ST. LOUIS — Call some friends. Really. If they haven’t heard yet, let them know this Fall Classic is one.
If you need to catch them up, this is the scorecard of the moment: Between the regular season and playoffs, the Cardinals have 106 victories, the Red Sox 107. The first to 108 wins the 109th World Series.
They should know this has been a Series of outrageousness, weariness and sloppiness. Most of all, though, of evenness.
Except for this — the Red Sox have had Jon Lester and David Ortiz. They have been the reason the Cardinals have 106 victories (two in the World Series) and the Red Sox have 107 (three in the World Series).
Lester has now twice outdueled ace counterpart, Adam Wainwright, including 7 ²/₃ one-run innings Monday night in a 3-1 triumph that moved Boston within a triumph of its third title since 2004.
“That [beating Wainwright twice] is the epitome of a No. 1 starter, what an ace is all about,” said fellow Boston starter Ryan Dempster.
In just about any other year in which a No. 1 starter honored his pedigree in this way (two mano-a-mano ace wins, one run in 15 innings), you have a no-brainer World Series MVP. But forget no-brainer. This is no chance.
Lester, now 3-0 with one run permitted in 21 career World Series innings, may be nudging aside Babe Ruth, Luis Tiant and Curt Schilling for the honor of best Red Sox postseason pitcher ever. But he cannot push aside Ortiz. Not for meaningful Red Sox Octobers. Not for this postseason.
For in a World Series in which no one can hit, Ortiz essentially does not make outs.
“Can you say he is a one-man wrecking crew?” Red Sox right fielder Shane Victorino said. “Yes.”
Ortiz is 11-for-15 with four walks and no strikeouts — and one of his non-hits would have been a grand slam had it not been caught over the right-field fence at Fenway by Carlos Beltran. He is hitting .733; the rest of the Red Sox .151.
Ortiz is now the face of this thrilling World Series, which will not play quite as well outside New England, especially in New York. Yankees fans, in particular, feel he skated when it was revealed he had failed the PED survey test in 2003, though he has always denied ever using steroids. So it is a bit loaded to make this comparison now, but Ortiz is like Barry Bonds in the 2002 World Series — he just seems as if he can wait so long to make a decision, decipher every pitch, never be caught off balance, always square the ball up. And, like Bonds, he is worked around constantly, sees few hittable pitches, yet is always ready to pounce.
In the first inning Monday night, Ortiz batted with first base open, Dustin Pedroia on second and one out. He should have been intentionally walked or, at the least, pitched around. Yet, Ortiz was ready and rocketed the first pitch for an RBI double. He had three hits for a second straight game and of his one out, Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington said with a shrug, “he hit a two-iron that was caught in deep center.”
His bat and Lester’s arm restored order to this Series. The first four games had been lost as much as won, had brought a sense of the ugly masterpiece to this Series. Also, Game 3 had finished with the Immaculate Obstruction. Game 4 with a pick-off.
It made you feel anything was possible to close Game 5 — an unassisted triple play, perhaps. Instead, Lester and Ortiz got the Red Sox to the brink, to Game 6 back home and, well, maybe anything is still possible.
For the last time the Red Sox played a World Series Game 6 was 1986, and the ball went through Bill Buckner’s legs. The last time the Red Sox played a World Series Game 6 at Fenway was 1975, and Carlton Fisk went off the left-field foul pole. The last time the Red Sox won a World Series at Fenway also was a Game 6, Sept. 11, 1918 — a Classic in which Ruth had two of Boston’s four wins.
Ortiz helped end The Curse that began encasing the Red Sox a year later, when Ruth was sold in 1919 to the Yankees. Now, what stands between Ortiz and an MVP and another title is Michael Wacha, the Cardinal ace in training. The 22-year-old already turned this Series once by beating the Red Sox at Fenway. That made him 4-0 with a 1.00 ERA this postseason after he went 4-1 with a 2.78 ERA in his rookie campaign.
Perhaps he is fresh in a Series in which fatigue and attrition is a factor. Allen Craig started at first for St. Louis, but is noticeably limping. Beltran continues to nurse ribs bruised robbing Ortiz of that grand slam. Victorino did not start for the second straight game with a back issue.
So this is where we are: The youthful Wacha trying to grab away Big Papi’s Series and MVP. The injuries. The Beards. The Cardinal Way. The strange endings. It has all made the 109th World Series an unforgettable show long on strategy, theater and angst, deep in the kind of maneuvers that have left the managers open to second-guessing and ulcers.
Boston third-base coach Brian Butterfield said it has felt like one extended “fistfight,” such is the exhilaration and exhaustion all around.
The players are tired, but this Series is fresh. It goes back to Fenway now for Game 6. If you haven’t joined in progress yet, it might be time. This is a Fall Classic.