get three wins and 26 outs into the fourth win, I'm pretty sure it will hit us." Before the series began, Shaughnessy wrote a piece saying that although the Red Sox had beaten the Yankees, the series needed to be won, as it was the only way the Curse of the Bambino, which he had publicized based on the book of the same title in 1990, would end, and demeaning chants of "1918!" would no longer echo at Yankee Stadium. During the series, he wrote a piece about how much people in New England were thinking about loved ones who had spent their entire lives rooting for the Red Sox, hoping that one day, they would see their Red Sox win a World Series. Both teams had lost in their previous World Series appearances in seven games. The Red Sox lost to the New York Mets in , while the Cardinals lost in to the Minnesota Twins. The Cardinals and Red Sox had not won the World Series since and respectively. When the two teams had previously played each other in the and 1967 World Series, the Cardinals won both series in seven games. Having won the All-Star Game, the AL had been awarded home-field advantage, which meant the Red Sox had the advantage at Fenway Park in four of the seven games in the series. Summary Matchups Game 1 Local band Dropkick Murphys performed "Tessie", and a moment of silence was observed to remember local student Victoria Snelgrove, who had been accidentally killed by police two days earlier as Sox fans had celebrated winning the American League pennant. Steven Tyler, the lead singer of Aerosmith, another local band, performed "The Star-Spangled Banner" and Red Sox legend Carl Yastrzemski threw the ceremonial first pitch. Kelly Clarkson sang God Bless America during the seventh inning stretch. Tim Wakefield made his first start of the 2004 postseason for the Red Sox, becoming the first knuckleball pitcher to make a World Series start since 1948, while Woody Williams, who had won his previous two starts in the post-season, was the Cardinals' starting pitcher. In the bottom of the first inning, Williams gave up a lead-off double to Johnny Damon, and then hit Orlando Cabrera in the shoulder with one of his pitches. After Manny Ramírez flied out, Ortiz hit a three-run home run in his first-ever World Series at bat. Kevin Millar then