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THE SUMMER OF "MORGAN'S
MAGIC" ...
Kevin Romine brings the Sox from behind
July
16, 1988 ... Kevin Romine popped Steve Farr's
ninth-inning 0-1 pitch into the net, breaking a 6-6 tie and
delivering the Sox to a 7-6 victory over the Kansas City Royals at
Fenway Park. It was the
Sox’ biggest come-from-behind victory of the season, having been faced with a
6-0 deficit after five innings. It was also the third straight victory under new
manager Joe Morgan.
Morgan
opened the game with a lineup that had Randy Kutcher (No. 55) starting in right
field to give veteran Dwight Evans a rest. He also dropped Wade Boggs down to
his coveted No. 3 spot and let Jody Reed (No. 3) lead off.
As things
unfolded, as Evans would share the hero's spotlight with a two-run homer in the
eighth tying the game, 6-6. And Romine, who came in as a pinch runner for
Greenwell with the Royals holding a 6-1 lead, would knock the first homer of his
career over the Wall.
Morgan
considered pulling Romine in the ninth for Larry Parrish, who slipped on the Sox
uniform around 12:30 for the first time, after signing Friday as a free agent
from the Rangers. Instead, he went with Romine, who had walked in his previous
at-bat.
Officially, Morgan has been given the job on an interim basis. In only three
games, he has shown a wonderfully facile manner with the media, put a spark in
some dead souls (uniform Nos. 16, 55, 3) and actually has brought a little humor
to a place where comedians have long feared 5-10 years hard time for delivering
a one-liner.
Almost
everything has worked for Morgan, from picking lineups, to pulling pitchers, and
watching Lee Smith collect a save and a victory in consecutive days. Anyone
could have managed Roger Clemens' 16-K effort in Game 1 Friday, but how many
managers would have had the Rocket Man place the game ball in his hand
afterward?
However, there was the early failing of Oil Can Boyd, who
was hooked in the second with the Royals on the way to their 6-0 lead. There was
also Bo Jackson who hit a fierce homer that in the old days would have carried
over the wall in center field, and then made a tremendous catch on a shot by
Rich Gedman in the fifth. That catch alone had some thinking that he might have
leaped the 37 feet (11.3m) to grab Romine's shot.
The Sox began their rally back in the sixth when they
plated four runs, starting with successive singles by Marty Barrett, Boggs and
Greenwell. Before it was over, Jim Rice drew a walk, Gedman delivered a key
single and Evans, pinch hitting for Kutcher, drew a walk on which Rice scored on
a ball-four passed ball.
In the
eighth, Evans, who took the field at first base after pinch hitting, socked his
two-run homer with Rick Cerone (another sub) aboard. And on the second pitch of
the ninth, after Smith fanned two in the top half, Romine finished it. |
