Baseball 2004

1. David Ortiz: Put the Red Sox on his back to end the Curse of the Bambino.

He was the ALCS MVP.  He won won Games Four and Five with game winning hits.

In Game 4, after the Red Sox tied the game in the ninth, he drilled the game winning HR in the 12^th.

In Game Five Ortiz single in a run and scored in the 1^st to give Boston a 2-0 lead.  His 8^th in HR cut the New York lead to 4-3. His 14^th inning single won Game 5.

In Game Seven Big Papi homered and droved in two as Boston pounded New York 10-3 to advance to to the Series for the first time since ’86.

Ortiz in Game One of the World Series drove in four and homered.

He was .308 in Series with four walks.

Ortiz was an All-Star, Silver Slugger and was 4^th in the AL MVP voting.

He was 2^nd in the AL in HR (41), RBi (139) and total bases (351). He led the league with extra base hits (91).

He was fourth in OPS and 2^nd slugging.

In the ALDS Game 3, Papi put Boston the ALCS with a series winning HR in the 10th.

Boston ended it’s 86 year streak by dramatically winning the World Series in a sweep over St. Louis. They were the first team ever to comeback from down 3-0 to stun the Yankees.

The Sox finished with 2^nd best record in MLB with 98 wins and led the AL in average (.282) and runs per game (5.86).

2. Albert Pujols: Led the Cardinals to the World Series for the first time in 17 years. He was the NLCS MVP.

During the NLCS he was 14-28 (.500) with 4 HRs 9 RBI and 10 R in St. Louis’ seven game win over Houston.

The Machine hit a two run shot in Game One to tie the game at 2 in the 1^st. He was 2-3 with 2 BB and 2 Rs.

In Game Six, Pujols drilled a two run homer in the first to put the Cards on top. He was 3-5 on the night and scored three runs. In the 12^th he walked and scored on Jim Edmonds walk off.

The Cardinals would take the dramatic series in seven.

He put St. Louis in the LCS with a tie breaking 3R-HR in the 4^th and a RBI single in the 7^th, as the Cardinals got past the Dodgers 6-2 in Game Four to take the series 3-1.

He was an All-Star, Silver Slugger and finished 3^rd in the MVP voting.

Pujols hit .331 (5^th in NL), 46 HR (2^nd), and 123 RBI (3^rd).

The Cardinals first baseman led the NL in runs with 133 and total bases with 389. He was 2^nd in slugging % and 3^rd in OPS.

The Cardinals won 105 games, the most in baseball since the 1998 Braves. They led the NL in runs (5.28 per game) and batting average.

3. Curt Schilling: Helped Boston “reverse the curse” with his famous “bloody sock game”.

He led the AL with 21 wins and was 2^nd in the Cy Young voting.

Schill was second in the AL in ERA (3.26) and WHIP.

He was third in strikeouts with 203 and third in innings (226.7).

Schilling also led the league for the 4^th straight year in strikeout to walk ratio.

The Red Sox’s ace won Game One of the ALDS over Anaheim with 6 2/3 IP and two earned.

Schilling became a New England legend after partially tearing ligaments in his ankles in Game One of the ALCS; a loss to the Yankees.

He came back in Game Six, with the Sox down 3-2 in the series. He dominated New York for seven innings and giving up just one run.

The Red Sox would stun the Yankees in seven games after being down 3-0 in the series to advance to the World Series.

In the Fall Classic Schilling won Game Two with 6 IP and one run allowed.

The Red Sox swept the Cardinals for the first World Series win since 1918.