DUSTIN PEDROIA HOMERS OFF JEFF FRANCIS

A POWERFUL CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM
 2007 WORLD SERIES, GAME #1
The Sox rock Colorado

October 24, 2007 ... The Rockies' baptism onto baseball's biggest stage instead resembled a ritual drowning on a misty night in Fenway Park, where only one winning streak of consequence remained after the Sox took apart the Rox, 13-1, before a damp but delighted crowd of 36,733 in Game 1. The runs by the Sox were the most in a Series opener. It also was the most one-sided outcome in a Series opener.

Gone was Colorado's 10-game winning streak and whatever aura of invincibility the Rockies had created by winning 21 of their 22 previous games, including seven in a row through the National League playoffs. The Rockies can only hope it was the eight days off between games that accounted for their play, because at this rate, they'll be taking a much longer vacation much sooner than they'd planned.

Very much alive is a five-game winning streak in the World Series for the Sox, who swept the Cardinals in 2004 to break their 86-year championship drought, then cuffed around Colorado with the same impunity that they used to finish off the Indians in the American League Championship Series.

The Sox outscored the Indians by a combined 30-5 to win the last three games. Last night, they looked like they might match that output in one game, as they welcomed the Rockies to sea level with Dustin Pedroia's leadoff home run and never let up. Colorado starter Jeff Francis was gone after a yield of six runs in four innings, and a seven-run fifth inning against an embarrassingly inept Rockies bullpen.

Josh Beckett, meanwhile, struck out the first four Rockies he faced, and five of the first six, as he ran his October record to 4-0 with another take-no-prisoners performance. Beckett, who was scored upon only in the second inning, when Garrett Atkins doubled and came around on Troy Tulowitzki's two-out double, left to a huge ovation, lifting his cap as he disappeared into the dugout. He finished with nine strikeouts and one walk, allowing just six hits. Mike Timlin replaced him to open the eighth.

The Sox sent 13 men to the plate in the fifth inning, nine in a row reaching after two outs. Rockies rookie lefthander Franklin Morales gave up three doubles in the span of four batters - Kevin Youkilis, David Ortiz, and Mike Lowell all hitting two-baggers while Manny Ramirez managed just a single, and after a walk and infield hit, he departed with one of the ugliest lines in Series history: 2/3 IP, 7 ER, 6 H, 1 BB, 1 balk, 94.50 ERA. His successor, Ryan Speier, only added to Morales's misery, walking all three batters he faced, forcing in a run with each base on balls.

When Youkilis, who by that point had doubled twice and walked, scoring three times, flied to right against the third pitcher of the inning, Matt Herges, to end the uprising, he kicked the dirt as he rounded first, as if he thought the rally might go on forever. The Rockies had done little to dissuade him of that notion. By the fifth, the Sox already had tied the record for most doubles in a Series game, eight, which had last been accomplished 82 years earlier by the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Sox inflicted much of their damage after two were out, scoring 11 runs after two men had been retired. They were 11 for 15 with two outs through the first five innings, a .733 clip.

This was the 18th time a World Series game featured a leadoff home run. Pedroia became the second player in World Series history to hit a leadoff home run in Game 1, joining Don Buford of the Orioles, who homered in the 1969 World Series. Buford's heavily favored Orioles lost the next four games to the Amazin' Mets. It may take a similar miracle to save the Rockies. Pedroia, who also homered in his last at-bat of Game 7 against the Indians, is inviting comparisons in this series to Troy Tulowitzki, both players favored to be named rookies of the year in their respective leagues. Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon doubted Pedroia was giving the matchup any thought.

Appropriately enough, Carl Yastrzemski threw out the ceremonial first pitch before the opening game of the 103d World Series at Fenway Park last night. Yaz, now 68, made the toss as the club again honored the most important Red Sox team of all time. Yaz is not seen much around here these days. He's forever on the ball club's masthead as a "player development consultant," and puts in early-morning hours with the Sox hitters every year in Fort Myers, Fla., but his role with the team is entirely ceremonial. He lives in a small town north of Boston with his wife, tries to take a walk every day, and goes fishing (near the Merrimack River) as often as possible.

David Ortiz has not had a cortisone shot in his right knee, but the condition of his knee will be a factor in deciding who will sit when the Series switches to Denver, where the Sox will not be allowed to use a DH per National League rules.