2013 World Series: Red Sox blast Cardinals in Game 1

In the teams’ local TV markets, the game held a 39.7 household rating/61 in Boston and a 36.0/54 in St. Louis, which means... something!

According to Variety, ABC’s Modern Family will likely move ahead of Game 1 in the ratings once DVRs are accounted for, but that doesn’t change the fact that the World Series is a big draw so far. In fact, Wednesday’s game averaged about a million more viewers than this week’s Monday Night Football match-up between the Giants and Vikings.

Melling’s tweet caused a search for more evidence, and a Vine of Lester going to his glove surfaced as well:

It’s unclear what Lester is doing with his fingers or if anything is on his glove, but it seems likely that the Red Sox will have to comment on the issue.

Exhibit C: At least Kozma got a bit more leather on it this time:

Meanwhile, the Cardinals’ best defensive play resulted in the early exit of one of the greatest postseason players in recent memory:

At the very least, Matheny is keeping his options open. After Game 1 the Cardinals manager was asked if he thought about pulling Wainwright even earlier in the game, in anticipation of potentially making three starts during the series.

“Well, we got him out pretty early, still,” Matheny said. “We’re not ruling out anything moving forward.”

Beltran was injured on the play and left the game prior to taking the field in the third inning. He was taken to a Boston-area hospital for further evaluation.

Ortiz eventually got his home run -- although, it wasn’t as dramatic -- in the seventh inning, a two-run shot off of Cardinals reliever Kevin Siegrist.

• World Series: Adam Wainwright vs. Jon Lester in Game 1

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John Axford struck out the side in relief of Wainwright in the bottom of the sixth.

• World Series: Adam Wainwright vs. Jon Lester in Game 1

Just to make sure the world remains balanced, Gomes made an error later in the inning. Fortunately for the Red Sox, the miscue wasn’t costly, and they still hold a 5-0 lead entering the bottom of the fifth.

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• World Series: Adam Wainwright vs. Jon Lester in Game 1

• 10 greatest World Series programs

Beltran struck out in his lone at-bat on Wednesday but owns a .256/.383/.538 line in 47 plate appearances this postseason. His career .724 slugging percentage in playoff games ranks third-highest in Major League Baseball history.

• World Series: Adam Wainwright vs. Jon Lester in Game 1

Beltran’s catch is the lone bright spot in what has been a poor defensive showing by the Cardinals thus far.

Update: After the inning Beltran was removed from the game with a right rib contusion.

• World Series: Adam Wainwright vs. Jon Lester in Game 1

• 10 greatest World Series programs

Bud Selig will present the award to Rivera at a press conference scheduled for 7 p.m. ET. Rivera, who will be accompanied by his wife and two children, per MLB’s press release, will then be honored on the field as part of the pregame ceremonies.

Rivera notched 44 saves and posted a 2.11 ERA in 2013, his final big-league season. The 43-year-old native of Panama is MLB’s all-time leader in saves, games finished and ERA+.

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First, center fielder Fred Snodgrass dropped an easy fly ball to open the inning, a moment which has gone down in history -- don’t snigger -- as “Snodgrass’s muff.” The batter, Clyde Engle, made it to second. Snodgrass made a great catch to steal a hit from Harry Hooper on the very next play, but Engle tagged and went to third. Mathewson had spectacular control; he averaged just 1.6 walks per nine innings over the course of his career, but he struggled with the strike zone throughout this game and now walked his fifth batter of the contest, the weak-hitting second baseman Steve Yerkes, to bring up Tris Speaker, another future Hall of Famer and by far the best hitter on the Red Sox. Speaker hit a high foul pop-up over first base. Merkle didn’t move. Mathewson, trying to direct traffic, shouted for catcher Chief Myers to take it -- if Merkle had thoughts of going after the ball, he gave them up with his pitcher shouting, “Chief! Chief!” Myers came tearing out from behind the plate, but he might as well have been six miles away. The ball dropped to the ground in the middle of the triangle formed by the three Giants.

Speaker literally cackled. “Well, you just called for the wrong man,” he shouted at Mathewson. “It’s gonna cost you the ballgame.” Speaker lined the next pitch to right field for a single, tying the game and chasing the winning run to third. Manager John McGraw called for an intentional walk to load the bases with one out. Mathewson induced Sox third baseman Larry Gardner to fly out to right field, but Yerkes beat the throw home with the Series-winning run. One of the greatest pitchers in history had been beaten on a mental error -- his own.

Everything is as expected in the top half of the lineup, but John Farrell has played musical chairs some with the bottom third of the order.

Rookie phenom Xander Bogaerts, who was 2-for-4 with three walks in his first two postseason starts, has been rewarded with a spot in the starting lineup for Game 1. The youngster was put in the nine hole for Game 5 of the ALCS, but has now leapfrogged his way up one slot in the order in his two subsequent starts. If this trend continues, he could be rubbing shoulder with David Ortiz by the end of the series.

Right-hander Jake Peavy will start whichever of the games Buchholz doesn’t.

Buchholz, 29, missed a large chunk of the regular season because of shoulder issues, but was able to return to the rotation just in time to help the Red Sox down the stretch-run. Buchholz has shown no visible signs of an injury in his three starts this postseason, but Bradford heard from a source Tuesday that the right-hander may be dealing with “physical issues.”

Here are the full rosters for the 2013 World Series:

• World Series: Adam Wainwright vs. Jon Lester in Game 1

There had been some questions as to Buchholz’s status for the series after he was pulled from his ALCS Game 5 start after throwing just 85 pitches. He also has not looked particularly effective in the postseason, allowing 10 runs in 16⅔ innings.

Manager John Farrell says the team will keep the same roster as they had in the ALCS, meaning Buchholz will stick with the team. Farrell also said he fully expects Buchholz to pitch in one of the weekend games.

Wacha has been close to un-hittable all postseason, posting a 0.43 earned-run average and allowing just eight hits in 21 innings over three starts. The 22-year-old is now up to a career-high of 170 innings pitched on the year between the minors, the regular season and the playoffs, but doesn’t seem to be giving any signs of running out of gas.

Wacha’s confidence is likely high coming off his NLCS Most Valuable Player honors, but he’ll still be in uncharted territory when he makes his World Series (and Fenway Park) debut Thursday night.

Emmel and Wegner are the only two men on the staff who have never been umpire in a World Series.

The World Series is set to kick off Wednesday with first pitched scheduled for 8:07 pm EST. The series will be broadcast nationally by FOX.

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