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THE SUMMER OF "MORGAN'S
MAGIC" ... April 18, 1988 ... Mike Greenwell came to the plate in the bottom of the ninth. Standing on the mound was Mitch Williams, the object of Red Sox' wrath that resulted in a bench-clearing brawl earlier this season in Texas. It was Williams, the Rangers' No. 1 relief pitcher, who Greenwell contended threw at him during a game this spring. It was Williams who the Red Sox thought got the ball especially close to Jim Rice and Wade Boggs, who were on base when Greenwell came up in the ninth. And it was Williams, trying to preserve a 3-3 tie in today's Patriots Day game, who allowed Greenwell to loft a fly ball deep enough to center field to let Boggs scoot in with the winning run for a 4-3 victory. There was little indication of any misfortune looming when the Sox finally got out of the blocks after an hour-and-a-half rain delay. The Red Sox nicked Ranger starter Bobby Witt for three runs and four hits in the first inning. Included in the assault was a leadoff home run by Ellis Burks and hits by Marty Barrett, Rice and Rick Cerone. But 3-0 was the best the Red Sox could do against Witt, who settled into a strike-out-a-batter, walk-a-batter routine for the next five innings. It looked like enough for Oil Can Boyd, who was recovering from the flu. The Can was sharp, limiting the Rangers to three hits. But two of those hits were home runs by Pete O'Brien, the second of which made it 3-2 and convinced John McNamara that The Can was finished throwing for the day. The Sox didn't think they had a problem, because Lee Smith, who had been idling his engines since picking up his fourth save last Wednesday, was ready to finish. Smith huffed and puffed through the eighth, lacking just a touch of sharpness. But in the ninth, another dark cloud on a gloomy afternoon suddenly developed. Smith led off the inning by walking Scott Fletcher. After he got Oddibe McDowell to fly to center, Steve Kemp lined a single off the left-field wall, sending Fletcher to third. There was definitely a storm brewing, and McNamara had Wes Gardner warming up in the bullpen, with O'Brien and Larry Parrish coming up. Smith threw a nasty slider to O'Brien that just dropped out of sight to get the second out. He was one batter away from making The Can 3-0 and getting his fifth save. But on a 1-2 pitch, Ranger manager Bobby Valentine called a delayed steal. The movement by Kemp caused Cerone, starting his second game behind the plate, to take his eye off the ball for an instant. It was just enough, as the ball slithered off Cerone's glove and rolled to the backstop. Fletcher scored and Kemp sprinted all the way to third. Smith didn't even flinch, however, and he struck out Parrish on the next pitch. But the damage was evident on the scoreboard, it was a 3-3 tie. Williams came in to pitch the ninth. Although he had faced the Red Sox twice since the Friday night melee without incident, Williams heard boos from the Fenway crowd of 33,976 when he came in. And he was facing Boggs, Rice and Greenwell. Williams walked Boggs and gave up a slicing double by Rice into the left-field corner. That put runners on second and third with nobody out and Greenwell coming to bat. Valentine went to the mound for a chat with Williams, debating whether to walk Greenwell to set up a force or pitch to him and go for the lefty-vs.-lefty advantage. Williams worked carefully, getting ahead of Greenwell, 1-2. Then he went for the kill. On the next pitch, Greenwell lofted a medium fly to McDowell in center. The throw to the plate was off line, and Boggs scored with the game-winner, leaving Williams disgusted and Greenwell elated as well as satisfied. |
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