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FRANK & BROOKS
ROBINSON |
THE CURSE OF THE BAMBINO, PART 6 ...
"THE IMPOSSIBLE DREAM"
The Robinsons
belt the Red Sox
September
23, 1967 ... Frank Robinson and Brooks
Robinson ruined the chances for the Red Sox to take over first place
by themselves, as the Baltimore Orioles beat the Sox, 7 to 5. And as
a result, the Red Sox tumbled into third-place. The Minnesota Twins
still lead the league and one half game behind is Detroit, one
percentage point ahead of the Red Sox. The Sox started Lee Stange
and, as usual, got no runs for him in the first three innings. But Stange got
blasted in the first inning when Curt Blefary put the Orioles ahead 1 to 0 with
his 22nd home run of the year.
Then in the fourth inning, with two outs, Blefary lined a double to right.
Paul Blair singled him in and Frank Robinson slugged one out of the park, for a
4 to 0 Baltimore lead. It was Frank's seventh home run against the Red Sox this
year and it carried over the wall in right field, as Ken Harrelson almost
knocked himself out smashing against the fence.
So the Red Sox had a long way to come back, but they did it with a run in the
fourth, on a single to deep short by Yastrzemski, a double down the third-base
line by George Scott and a ground ball to short by Harrelson, that scored Yaz
with the Sox first run.
In the fifth inning the Orioles started to mess around when José Tartabull,
who replaced Harrelson, singled to right with one out. Joe Foy dribbled a
grounder down the third-base line, that Brooks Robinson usually gobbles up, but
he threw the ball past Boog Powell and Tartabull scored, while Foy made it all
the way around to third. The Red Sox came all the way back when Yaz slammed a
two run homer, his 42nd of the year, to put the Red Sox ahead, 5-4.
Gary's Waslewski came on in the fourth and pitched without a problem until
the seventh. He walked Dave Johnson and gave up a single to pinch-hitter, Dave
May. Johnson went to third and scored when Luis Aparicio lofted a fly ball to
Yaz that tied up the game, 5-5.
But it all unraveled in the eighth-inning when Baltimore went ahead for good.
It started when Frank Robinson lined a single to center with one out off John
Wyatt. Brooks came to bat with a fairly stiff wind coming in from left-field. He
hit a long fly ball out that way, and Yaz drifted back to the wall, leapt high,
and the ball went into the stands, 380 feet for a home run. It scored Frank and
gave the Orioles the 7 to 5 lead. |
