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MIKE PAGLIARULO |
THE CURSE OF
THE BAMBINO, PART 9
"IT AIN'T OVER 'TIL IT'S OVER"...
The Yankees beat up
the Red Sox
June 23, 1986
... The first Fenway Park meeting this year with the
Yankees wound up in an 11-3 blowout for a New York team that limped into town
from Toronto, where they suffered their worst loss since 1982. The Yanks jumped
on Oil Can Boyd and shredded what was left of the Red Sox bullpen, which
suffered another casualty, as Bob Stanley was not available.
A crowd of 35,355 (second
largest at Fenway Park this year), watched Boston
collect 10 hits, a total that fell nine short of a
season-high total of 19 by New York. Every Yankee
starter had at least one hit. Boston pitchers
chipped in, issuing 11 walks, four of them
intentional. And this was a team that Boston swept
three games from in Yankee Stadium, and which lost
to Toronto on Sunday, 15-1.
Boyd was not the same pitcher that had beaten the Yankees
last week, 5-2. And the bullpen that followed him only reminded the Sox how
badly they need Sammy Stewart back.
Going for it Yankee style is attacking from top to bottom.
Medford's Mike Pagliarulo had three hits, two doubles and his team-leading 16th
home run. Among Dave Winfield's three hits was a fifth-inning double he nearly
blasted through The Wall in left-center.
But the man who dealt the crushing blow was Willie
Randolph, who rapped a two-out, bases-loaded single in the sixth inning that
turned a 5-3 game into a 7-3 runaway. When the Yankees scored four more in the
seventh, it became a piece of cake for reliever Brian Fisher (4-3), who had been
the victim of Don Baylor's three-run, ninth-inning double in Boyd's 5-2 victory.
Boyd left trailing, 5-1, but the Red Sox had come right
back to chase Tewksbury, and seemed bent on making a game of it. Marty Barrett
led off the fifth inning with a single, and moved to third on Wade Boggs' second
hit, a double to left that Ken Griffey jumped for, only to have the ball land
against The Wall at his feet. One run scored on a ground ball to second by Bill
Buckner before Tewksbury got Jim Rice to pop to second. But when Baylor followed
with a double to left, scoring Boggs, the Yankee lead was cut to 5- 3 and
Tewksbury was replaced. Fisher retired the side.
But Lollar, who had pitched out of a jam with a 1-2-3
double play ball in the fifth, gave those runs right back in an inning in which
McNamara pulled out all the stops, none of which worked. The Sox did cut down
Mattingly, who walked to lead off the inning and then went to second on the wild
pitch. Lollar struck out Mike Easler. Then Winfield was walked intentionally.
Mattingly took off on a pitch in the dirt and got himself thrown out at third by
Gedman. But Pagliarulo followed with a double to right, moving Winfield to
third. Butch Wynegar went up to bat for Ron Hassey, and McNamara brought in
right-hander Trujillo, who issued an intentional walk.
The only victory in the last four games was by Roger
Clemens. Jeff Sellers and Mike Brown each had failed. Then The Can got kicked
around in a manner that left him more frustrated than angry.
Boggs is still suffering from what is now being called
"cracked" or "sprained" ribs, and not just a bruise. He had X-rays taken in
Tampa that showed a slight tear of cartilage between his rib and the tendon.
Neither Boggs nor Red Sox physician Arthur Pappas feels the injury is serious
enough to keep Boggs out of the lineup.
Jim Rice's double in the first inning was his 21st, tying
him with New York's Don Mattingly for the American League lead. |
