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“DIARY OF A WINNER”
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THE CURSE OF
THE BAMBINO, PART 9 April 14, 1986 ... For seven innings, it was everything they wanted the home opener to be: There was warm sunshine, a full house, red-white-and-blue bunting on the green facades, and a 2-2 duel between the locals and the world champion Kansas City Royals. And then the Red Sox unraveled like a cheap suit. KC's pinball wizards started slapping singles and running around the bases. Boston's new shortstop made some bad plays. A maligned relief pitcher came in and had his lunch handed to him. When it was over, six more Royal runs were on the board and the once- festive throng had turned into a lynch mob. The '85 champs danced to an 8-2 victory over Boston, and 34,764 filed out of Fenway muttering, "Same old Red Sox." The first seven frames were fun. The Royals tapped Oil Can Boyd for single runs in the second and third, but Boyd settled into a fair rhythm in the middle innings. The Sox scored one in the first, and the Can opener looked as if he might be able to scratch out his first '86 victory when Marty Barrett tied the game with a leadoff home run off Royal starter Charlie Leibrandt in the fifth. The trouble started when Willie Wilson (.389 lifetime against Boston) led off the eighth with a single to center on a 1-2 pitch. George Brett was next and the Royal leader hit Boyd's first pitch to right-center for another single, moving Wilson to third. Sox pitching coach Bill Fischer came out to talk to Boyd. Somebody should have talked to poor Ed Romero. The veteran infielder, who came to Boston in exchange for Mark Clear last winter, had a rough introduction to Boston. He had been caught off third when Wade Boggs hit a hopper off Frank White's glove in the fifth, then made two costly plays in the infamous eighth. With Brett on first and Wilson on third, Hal McRae hit a grounder to Romero's right. He fielded the ball cleanly, and attempted to throw out Wilson at home. A good throw probably would have nailed Wilson, but Romero's toss was wide to Rich Gedman's left. Wilson scored, everybody was safe, and the Can was staggering on the ropes. Dwight Taylor went in to run for McRae. Frank White was the next batter and he smoked a liner toward third. Boggs leaped, but the ball clanged off his glove and rolled into short left. The ball might have hooked foul, but Boggs didn't think so. Brett scored, it was 4-2, and the Can was done for the day. Enter Bob Stanley, resident punching bag of Yawkey Way. The Steamer gave up a pair of run-scoring singles to Steve (three hits) Balboni and Darryl Motley. It was 6-2 and the bloodthirsty crowd hooted and howled at the veteran right-hander. When Stanley struck out Jim Sundberg, the fans cheered in mock appreciation. Then Romero booted a grounder by pinch hitter Jorge Orta, allowing another run to score. Rudy Law was next and he drilled a run-scoring single to right. Steve Crawford came on to rescue Stanley, but the damage had been done. It was 8-2 and Royal manager Dick Howser had Dan Quisenberry ready to mop up for lefty Leibrandt. The Red Sox managed only one hit in the final two innings, and went down harmlessly in the ninth. |
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