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“DIARY OF A WINNER”
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THE CURSE OF
THE BAMBINO, PART 9 July 17, 1986 ... Bob Stanley, who rarely works in tie games, did very little wrong in his first two innings of work in Thursday's 5-1 loss to the Seattle Mariners. But in the 11th inning, his world came down around him after a grand slam by the Mariners' Jim Presley, a modest hero. Most of the crowd of 14,688 thought Presley's blow came in direct response to their frantic pleas. Seattle had lost seven of eight previous meetings with Boston, and most felt this was too big a chance to get away. Harold Reynolds reached on a throwing error by Rey Quinones and Stanley issued two walks, one intentional, to set the stage for Presley. Presley, indeed, caught up with him as the Mariners gave Boston a rude reminder that it must earn its way through the AL West, despite the Red Sox' 34-16 record against the division. It was not easy for Stanley or the Red Sox, for that matter. In a pregame meeting, manager John McNamara had emphasized how important it was for his team to put aside recent public events involving Oil Can Boyd, and focus on staying atop the AL East by playing solid baseball. After two innings it was questionable whether the message was going to sink in. Tom Seaver had not allowed a run or a hit. But Boston had committed three of the four errors it was charged with during the game. Seaver had made one of the errors and had allowed five baserunners. It didn't look like it because lefthander Mark Langston was tormenting the Red Sox for 10 innings. Long before former Sox farmhand Peter Ladd got a birthday present by pitching the 11th inning and earning a victory, the talk of the night was the ease in which Langston handled the Red Sox. The Red Sox had only four hits off Langston, who struck out 11. It took a passed ball on a strikeout by Don Baylor, a double by Dwight Evans and a sacrifice fly by Rich Gedman to produce a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning. Seattle tied the game in the fifth with three straight singles. After that, Boston got only two runners as far as second. Steve Crawford gave up several rockets, but escaped the seventh and eighth. Stanley pitched scoreless ball in the ninth and 10th, and should have gotten out of the 11th, too. The inning should have ended when Reynolds grounded to short. But Quinones' throw pulled Bill Buckner off the first base bag and he dropped the ball while trying to make a sweep tag. Reynolds stole second and, after an intentional walk to John Moses, Stanley walked Phil Bradley on a 3-and-2 count. That set the stage for Presley, who had hit a grand slam to give Seattle an 8-4 victory over California in the season opener. He drove a 2-and-2 pitch into the left-field seats for his second career grand slam. Stanley said he threw his pitch and Presley just hit it. Presley said he wasn't even aware of the fans chanting for a home run to end the 3-hour 15-minute contest. Exciting for him, but not for Stanley, reminded Seaver, who said a relief pitcher's life is full of peaks and valleys. |
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