• For the second time in four years, the Red Sox are World Series champions. From 1919 to 2003, the Red Sox went 85 years without a title.

• The last two World Series victories by the Red Sox have been via a sweep. In fact, three of the last four World Series champions swept the series.

• Manager Terry Francona has been at the helm for both titles, making him the first manager in baseball history to go 8-0 in his first eight World Series games.

• Francona also becomes the first manager ever to win his first six potential postseason series clinchers.

• Jon Lester, who was making his first playoff start, pitched 5 2/3 scoreless innings. He joins Whitey Ford (1950) and Tiny Bonham (1941) as the only pitchers to win the World Series clincher as a starter while making their first postseason start.

• Lester is the fourth pitcher in the last 10 years to pitch at least 5 2/3 scoreless innings and get the win in a World Series clincher.

• During Lester's 11 regular-season starts this season, he had pitched a scoreless outing once -- Sept. 7 at Baltimore, firing seven scoreless innings.

• Lester's win means the Red Sox's starting pitchers won all four games of the World Series. Since divisional play in 1969, only four teams' starting pitchers won all four games of the World Series -- '07 Red Sox, '95 Braves, '89 A's and '69 Mets.

• Jonathan Papelbon recorded a five-out save, the longest save to end a World Series since Jesse Orosco got a six-out save for the 1986 Mets against the Red Sox.

• Mike Lowell hit his first career World Series home run in his 10th game. It was the Red Sox's second home run of the Series. He's only the second Red Sox third baseman to homer in the Series. The other is Larry Gardner who hit three, his last in 1916.

• Aaron Cook, who like Lester was making his first career postseason start, allowed three earned runs in six innings. He was the first Rockies starter to pitch at least six innings in the World Series.

• Cook joins Bob Miller (1950) and Bob Shawkey (1914) as the only pitchers to lose as a starter in the World Series clincher while making his first postseason start.

• Bobby Kielty hits a pinch-hit home run in the eighth inning, which provided some insurance for the Red Sox. He was the first to hit a pinch-hit homer in the World Series since Jason Giambi did so for the Yankees in Game 5 of the 2003 World Series against the Marlins.

• Kielty is also the fourth player to ever hit a pinch-hit home run in his first career World Series at-bat.

• The Red Sox finished with the second-highest batting average (.333) in World Series history. Only the 1960 Yankees (.338) hit better.

• The Rockies were a longshot to win Game 4. Including the Rockies' loss, only 3 of 23 teams down 3-0 in a World Series won the fourth game. None won more than once.

• This was the fourth World Series clincher in the last 10 years to be decided by one run. It's the second straight time a World Series sweep ended with a one-run game as the White Sox beat the Astros 1-0 in 2005.

• Brad Hawpe hit a home run, but he also struck out eight times in the four-game series -- the most strikeouts by a hitter in a four-game series in Series history.