Varitek turns ignition

He was down in the count, 0 and 2, but on these magical October days for the Boston Red Sox, Jason Varitek's first-inning dilemma in last night's Game 2 of the World Series hardly rated as desperate.

After all, hadn't the batters right before him -- Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz -- each been down two strikes in the count and worked walks? And isn't this a team that was down, 3-0, in the ALCS against the Yankees, only to storm back and win?

Yes and yes, so after taking the third pitch for a ball, Varitek jumped all over a Matt Morris changeup. Did he have any idea just how close it came to being a three-run home run to the deepest part of Fenway Park, the triangle in center?

"I had no idea," said Varitek. "I was just running."

And he didn't stop running until he landed at third base with just his second triple of the season, the blast knocking in two runs to get the Red Sox off and running. Refer to it as turning the ignition, because it was the first of three huge two-out, two-RBI hits that provided the Red Sox with enough offense on this night. Mark Bellhorn's double in the fourth and Orlando Cabrera's single off the Green Monster in the sixth were the other two-out hits that knocked in two runs.

"We just try not to give away at-bats and maintain our focus," said Varitek, who is now hitting .267 with three home runs and 11 RBIs in 12 postseason games.

He sat in front of a crowd of reporters in the Red Sox locker room, his right shoulder and right elbow and both knees wrapped in ice, but Varitek refused to get caught up in the emotions of a 2-0 lead as the best-of-seven Series heads to St. Louis for Game 3 tomorrow night.

Instead, the guy many consider to be the day-in, day-out glue to the American League champions talked about a job that is unfinished.

"We've got to do what got us here," said Varitek. "We've got to push ourselves and push ourselves and push ourselves to outplay that team."

Nor was he in the mood to embrace any sort of glory for his first-inning triple that served as an omen of good things to come on this frosty night. That's because the Red Sox had entered the game with a 7-0 postseson record when scoring first and they are now 8-0.

His blast off a 1-and-2 pitch was delivered into the triangle and Cardinals center fielder Jim Edmonds was never in danger of hauling it in. The ball hit off the fence at the end of the Red Sox' bullpen and easily scored Ramirez and Ortiz. That it came off Morris was ironic, for Varitek years ago was a batterymate when the two played in the Cape Cod League.

"I only caught him," said Varitek. "I never faced him."

When he finally got the opportunity, it came in the heat of World Series competition, Varitek certainly eager to get the Red Sox off to a flying start, something they have done almost on a nightly basis for the final four games of the ALCS and now the first two games of the World Series. Yet Varitek wasn't about to pat himself on the back.

"I was just up there battling with two strikes and I was able to get the barrel on the ball," said Varitek, who nearly had another extra-base hit leading off the seventh, only Edmonds made a nifty over-the-shoulder catch up against the wall.

From where he sat all night, Varitek had a good view of a Red Sox defensive effort that he knows looked shabby to others, but one that he easily explained.

"They were aggressive mistakes, not passive ones," said Varitek, hardly disturbed that the Red Sox made four errors for a second straight night. "Those balls at [third baseman] Bill [Mueller] were hit hard. He did a good job just keeping them in front of him."

Two of the three errors charged to Mueller were hard-hit ground balls, but the third miscue was a foul pop near the Cardinals' dugout.

"We had a communication problem," said Varitek. "I could have just as well have had that error. "We've got to grind this thing out," is all the man who delivered a key hit wanted to say.