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“DIARY OF A WINNER”
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THE CURSE OF
THE BAMBINO, PART 9 May 11, 1986 ... The first-place Red Sox are a reality. Oil Can Boyd wasn't even around at the finish of a gutty 6-5 victory that completed a sweep of the Oakland A's and enabled the Red Sox to surge to the top of the American League East. It isn't a misprint. With the Yankees taking a double nosedive, the Red Sox are indeed in first place, at a time of year when usually it is unthinkable. Today was Boston's fifth straight victory, all on the road, evoking visions of 1977 when Boston spliced together an 11-0 streak with a 9-0 West Coast swing. The sizzling Sox are winners of eight of nine, and 12 of 14. They are 10 games over .500, which hasn't happened since 1984 when they were 86-76. It is Boston's best start since a 20-9 log in 1982. It wouldn't be accurate to report that Boston pitching did a job on the A's. Roger Clemens got bounced on Friday night and it took Bruce Hurst 10 innings to win on Saturday. Boyd gave up three solo home runs today and left with a 5-4 lead after seven innings. Bob Stanley had a 6-4 lead and needed help from Joe Sambito in the ninth. That Boyd should single out the starters is not surprising. Boston's five-man rotation is now 17-8 with 182 strikeouts and a 2.81 earned run average for 227 innings. The bullpen has eight saves and three victories. What Stanley couldn't finish yesterday, Sambito did. He took only two pitches to dispose of pinch hitter Dusty Baker with two runners on base. Sambito has stranded all 13 runners he's inherited. The Sox keep saying that their offense is not in gear. But this is still a team that scored victories of 9-6, 4-2 and 6-5 over the A's, and did it with timely hitting. None was more timely than what Jim Rice and Marty Barrett did in the ninth inning with Boston clinging to a 5-4 lead. Rice, who had come up short on four previous fly balls, reached the wall in right- center for a double with one out. With two out and runners on first and second, Barrett assured the A's Moose Haas of his first loss, after six straight victories by rifling a single to right. Barrett fouled off seven pitches in a duel between a hot little contact hitter and a control artist who today walked more men (6) than he had in any game since 1979. Boston hitters certainly weren't in awe of Haas, whom they knew well from his days in Milwaukee. They went ahead in the third when two errors produced a 1-0 lead. Steve Lyons, out of the doghouse, walked and wound up on third base on a messed-up play by both teams. Lyons headed towards second on what he thought was a hit-and-run. It wasn't, and Lyons seemed to be a dead duck as a result of a pickoff. But the throw from shortstop Alfredo Griffin was nowhere near first baseman Bruce Bochte. So instead of a rundown, Lyons would up on third. Griffin couldn't find the handle moments later when he made his second error on a grounder by Ed Romero, and Boston had a 1-0 lead. In the fourth, a single by Rich Gedman and a walk by Barrett set up a run-scoring base hit by Lyons and a 2-0 lead. Romero drove in a third run with a single and the fourth run scored on a forceout by Dwight Evans. In the bottom of the fourth, Oakland strongboy John Canseco hit the first of three solo home runs off Boyd. Bochte also hit a solo shot in the fourth when the A's scored three runs. After Boston went ahead by a 5-3 score in the top of the sixth, Carney Lansford hit the first of two solo home runs, to make it a one-run game again. Lansford would hit one off Stanley in the ninth. Steve Lyons got out of the doghouse. He met with McNamara, who impressed on him the importance of not getting ejected from games, as Lyons did Saturday. The Sox brought out the worst in Oakland pitching. Rick Langford didn't last through the second inning on Friday night. Jose Rijo and Moose Haas threw 172 and 155 pitches, respectively, and both were in losing causes. Haas even walked six batters, the first time he has done that in seven years. After making only one error in his first 75 chances, Wade Boggs made two more today, giving him three for 85. He booted a grounder by Carney Lansford in the second and dropped a foul pop in the fourth. Oil Can Boyd, who didn't give up one home run in spring training, now has allowed a club-high of nine. Red Sox starters have pitched into the seventh inning in 21 of the last 24 games. Marty Barrett's clutch single in the eighth extended his hitting streak to 12 games (17 for 49, .347). Barrett also turned a difficult double play in the eighth. |
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