In Game 1 rout, Red Sox get aggressive with trademark patience

Mike Napoli's three-run double opened the scoring for Boston in the first inning of an 8-1 victory.

Al Tielemans/SI

In the second, after Wainwright and Molina had allowed Stephen Drew's leadoff pop-up to drop between them, and after another Kozma error had again loaded the bases with one out, Dustin Pedroia watched Wainwright's first four pitches sail by him before eventually singling to left, scoring Drew. The next batter, Ortiz, didn't swing until Wainwright's third pitch, and then hit a flyball to deep right that would have been a grand slam if not for Beltran's effort to pull it back from beyond the shallow wall. It was only a sacrifice fly, but Beltran had to head to the hospital for x-rays on his wall-bruised ribs, only adding further damage to a terribly damaging start.

It did not, but the Red Sox, with their relentless patience, had as much to do with the result of Game 1 as anything the Cardinals did. Boston has now won nine consecutive World Series games, and in fact hasn't lost one since 1986, but that history matters little to this collection of almost entirely different players. What matters to them is only the present, and how they will, batter by batter, attack each game. One of the Cardinals' tasks, going forward, will be to regain quickly their own long-honed approach. The more difficult task for St. Louis will be to figure out how to throw the Red Sox off of theirs.