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When they bombed Pearl Harbor, it left a bad taste for a lot of people. In fact, I was coming out of church, coming up on Overton Street. It came on the radio that the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor. Now where in the hell was Pearl Harbor? I didn't know. I knew it was somewhere in the Pacific. But I was in Oregon. I was just starting to play ball for the Red Sox. We had a black family in my neighborhood, the Bells. I went to school with Billy Bell. We were confirmed together. He was a great guy. He went to the University of Oregon and was on ROTC. He went into the air force and became an officer. He had medals all over his chest. But he had a tough time of it when he was in the service down South. When we were kids, he used to come by my house. We'd play together. My mother would bake bread. We'd have some of her bread. "Beeely," she'd call him, with her accent. "Beeely, sit down and have some bread." Turns out that bread saved his life. During the war he was flying over Germany and got shot down. He landed in a field and three guys come to get him. I think they were farmers, not soldiers. So, he doesn't know what to do. So, he says to them, "Daime kruva," which means "Give me bread" in Croatian. He learned that from my mother. "Daime kruva." Those German guys must have been thinking, "We have a black Slav on our hands." Well, he survived. He got to the underground. I think he flew a few more missions. But he made it home safe.  Johnny Pesky at work at Fenway Park sometime in the 1940s. And now we have Japanese players, black players, Latin guys. Everyone's playing for the same team. It's better now. Yes, it's better now. October 28, 2007 – World Series Game 4 – Red Sox fans don't have to wait 86 years this time to celebrate a World Series championship, as the Sox beat the Rockies, 4-3, sweeping their way to victory in World Series Game 4 in Denver. Twenty-three-year-old Jon Lester, just a year removed from a cancer diagnosis and in his only postseason start, picks up the Series-clinching win, going 5.2 shutout innings, allowing three hits and three walks, striking out three. Delcarmen, Timlin, and Okajima bridge the innings until lights-out closer Jonathan Papelbon enters with one out in the eighth. Papelbon went 1.2 hitless and scoreless innings, striking out one -- Seth Smith swinging on a blazing 95 mph fastball -- to end the game, giving the Red Sox their seventh World Series championship and igniting a raucous celebration (minus Pap's Irish step dance) on the Coors Field lawn Papelbon has three saves in the Series. He is 1-0 in the postseason, with four saves. In 10.2 innings over seven appearances, Papelbon allowed five hits and four walks, striking out seven. He did not allow a run in the postseason. Mike Lowell, the World Series MVP, was 2-for-4 with two runs scored and one RBI in the deciding game; he hit .400 (6-for-15) in the Series with three doubles, a home run, six runs scored, and four RBIs. He had a .353 mark in the postseason, with seven doubles, two home runs, 10 runs scored, 15 RBIs, and slugging .608 with a .410 OBP. Ellsbury continues his hot streak in the lead-off spot, going 2-for-4 with a run scored. He leads off the game with a double, moves to third on a ground-out by Pedroia, and scores on a David Ortiz (1-for-3, 1 RBI) single. The Sox add single runs in the fifth as Lowell scores on a Jason Varitek (2-for-4, 1 RBI) single and adds a solo homer in the seventh. Brad Hawpe got the Rockies on the board in the bottom of the eighth with a solo home run off Delcarmen. Then, in his only World Series at-bat, pinch hitter Bobby Kielty takes the first pitch he sees and deposits it into the left-field bleachers in the eighth for what would prove to be the winning margin. Down 4-1 in the bottom of the eighth, Garret Atkins's two-run home run cuts the Sox lead to 4-3 – the final score. Sweeping the Series for the second time in four years, Red Sox manager Terry Francona has never lost a World Series game. Johnny did not make the trip to Denver, as he did in 2004 to St. Louis, preferring instead to stay at home -- the home Ruthie Pesky designed when she found the plans in a magazine many years ago – and watch the games on TV with his son David, David's wife Alison, and his friend Tim.
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