THE CURSE OF THE BAMBINO, PART 9
"IT AIN'T OVER 'TIL IT'S OVER"...
Joe Sambito holds off the Yankees

June 17, 1986 ... The Red Sox attempted to self-destruct, but Joe Sambito prevented them from succeeding. As a result, the Sox escaped with a 7-6 victory over the Yankees before a crowd of 40,167 and expanded their American League East lead to 5 1/2 games. But this one was hardly a convincing decision. What looked to be Boston's second straight rout became a survival test as the Sox nearly squandered a pair of five-run leads.

Tim Lollar, Steve Crawford, Bob Stanley and Sambito all worked in relief of rookie Rob Woodward, who was lifted in the fifth even though he had a 7-2 lead.

After three innings, it looked like another Boston Massacre. Dwight Evans had smashed two long-distance homers, accounting for four runs. Bill Buckner had hit a two-run blast.

All Woodward had to do was hang around for five innings for a seemingly guaranteed victory. But the Yankees kept chipping away, and when Sambito arrived in the eighth, he inherited a bases-loaded, two-out predicament. He bailed out the Sox by getting Medford's Mike Pagliarulo to strike out.

This looked like a rerun of Monday's 10-1 Boston rout when the Red Sox clobbered starter Joe Niekro for five runs in their first turn at bat. Led by Evans, the Sox continued to sizzle at the plate, and Niekro was rocked for seven runs before being chased in the third inning. Evans and Buckner did most of the damage with homers. Each hit a two-run shot in the first, when the Sox scored five times. Evans hit his second two-run blast of the evening in the third, hastening Niekro's departure.

Ed Romero started the Sox' first-inning surge with a one-out single off the glove of third baseman Pagliarulo. Buckner followed with a line-drive homer to right. With two out, Don Baylor dumped a single to center. Niekro went after Evans, and his 2-and-0 offering apparently came too close to Evans' head for the Boston right fielder's liking.

Evans waded into the next pitch and drove it more than 450 feet for his sixth homer and a 4-0 lead. The ball sailed out near the 411 mark in left- center, and landed a short hop away from the Yankee monuments. Evans expressed his glee as he trotted around the bases. Tony Armas then walked, and Rich Gedman doubled to right, sending Armas home as Dave Winfield fell while trying to make a shoestring catch.

But that early support wasn't enough for Woodward to get a victory. Rickey Henderson nailed his first pitch of the game for a homer. And in the second, the Yankees made it 5-2 as Pagliarulo and Butch Wynegar singled and Willie Randolph hit a sacrifice fly.

In the third, Boston struck again, rebuilding the lead to five runs. Baylor singled with one out. Evans drilled a line drive over the fence in left, giving Boston a 7-2 advantage. After Niekro walked the next hitter, Armas, he was replaced by lefthander Alfonso Pulido.

Woodward kept the Yankees off the scoreboard in the third and fourth, but he was plenty busy. Dan Pasqua singled with two out in the third but was stranded. In the fourth, Wynegar singled, and with one out, Mike Fischlin walked. But Woodward escaped by getting Henderson to hit into a 4-3 double play. In the first four innings, Woodward threw 69 pitches and had six three- ball counts.

Ironically, Woodward was removed in an inning in which he was doing some of his best work. With one out, Winfield reached when shortstop Rey Quinones booted a routine grounder. Then Easler dumped a single to left, a high fly that fell between Jim Rice and Quinones. When the count went to 2-and-0 on Pasqua, Woodward was lifted in favor of Lollar. The Yankees then inserted Gary Roenicke as a pinch hitter. Roenicke took two pitches and lofted a sacrifice fly to center. With Easler running, Lollar got Pagliarulo to fly out.

Crawford took over for Lollar in the sixth, and the Red Sox continued to play in the self-destruct mode. With one out, Romero let Randolph's grounder through his legs for a two-base error. Ron Hassey batted for Fischlin and blooped a single to left. Rice again was playing in midtown Manhattan, and this time when the ball bounced by him, he was charged with an error. Randolph scored, making it 7-4, and Hassey wound up on second. Ivan DeJesus ran for Hassey. Crawford bounced back in style, getting both Henderson and Mattingly to pop out.

By the time the Yankees came to bat in the seventh, the game had become one of survival for Boston. Crawford gave up an infield single to Winfield. When he walked Easler and went to 2-and-0 on Roenicke, Sox manager John McNamara went to his bullpen for Stanley.

The pressure eased when Stanley struck out Roenicke and Pagliarulo. Along the way, Gedman took the third foul shot of the night off his body, and time had to be called before he could resume play.

Wynegar then hit a 2-and-2 pitch to left for a single, scoring Winfield. Rice elected to throw to third in a foolish attempt to get Easler, allowing Wynegar to reach second. Randolph followed with a grounder to second, and Barrett's throw to first bounced in and out of Buckner's glove. Easler scored, cutting the Sox' lead to 7-6.

Jim Rice's now has 2,045 career hits, moving past Hall of Famer Bobby Doerr into third place on the all-time Red Sox list. Rice has scored 1,043 runs, fifth overall, five behind Dom DiMaggio.