "It's a special baseball place: the fans, the players, the team and the city"
Now that the curse has lifted, there might be less pressure. That's not the Red Sox notion.
"1918, I wasn't even thinking about coming to life. I never paid
Since its last win on Oct. 15, Colorado had workouts and simulated games. That only went so far.
attention to any of that," Ortiz said with a smile.
GARRETT ATKINS Rockies Third Baseman
Boston took over the AL East lead for good on April 18 and ended New York's run of nine straight division titles. The Rockies were fourth in the NL West at just 76-72 when their spurt began Sept.18. If not for two blown saves by San Diego's Trevor Hoffman, they wouldn't even have even won the wild card and made their first postseason appearance since 1995.
"We feel anonymous everywhere," third baseman Garrett Atkins said. "They're household
"The postseason, the World Series, you can't simulate that," right fielder Brad Hawpe said. "There's nothing like that."
A