BOSTON (AP) — There hasn’t been a party like this in New England for nearly a century.

Turmoil to triumph. Worst to first.

MVP David Ortiz and the Boston Red Sox, baseball’s bearded wonders, capped their remarkable turnaround by beating the St. Louis Cardinals 6-1 in Game 6 on Wednesday night to win their third World Series championship in 10 seasons.

Shane Victorino, symbolic of these resilient Red Sox, returned from a stiff back and got Boston rolling with a three-run double off the Green Monster against rookie sensation Michael Wacha.

John Lackey became the first pitcher to start and win a Series clincher for two different teams, allowing one run over 6 2-3 innings 11 years after his Game 7 victory as an Angels rookie in 2002.

With fans roaring on every pitch and cameras flashing, Koji Uehara struck out Matt Carpenter for the final out. The Japanese pitcher jumped into the arms of catcher David Ross while Red Sox players rushed from the dugout and bullpen as the Boston theme “Dirty Water” played on the public-address system.

And the Red Sox didn’t have to fly the trophy home. For the first time since Babe Ruth’s team back in 1918, Boston won the title at Fenway Park. The 101-year-old ballpark, oldest in the majors, was packed with 38,447 singing, shouting fans anticipating a celebration 95 years in the making. There wasn’t the cowboy-up comeback charm of “The Idiots” from 2004, who swept St. Louis to end an 86-year title drought. There wasn’t that cool efficiency of the 2007 team that swept Colorado. This time, they were Boston Strong — playing for a city shaken by the marathon bombings in April.

After late-season slumps in 2010 and ’11, the embarrassing revelations of a chicken-and-beer clubhouse culture that contributed to the ouster of manager Terry Francona, and the daily tumult of Bobby Valentine’s one-year flop, these Red Sox grew on fans. Just like the long whiskers on the players’ faces, starting with Jonny Gomes’ scruffy spring training beard.

Across the Northeast, from Connecticut’s Housatonic River up to the Aroostook in Maine, Boston’s eighth championship will be remembered for all the beard-yanking bonding. Ortiz, the only player remaining from the 2004 champs, had a Ruthian World Series. He batted .688 (11-for-16) with two homers, six RBIs and eight walks — including four in the finale — for a .760 on-base percentage in 25 plate appearances. Even slumping Stephen Drew delivered a big hit in Game 6, sending Wacha’s first pitch of the fourth into the right-center bullpen.

By the time the inning was over, RBI singles by Mike Napoli and Victorino had made it 6-0, and the Red Sox were on their way.

The win capped an emotional season for the Red Sox, one heavy with the memory of the events that unfolded on Patriots Day, when three people were killed and more than 260 wounded in bombing attacks at the Boston Marathon. The Red Sox wore “Boston Strong” logos on their left sleeves and erected a large emblem on the Green Monster as a constant reminder. A “B Strong” logo was mowed into center-field grass at Fenway.

Among the players blamed for the indifferent culture at the end of the Francona years, Lackey took the mound two days shy of the second anniversary of his elbow surgery and got his first Series win since the 2002 clincher. He pitched shutout ball into the seventh, when Carlos Beltran’s RBI single ended the Cardinals’ slump with runners in scoring position at 0-for-14.

Junichi Tazawa came in with the bases loaded and retired Allen Craig on an inning-ending grounder to first. Brandon Workman followed in the eighth and Uehara finished. St. Louis had been seeking its second title in three seasons, but the Cardinals sputtered.

Symbolic of the team’s struggles, reliever Trevor Rosenthal tripped while throwing a pitch to Ortiz in the eighth, balking Dustin Pedroia to second.

Pedroia had brought back memories of Carlton Fisk’s 1975 Game 6-winning home run, sending a first-inning drive about 10 feet foul of the Green Monster foul pole — and waving his left arm once to try to urge the ball fair as he came out of the batter’s box.

Lackey escaped a two-on, none-out jam in the second when he retired Matt Adams and David Freese on flyouts and, after a wild pitch, struck out Jon Jay. Boston wasted a similar threat in the bottom half, then went ahead on the third. Jacoby Ellsbury singled leading off and went to second on Pedroia’s grounder. Ortiz was intentionally walked, Napoli struck out and Gomes was hit above the left elbow with a pitch, loading the bases.

Victorino, wearing red, white and blue spikes with an American flag motif, had been 0-for-10 in the Series and missed the previous two games with a bad back. Dropped from second to sixth in the batting order, he took two balls and a called strike, then turned on a 93 mph fastball and sent it high off the Green Monster, the 37-foot-high wall in left. Gomes slid home as Yadier Molina took Matt Holliday’s one-hop throw and applied the tag, then argued with plate umpire Jim Joyce. Victorino, pumped with emotion, went to third on the throw and pounded his chest with both fists three times.

After Drew’s homer, Lance Lynn relieved Wacha with two on, and RBI singles by Napoli and Victorino boosted Boston’s lead to 6-0. Wacha entered 4-0 with a 1.00 ERA in his postseason career but gave up six runs, five hits and four walks in 3 2-3 innings, the shortest start of the 22-year-old’s big league career.

Boston was a 30-1 underdog to win the World Series last winter but joined the 1991 Minnesota Twins as the only teams to win titles one season after finishing in last place. Now, the Red Sox will raise another championship flag before their home opener next season April 4 against Milwaukee.

The Red Sox had not played a Series Game 6 since that infamous night at New York’s Shea Stadium in 1986, when Bill Buckner allowed Mookie Wilson’s 10th-inning roller to get through his legs. And there had not been one at Fenway since Fisk’s 12th-inning home run off the foul pole atop the Green Monster. Following consecutive late-season skids, the Red Sox parted with Francona at the end of the 2011 season and reports emerged of players drinking beer and eating fried chicken in the clubhouse during games. Valentine took over as manager, injuries caused Boston to use a club-record 56 players, and the Red Sox skidded to a 69-93 record, their poorest since 1965.

John Farrell, Boston’s pitching coach from 2007-10, was hired after a pair of seasons as Toronto’s manager. A roster turnover began in August 2012 when Adrian Gonzalez, Josh Beckett, Carl Crawford and their big-money contracts were traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers in a deal that saved Boston just more than $261.66 million through 2018.

The Red Sox restocked during the offseason by signing seven major league free agents for contracts of three years or fewer at a total of $100.45 million: Victorino, Napoli, Gomes, Drew, Uehara, Ryan Dempster and Ross. After losing closers Joel Hanrahan and Andrew Bailey to injuries early in the season, the Red Sox remained relatively healthy: Seventeen players wound up on the DL, down from 27.

They finished 97-65 _ matching St. Louis for the best record in the major leagues _ and made the playoffs for the first time since 2009. They also became the first team since the 2005 Cardinals to navigate the season without losing more than three in a row. After falling behind 2-1 in the Series, the Red Sox ended with three straight wins.

— Associated Press —

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Jon Lester pitched the Boston Red Sox within a whisker of yet another World Series championship.

Now, this bearded band goes back to Fenway Park just one win away.

”Pretty special time,” Lester said.

Lester bested Adam Wainwright once again, journeyman David Ross hit a tiebreaking double in the seventh inning and the Red Sox downed the St. Louis Cardinals 3-1 Monday night to take a 3-2 Series edge.

David Ortiz delivered his latest big hit, too, putting Boston in position to capture its third crown in a decade. Not since 1918 have the Red Sox clinched the title at their century-old bandbox.

”The fact is we’re going home,” manager John Farrell said. ”Going back to a place that our guys love to play in, in front of our fans.”

”This atmosphere here, these three games, has been phenomenal. We know it’s going to be equal to that, if not better. And we’re excited about going home in the position we are,” he said.

Said Ortiz: ”It’s going to get loud out there.”

John Lackey gets the first chance to win it Wednesday night against St. Louis rookie sensation Michael Wacha. A Cardinals victory would set up a most spooky proposition for both teams – Game 7 on Halloween night.

”It will be legendary if we go into Boston and win two games,” Wainwright said.

Ortiz enjoyed even more success in Game 5 after moving up from cleanup to the third slot. He is 11 for 15 (.733) in this Series with two homers, six RBIs and four walks.

Ortiz left in a double switch, shortly after legging out a hit in the eighth. He was OK, and he’d already done enough damage to the Cardinals.

”What planet’s that guy from?” Ross said.

Lester enhanced his reputation as an October ace with every pitch. He allowed one run and four hits in 7 2-3 innings, striking out seven without a walk. Nearly the same line he had in beating Wainwright in the opener.

”I think the biggest thing is me and Rossy have had a good rhythm,” Lester said. ”Early on, we just went back to our game plan from Game 1 and just fell back on that and really just tried to make them swing the bats early, and we were able to do that.”

The lefty who’s won all three of his career World Series starts had just one scary inning, when Matt Holliday homered in the fourth, Carlos Beltran flied out to the wall and Yadier Molina hit a liner. Other than that, Lester was sharp as a knife while retiring 12 in a row.

He tweaked himself late, but said he was all right. In fact, Lester’s biggest brush with major trouble came well before his first pitch.

Lester was getting loose near the warning track when a team of eight Clydesdales pulling a beer wagon came trotting by – it’s a Busch Stadium tradition and Lester moved aside to watch the horses.

He also took a brief break in the seventh. A giant paper airplane floated down from the stands, and some fans cheered its flight as it landed near the mound. Lester handed it to a ballboy, and retired Molina to end the inning.

”It was a tough loss. It was 1-1 in the seventh – that was obviously the game. Tip your cap to Ross, he hit a double to take the lead,” Wainwright said. ”Their guy Lester did a good job.”

Lester did it without any flap over his glove. During Game 1, a Cardinals minor league pitcher posted a picture on Twitter of discoloration on Lester’s mitt and wondered if some foreign substance was there.

Lester said he merely used rosin for a better grip, and Major League Baseball said it didn’t see anything wrong.

Koji Uehara got four outs for his second save. No crazy endings this time, either, following one night with an obstruction call and the next with Uehara’s game-finishing pickoff.

The Cardinals went quickly in the ninth, and now need two wins in Boston. They overcame a 3-2 deficit at home to beat Texas for the 2011 title.

”The guys know what we have to do,” manager Mike Matheny said. ”We have to play the game. They have to lock arms, trust each other and play the game the right way. Most of it is going to be the mentality of not buying into any kind of stats, any kind of predictions, any kind of odds. And go out and play the game.”

Ortiz put Boston ahead with an RBI double in the first, hitting the first pitch after Dustin Pedroia doubled on an 0-2 curve. Ortiz singled the next time up and tied the Series record by reaching base in nine straight plate appearances.

Big Papi and the Red Sox took two of three at the NL park despite playing without a designated hitter. Ortiz became the first baseman, putting slugger Mike Napoli on the bench.

The Red Sox lead the Series despite a .205 team batting average. Ortiz has one-third of the team’s 33 hits.

Ross, a graybeard on a team led by scraggly veterans, broke a 1-all tie when he hooked a drive just inside the left-field line, and the ball bounced into the seats for a go-ahead double.

”How about that? It’s nice to drive in runs,” Ross said. ”I’ve got to credit the guys in front of me.”

Jacoby Ellsbury later hit an RBI single, and Ross was thrown out at the plate trying to score on the play.

A day after Ortiz delivered a stirring, in-game pep talk to rev up the Red Sox, the Cardinals could’ve used some inspiration themselves – perhaps a visit from the good-luck Rally Squirrel from their 2011 title run.

The St. Louis hitters went quietly, a couple slinging their bats after routine popups and fly balls and others questioning the solid calls by plate umpire Bill Miller.

Holliday shook St. Louis’ slumber and broke Lester’s string with his second home run of the Series. Lester had pitched 16 1-3 scoreless innings in his first three World Series starts before Holliday tagged him.

That was all St. Louis got. Not even a revamped lineup that included the hobbled Allen Craig helped the Cards.

Wainwright changed things the next time Ortiz came up, varying his tempo and delivery. Ortiz still hit it hard while lining out to center.

Wainwright struck out 10 in seven innings, becoming the first Cardinals pitcher to reach double digits in the Series since Bob Gibson did it twice in 1968 against Detroit.

It was a big sports night in St. Louis, with an NFL game between the Rams and Seattle eight blocks away at the Edward Jones Dome. This is a baseball town, clearly: Football tickets sold for $10 on StubHub as kickoff approached, and fans inside the dome loudly booed when the World Series game was taken off the video board.

The baseball fans got to see Lester do more than pitch. He helped himself in the field, knocking down a hard comebacker and swiftly handling a bunt. He also made a dent with his bat, sort of.

Coming in with a career 0-for-31 mark at the plate, he nubbed a ball in front of the plate and was thrown out leading off the third. But at least he broke Wainwright’s string of five straight strikeouts, one shy of the postseason record tied by Detroit’s Justin Verlander against Boston in the AL championship series.

— Associated Press —

BOSTON (AP) — Rookie Michael Wacha kept pitching like a postseason ace and John Lackey matched him, leaving the St. Louis Cardinals and Boston Red Sox scoreless through three innings Thursday night in Game 2 of the World Series.

A day after the Red Sox romped past the sloppy Cardinals 8-1, this one was tight at the start as Boston tried for its 10th straight Series win and a commanding lead.

At 22, Wacha came as advertised. He pitched well beyond his years – and in October, of all things.

The right-hander flashed a 95 mph fastball and a diving changeup while holding Boston hitless until Jacoby Ellsbury’s broken-bat bloop single with two outs in the third.

No one in the Boston lineup had ever hit against Wacha and it showed, as the Red Sox struck out four times and took a lot of weak, awkward swings.

The Cardinals had seen this already from Wacha, even though he made only nine regular-season starts. He began the night with a 3-0 record in three postseason starts, allowing just eight hits while striking out 22.

Wacha had his own cheering section at chilly Fenway Park, too. His mom, dad and younger sister bundled up in the stands after arriving from Texarkana, Texas.

Lackey worked around a pair of singles in blanking the Cardinals. He pitched a day after turning 35 – it was his first Series start since 2002 when, as a rookie for the Angels, he beat Barry Bonds and San Francisco in Game 7.

Carlos Beltran started for the Cardinals in right field, returning from an injury that forced him out of the opener. Beltran exited in the third inning and went to a hospital, shortly after bruising his ribs when he rammed into the short bullpen wall while taking away a grand slam from David Ortiz.

Both teams made changes to their lineups.

Cardinals manager Mike Matheny benched shortstop Pete Kozma after making two errors in the opener and put Daniel Descalso in his place. Jarrod Saltalamacchia replaced David Ross as Boston’s catcher.

The teams are off Friday, and resume with Game 3 at Busch Stadium on Saturday night. Boston starter Jake Peavy makes his Series debut against Joe Kelly.

— Associated Press —

BOSTON (AP) — An easy toss on a sure out that skittered away. A routine popup that somehow dropped between Gold Glovers. And something even more startling – umpires reversing a key call.

Most everything fell into place for the Boston Red Sox in the World Series opener.

Mike Napoli hit a three-run double right after a game-changing decision in the very first inning, Jon Lester made the early lead stand up and the Red Sox romped past the sloppy St. Louis Cardinals 8-1 Wednesday night for their ninth straight Series win.

A season before Major League Baseball is expected to expand instant replay, fans got to see a preview. The entire six-man crew huddled and flipped a ruling on a forceout at second base – without looking at any video.

”I think based on their group conversation, surprisingly, to a certain extent, they overturned it and I think got the call right,” Boston manager John Farrell said.

David Ortiz was robbed of a grand slam by Carlos Beltran – a catch that sent the star right fielder to a hospital with bruised ribs – but Big Papi later hit a two-run homer following third baseman David Freese’s bad throw.

The Red Sox also capitalized on two errors by shortstop Pete Kozma to extend a Series winning streak that began when they swept St. Louis in 2004. Boston never trailed at any point in those four games and coasted on this rollicking night at Fenway Park, thanks to a hideous display by the Cardinals,

It got so bad for St. Louis that the sellout crowd literally laughed when pitcher Adam Wainwright and catcher Yadier Molina, who’ve combined to win six Gold Gloves, let an easy popup drop untouched between them.

Serious-minded St. Louis manager Mike Matheny didn’t find anything funny, especially when the umpires changed a call by Dana DeMuth at second base.

”Basically, the explanation is that’s not a play I’ve ever seen before. And I’m pretty sure there were six umpires on the field that had never seen that play before, either,” Matheny said.

”It’s a pretty tough time to debut that overruled call in the World Series. Now, I get that they’re trying to get the right call, I get that. Tough one to swallow,” he said.

DeMuth said he never actually saw Kozma drop the ball.

”My vision was on the foot. And when I was coming up, all I could see was a hand coming out and the ball on the ground. All right? So I was assuming,” DeMuth told a pool reporter.

There was no dispute, however, that the umpires properly ruled Kozma had not caught a soft toss from second baseman Matt Carpenter on a potential forceout. That’s what crew chief John Hirschbeck told Matheny.

”I just explained to him … that five of us were 100 percent sure,” Hirschbeck said. ”Our job is to get the play right. And that’s what we did.”

”I said, ‘I know you are not happy with it, that it went against you, but you have to understand that the play is correct,”’ he said.

The normally slick-fielding Cardinals looked sloppy at every turn. Wainwright bounced a pickoff throw, Molina let a pitch trickle off his mitt, center fielder Shane Robinson bobbled the carom on Napoli’s double and there was a wild pitch.

The Cardinal Way? More like, no way.

”We had a wakeup call. That is not the kind of team that we’ve been all season,” Matheny said. ”And they’re frustrated. I’m sure embarrassed to a point.”

Game 2 is Thursday night, with 22-year-old rookie sensation Michael Wacha starting for St. Louis against John Lackey. Wacha is 3-0 with a 0.43 ERA this postseason.

Beltran is day to day after X-rays were negative.

Lester blanked the Cardinals on five hits over 7 2-3 innings and struck out eight for his third win this postseason.

”We wanted to set the tone and get them swinging,” he said.

Ryan Dempster gave up Matt Holliday’s leadoff home run in the ninth.

Boston brought the beards and made it a most hairy night for St. Louis. The Cardinals wrecked themselves with just their second three-error game of the season.

The umpires made a mistake, too, but at least they got to fix it in a hurry.

After the control-conscious Wainwright walked leadoff man Jacoby Ellsbury, Dustin Pedroia singled him to second with one out.

Ortiz then hit a slow grounder to Carpenter, and it didn’t appear the Cardinals could turn a double play. Hurrying, Kozma let the backhanded flip glance off his glove.

DeMuth instantly called Pedroia out, indicating that Kozma dropped the ball while trying to transfer it to his throwing hand. Farrell quickly popped out of the dugout to argue while Pedroia went to the bench.

Farrell argued with every umpire he could and must’ve made a persuasive case. As the fans hollered louder and louder as they studied TV replays, all the umpires gathered on the dirt near shortstop and conferred and decided there was no catch at all.

”You rarely see that, especially on a stage like this,” Napoli said. ”But I think that was good for the game.”

Pedroia came bounding from the dugout and suddenly, the bases were loaded in the first. Napoli unloaded them with a double that rolled to the Green Monster in left-center.

Napoli, with maybe the bushiest beard of all, certainly picked up where he left off the last time he saw the Cardinals in October. In the 2011 Series, he hit .350 with two home runs and 10 RBIs as Texas lost in seven games to St. Louis.

The Red Sox added to their 3-0 lead with two more runs in the second. A fielding error by Kozma set up Pedroia’s RBI single.

The whole inning got going when Stephen Drew’s popup in front of the mound landed at Wainwright’s feet, a step or two from Molina. The ace pitcher and the star catcher both hung their heads.

”I called it. I waited for someone else to take charge. That’s not the way to play baseball. It was totally my error,” Wainwright said.

Ortiz, who hit a tying grand slam at Fenway in the AL championship series win over Detroit, sent a long drive to right-center. Beltran, playing in his first World Series, braced himself with one hand on the low wall in front of the bullpen and reached over with his glove to make the catch.

”At least I got an RBI and we were up four and got the momentum,” Ortiz said.

Beltran hurt himself on the play and left in the third inning.

Ortiz homered in the seventh and the Red Sox got another run in the eighth on a sacrifice fly by 21-year-old rookie Xander Bogaerts.

The Red Sox almost made a terrific play to finish the game. With two outs in the ninth, Freese hit a sharp single and right fielder Shane Victorino nearly threw him out at first base.

— Associated Press —