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“DIARY OF A WINNER”
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THE CURSE OF THE BAMBINO, PART 6 ... April 13, 1967 ... Fundamentals is what Dick Williams preached all spring training. But in this game, the Red Sox only had a faint idea of what their new manager was talking about. In the ninth-inning against the White Sox, they became little leaguers and lost the game, 8 to 5. The White Sox had contributed runs to help the Red Sox hold a 5 to 3 lead going into the final inning. But once Tony Conigliaro made an error on Don Buford's single to right, that started the inning, things deteriorated. Hank Fischer was on the mound for the Red Sox and a weak crowd of 3607 were rooting for the right-hander and also for Rico Petrocelli, who was having a good game. He was great in the field, especially in the second inning, when he took a hard short hop shot from Tommy Agee, with the bases loaded, that ended the inning. After opening the eighth inning with a double, he went to third on an infield out and scored on a suicide squeeze by the pitcher, Fischer. Rico also batted in the tying run in the sixth inning when his hard shot through the box, struck the pitcher, Bruce Howard, and rolled into foul territory along the third-base line. But in the ninth-inning, with Don Buford on second base, Agee in a ground ball to Joe Foy, who got fancy and one-handed the ball before he bobbled it for an error. That didn't look too bad because the next hitter, Pete Ward, struck out on three pitches. Tom McCraw was the next batter and hit a ground ball toward second base that Reggie Smith tried to scoop over to Rico, who bobbled it. He then threw low to the shortstop and it was a base hit, loading the bases. When Agee ran into second base, he hit Smith, who was injured and had to come out of the game. He was replaced by Mike Andrews. Hank Fischer still looked like he would survive when pinch-hitter, Bill Skowron, grounded one to Joe Foy's left, which he fielded cleanly, but threw the ball over Mike Andrews head into right field. When Foy threw the ball, he collided with Agee who was coming into third base and the bases were loaded, but the Red Sox were still ahead 5 to 4. Ron Hansen was up next and bunted Fischer' first pitch and missed. But he wacked the next pitch off the left-field wall, good for two runs and putting the White Sox up 6 to 5. After that, Jerry Adair got a base hit and Wayne Causey got a double that bounced off Carl Yastrzemski's glove. The next two men finally got out, but the Sox were down 7 to 5. The Red Sox scored a run in the first inning on two walks to open, and after Yastrzemski it into a doubleplay, Tony Conigliaro lined a single for the first score. The White Sox matched that in the second on two singles and two walks, that forced in Duane Josephson. They scored again in the fourth on a single, a wild pitch, and a single to right by Don Buford. Another run came in when Pete Ward homered into the Red Sox bullpen in the fifth inning. Bruce Howard, the White Sox pitcher, retired the Red Sox from the first inning through the start of the sixth. But Carl Yastrzemski opened the inning with a line single right and then the White Sox infielders started to bobble the ball. Conigliaro was tossed out on a little squibber in front of the plate, but successive errors by Ron Hansen and Adair, on easy ground balls hit by George Scott and Reggie Smith, allowed Yaz to score. It was then that Rico hit the hard ball back at Howard, that bounced into foul territory for a single and a run. Howard was replaced in favor of Dennis Higgins. Mike Ryan greeted him with a single to score the third run of the inning. Petrocelli whacked the first pitch by Jack Lamabe off the fence in the eighth and moved to third on Mike Ryan's ground ball to short. On the first pitch to Fischer, Rico broke for the plate and the ball was bunted about 20 feet toward the mound. Lamabe made a desperate attempt to get Rico and ended up booting the ball. But after that the ninth-inning was a horror show. The White Sox did steal four bases off Mike Ryan and José Tartabull stole one. |
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