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1994 BOSTON RED SOX ...
On November 23, 1993, general manager Lou Gorman was bumped upstairs and made Executive Vice President. Haywood Sullivan threw in the towel and agreed to a buyout with John Harrington, who became the club's virtual owner. Thirty-five-year-old Dan Duquette took Gorman's place as Red Sox General Manager. After graduating from Amherst College, he joined the Milwaukee Brewers in scouting and player development, where he quickly rose to become Director of Player Development. He then moved on to Montréal, where in 1991, he became the youngest general manager in baseball. He was a new breed of baseball executive, schooled in the use of computer analysis and baseball statistics. He wasn't a part of baseball's well-entrenched “old-boys” network. The Montréal Expos were one of the poorest teams in Major League Baseball, yet under Duquette, the farm system kept producing players, particularly from overseas. With the Red Sox budget, Duquette was expected to thrive.
He was given free rein to build up a deteriorating club, configuring the minor league system and scouting development, and getting rid of front office holdovers who were perceived as deadwood. More importantly, he was expected to change the Red Sox image. John Harrington was disenchanted with spending millions of dollars on players he considered unworthy. Duquette was expected to get better results while spending more efficiently. The subtle message was that while the club would still use the Yawkey tradition as a public relations tool, the Yawkey era had come to an end. One era certainly did end in 1994. On August 12th the eighth work stoppage in baseball history as well as the fourth in-season work stoppage took place. The result was that the remainder of the season was canceled including the postseason. The strike was suspended in April 1995 after 232 days. 948 games were canceled in all and major league baseball became the first major professional sports to lose an entire season due to labor struggles. The strike was called after most teams had played at least 113 games. The issue was this. In response to a worsening financial situation, team owners had collectively proposed a salary cap to the players. Ownership claimed that small-market clubs would fall by the wayside unless teams agreed to share local broadcasting revenue and enact a salary cap, a proposal that the players adamantly opposed. On January 18th, the owners approved a new revenue-sharing plan and a salary cap, which required the players' approval. The next day the owners amended the current major-league agreement by giving complete power to the Commissioner on labor negotiations.
The owner’s representative, Richard Ravitch, officially unveiled the proposal on June 14th. It would guarantee a record $1 billion in salary and benefits. Salary arbitration would have been eliminated, free agency would begin after four years rather than six, and the owners would have retained the right to keep a four or five-year player by matching his best offer. The owners said that their proposal would raise average salaries from 1.2 million in 1994 to 2.6 million in 2001. John Harrington claimed the Red Sox were a small-market team. He quickly became one of baseball's most powerful executives, along with acting Commissioner and owner of the Milwaukee Brewers, Bud Selig, who was one of the architects of the new system. Donald Fehr, the executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association, rejected the offer from the owners on July 18th. He believed a salary cap was simply a way for owners to clean up their disparity problems with no benefit to the players. On July 13th Fehr said if serious negotiations between the players and the owners did not begin soon, the players would go out on strike in September. And they did. Meantime, Dan Duquette received a free pass during his first season at the helm and he needed it. With a young core including John Valentin, All-Star third baseman Scott Cooper, and Mo Vaughn, there was hope in Boston that the team would put an end to years of mediocrity. Duquette picked through baseball’s old pile of discards and ran players in and out of Boston almost every week. To his supporters, he was a genius, and to others, it appeared he was throwing a bunch of garbage up against the wall and seeing what would stick. Free agent Otis Nixon signed a two-year deal with the Red Sox worth $7 million in December. The Sox hoped Nixon would fill “three prominent holes… a quality defensive center fielder, speed, and a leadoff hitter. Even though Nixon had just come off the best seasons of his career in Atlanta, he was now 35 years old. On January 20th, pitcher Chris Howard was signed. In February, Duquette signed free agent catcher Damon Berryhill. Outfielder Lee Tinsley was traded by the Seattle Mariners to the Sox for a minor leaguer on March 22nd.
On April 1st, just before the start of the season, catcher Rich Rowland was traded by the Tigers for catcher John Flaherty. By the time the season ended, 46 players including 23 pitchers, had worn a Red Sox uniform. Opening Day at Fenway Park had Roger Clemens getting lit up and Mike Greenwell getting booed. Suddenly it stopped when Billy Hatcher blistered a double down the right-field line in the eighth inning to tie the game, 8-8. That was followed by a passed ball, when Mickey Tettleton couldn't find Storm Davis' forkball in the shadows, scoring Otis Nixon, giving the Sox a 9-8 win over the Tigers on April 4th. The last time Sox fans saw Dave Valle come up with a winning hit, he was playing for the Seattle Mariners. Now he was the No. 1 catcher for the Red Sox, and on April 6th his two-run triple in the sixth inning broke a 3-3 tie and sent the Red Sox to their second victory in as many games, a 5-4 decision over the Tigers at Fenway. For the third straight game, on April 7th, Mike Greenwell was the center of attention in a victory over the Detroit Tigers. For the third straight game, the Sox went home winners, completing a series sweep with a 9-6 victory. No one was booing as Greenwell helped the Red Sox overcome a 3-0 deficit with a triple and a tape-measure home run into the right-field bleachers that was estimated at 440 feet. The Red Sox were 4-0, their best start since 1985 by being 8-6 winners over the White Sox on April 8th, spoiling Opening Day in Chicago. For the fourth straight game, the Red Sox came from behind. In the process, they boosted their season totals to 31 runs and 39 hits, 18 for extra bases. The hero was Tim Naehring, who laced a bases-loaded double down the right-field line in the eighth, driving in three runs and scoring himself when Ron Karkovice missed Joey Cora's cutoff throw. Naehring clapped his hands as he headed in from third base with the run that made it 8-6. Naehring had company. Greenwell enjoyed another satisfying day, collecting two hits and two RBIs as he raised his average to .357. Shortstop John Valentin contributed two more hits to raise his average to .462.
In Kansas City on April 11th, a huge throwing error by third baseman by Gary Gaetti in the eighth led to three Sox runs. The Sox coughed it up, as an angry Jeff Russell and Paul Quantrill blew a three-run lead in the ninth. Finally, amid a driving rain, the Sox took an 8-5 victory in 10 innings, ending a two-game losing streak. On April 12th, the next night, on a drizzly, cold night at Kauffman Stadium the Red Sox would remember a night where they could do nothing wrong, beating the Royals, 22-11. Cooper’s two-run double provided the fifth and sixth runs of the first inning. His one-out solo home run in the top of the third upped the Sox lead to 8-1. In the fifth inning, he tripled to left field but was thrown out at the plate when going for an inside-the-park home run, getting credit for the triple nonetheless. At this point, all he lacked to complete the cycle was the hit usually easiest to obtain, the single. He reached on an error by the third baseman in the top of the sixth. In the seventh, he drove in two more runs on another double, but still the single eluded him. Finally in the top of the ninth, he laced the ball right up the middle. Cooper hit for the cycle amid five hits with two doubles, a triple, a homer and the clinching single in the ninth. It was a hitter's dream, one that Cooper would take with him through the years and tell his kids about it. On April 15th, at Fenway Park, in a 5-3 victory over the Chicago White Sox, Roger Clemens earned his first victory of the season with a three-hit performance for eight innings. The victory would not have even been possible without a three-hit night by Billy Hatcher, who broke up a 2-1 game in the seventh inning with a two-run, bases-loaded double. The Red Sox slammed six home runs on April 19th, two apiece by Mo Vaughn and Tim Naehring, a grand slam by Scott Cooper and a two-run blast by Mike Greenwell, and finally supported Aaron Sele with a bunch of runs and hits in a 13-5 victory over the Oakland Athletics at Fenway Park. In seven games at Fenway, there had been 27 home runs (14 by the Red Sox), a throwback to the late 1970s when the ball traveled out of the park with ease. With an unhittable fastball, an array of off-speed stuff that batters simply couldn't judge, and the bulldog attitude that many thought would never reappear, Roger Clemens silenced the Oakland Athletics the next night on April 20th, with a two-hit, 2-0 victory. It was the 36th shutout of his career and would be his last for two years. His dominance resurfaced, as he struck out 10 and threw 139 pitches on a cool, breezy night custom-made for him. His ERA over his last three starts had been 1.96 (0.53 over his last two) and overall it was down to 4.23. The Oakland Athletics were shocked like most of the crowd of 28,032 that saw the Sox score two runs in the ninth inning for a 6-5 victory on April 21st. The Red Sox pulled it out with clutch hitting by Scott Cooper, Andre Dawson and Otis Nixon.
Billy Hatcher stole home at Fenway Park for the second time in three years. With the Red Sox trailing, 5-4, in the bottom of the seventh, Hatcher dashed home with the tying run. The Sox went on to another dramatic victory, 6-5, their second win in as many games on April 22nd, and fourth straight, when Mo Vaughn singled with the bases loaded in the ninth off Angels reliever Craig Lefferts. The Red Sox, owners of a 12-5 record, and five-game winning streak, shared first place in the American League East following a 5-3 victory over the California Angels, on April 23rd. Jeff Russell struck out pinch hitter Bo Jackson with a man on to preserve Danny Darwin's third win. A 5-4 victory meant a sweep of the Angels the next day, April 24th. Two solo home runs by Scott Cooper provided the margin of victory in the Sox's victory. The Sox had won six straight games and left for the West Coast in first place. Frank Viola, with some help from Scott Bankhead and Jeff Russell, pitched a two-hit, 1 to 0 shutout of the A's in Oakland on April 27th. On April 28th the Sox completed a two-game, 24-hour sweep of the Athletics with a 4-1 victory over the A's, after losing two in Seattle. Scott Cooper provided the offense with a two-run double in the second inning and a two-run homer in the sixth. Danny Darwin improved to 4-1, going 6 2/3 innings and then turning it over to Ken Ryan, Tony Fossas, Greg Harris and Jeff Russell (save No. 8). On April 29th Mo Vaughn slugged a three-run homer in a four-run first inning. Scott Cooper, who finished off quite a month, hit a two-run shot in the eighth that carried the Red Sox to a 6-4 verdict over the Angels in Anaheim. Cooper had seven homers and 23 RBIs by the end of April and was batting .342. The Angels were beaten by a 4-1 score on April 30th. Roger Clemens gave up four hits over eight innings. Andre Dawson had two hits and knocked in a pair of runs in the cause.
The next night, on May 1st, the Sox completed a sweep of the Angels by knocking them around, 10 to 1. Lee Tinsley accounted for three of the 16 hits and Mo Vaughn cranked out two doubles. Billy Hatcher's two base hits drove home three runs. Joe Hesketh was the lucky recipient of the sudden offensive explosion and he turned in his second straight strong effort. He went seven shutout innings and struck out six. The Red Sox were 18-7 and had a 2 1/2 game lead in the AL East after winning five of the seven games on their trip to the West Coast. Any dreams the Sox had for a winning season, when Frank Viola blew out his elbow on May 3rd against the Mariners, losing 7 to 6 back in Boston. Viola’s untimely offering came in the third inning. Few among the Fenway Park crowd of 23,309 will forget the look on his face as he released a 0-2 fastball that went behind Seattle's Eric Anthony. In his pain, the lefthander nearly neglected to cover home as the ball skidded to the backstop. He didn't get far, standing near the baseline grimacing and holding his left elbow. He left immediately and had X-rays at Children's Hospital. His season was over. Pitcher Gar Finnvold began the season with Pawtucket but was called up after Viola went on the disabled list Twice Danny Darwin endured the best shots of the Seattle Mariners the next night, on May 4th, in the finale of a two-game series at Fenway Park. With 7 1/3 strong innings, he was the chief reason for a 4-2 victory that helped push the Sox’ winning streak to seven games and boosted their record to 20-7, the best record in the major leagues and the second-best start in club history. Carlos Rodriguez started on May 7th against the Yankees in Yankee Stadium and connected for his sole major-league home run. The fifth-inning blast tied the game, through New York eventually won, 6-5, in the ninth inning. Five straight losses bumped the Sox out of first place in the American League East and took much of the luster off that glorious start when the Red Sox had the best record in baseball. Aaron Sele was asked to be a stopper and he did all of that and then some, coming up with his first complete game, a 7-1 victory at Fenway Park against the Brewers on May 11th. Shortstop John Valentin was lost for six weeks after undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his right knee. Then the Sox were without Tim Naehring, who suffered a cut on the nail of his right index finger. Roger Clemens beat the Brewers, 3 to 1 on May 12th, allowing just two hits over seven innings. Jeff Russell came in to pitch the ninth and gave up two singles, a double and walked a batter, before nailing down his ninth save. Joe Hesketh pitched six strong innings and allowed two runs, helping the Red Sox win an important game, 5-3, against Toronto at Fenway on May 13th. Hesketh, now 2-1 with a 4.11 ERA, threw 92 pitches before leaving in favor of a parade of five relievers, capped off by Ken Ryan, who saved his third game and launched a two-closer system. The Sox occupied 2nd place in the
American League East after humiliating the Blue Jays,
11-2, the next night on May 14th, in what might have been their
best-played game of the season. It featured
Andre
Dawson's
two homers and four RBIs. Perhaps the best part of their
second straight win over Toronto was the fact that they
had prevailed without
Roger
Clemens or
Aaron Sele
pitching.
The Red Sox captured the second game with an exciting 3-2 victory over the Orioles on May 19th, as they pulled within a half-game of the Yankees. Andre Dawson's home run in the eighth inning capped the Sox' rally from a 2-0 deficit. It was Dawson's third homer in his last four games and eighth of the season, and it made a winner of Danny Darwin (7-2). But it all might have been irrelevant had it not been for the work of Otis Nixon, who also played a little long-ball robbery. The center fielder made a leaping catch to rob Rafael Palmeiro of a go-ahead home run in the sixth inning. Nixon reached over the right-center-field fence and plucked the ball from between the "I" and the "t" in the middle of the yellow lettering reading "Hit It Here." Gar Finnvold’s second major league start was on May 21st, in Minnesota. He pitched the best game of his time in the major leagues, allowing just one run in seven full innings on a one-out double and a two-out single. Unfortunately for the Finnvold, Kevin Tapani threw 8 1/3 innings of scoreless ball for the Twins and shut out the Red Sox, 1-0. One hundred of Roger Clemens' 168 victories over 10 seasons plus had come after a Red Sox loss. It was one of the most significant accomplishments for a man with a list of achievements. The latest Clemens feat came during the Sox's 9-2 victory over the Twins on May 22nd. He went eight innings to improve his record to 5-2, and his ERA fell to 2.51. Over his last eight starts, Clemens had a 1.18 ERA and struck out 63 in 61 innings. With a season-high 17 hits, the Red Sox exploded from the doldrums of two days of rain to crush Cleveland, 13-5, on May 26th and it wasn't nearly that close. The Sox unleashed the kind of attack that earlier this year produced a seven-game winning streak. Scott Cooper and Billy Hatcher collected three hits apiece. Catcher Damon Berryhill sparked an eight-run second inning with a lead-off homer and a run-scoring double. In the 10th inning, with Scott Cooper at second base in a 2-2 game Carlos Rodriguez pulled a fastball into the right-field corner, scoring Cooper with the winning run of a 3-2 victory over the Rangers at The Ballpark at Arlington on May 28th. Gar Finnvold had pitched another very solid game, allowing just a solo home run in the first inning and another run in the bottom of the seventh, when the Rangers scored once more on a triple that had eluded a dive by center fielder Otis Nixon and a sacrifice fly. With the Sox struggling through the end of May, the late innings of May 30th's, 6-5, victory over the Kansas City Royals was tinged with some kind of Fenway magic as Damon Berryhill doubled off the wall and scored Cooper with the winning run.
Outfielder Wes Chamberlain was traded to the Red Sox from the
Phillies for Billy Hatcher and
Paul Quantrill
on May 31st. The Sox ended the month with a 30-19 record and were in
second place, 3 1/2 games out of first.
When June 1st’s 4-2 Red Sox victory over the Kansas City Royals was decided, Sox batters were eager to step up to the challenge. With the score tied in the eighth, third baseman Scott Cooper took the biggest step, singling through the gap at shortstop to score Mike Greenwell from third. Pinch hitter Greg Litton next hit a sacrifice fly to score Damon Berryhill. The Sox then lost four straight. On June 7th, there were happy faces everywhere in the Sox locker room when they beat the Tigers 5 to 1. It was a dramatic change from the morbid, nervous faces of the previous four games. And for the second time in two weeks, Roger Clemens rescued this sad-sack team, striking out 12 in seven innings. He now led the majors with 98 strikeouts and stopped a four-game slide that was the worst of the season thus far. There was a sense that the Sox were hanging on by their fingertips to the American League East cliff. There was a sense the season had to be saved right here, right now. But the Sox next went into a death spiral and lost eleven games in a row. Even Clemens couldn’t help the Sox on June 13th. Three times this year, Clemens had taken the mound after a Red Sox loss and won. That night, his record dropped to 101-37 in such situations, and he wasn't happy about that either. Tom Brunansky, a free agent the year before, had signed with the Brewers. On June 16th he was traded back to the Red Sox for catcher, Dave Valle. By June 19th, the Red Sox were running amok. It was completely out of hand. Things reached new depths when the Red Sox blew a 5-3 lead and lost to the Cleveland Indians, 6-5. The Sox, once 20-7, were in a battle with the Blue Jays for last place in the American League East, seven games behind. The Red Sox were in free fall. There were players ripping management (Jeff Russell vs. general manager Dan Duquette) and players ripping players (Mo Vaughn vs. Russell). The Red Sox (33-34) finally won a game on June 20th, with a 4-1 decision in Toronto. They were led by Joe Hesketh, who pitched seven innings, allowing three hits (and throwing only 76 pitches) before giving way to Jeff Russell who couldn't finish the job, however, giving way to Tony Fossas after allowing a run in the ninth. The Red Sox handed Toronto their fourth straight loss, 13-1, the next night on June 21st. The Sox jumped out with 10 runs in the first inning. Jays pitchers couldn't find the plate, issuing nine walks in the first two innings (12 overall), while the Sox, led by Mo Vaughn's two doubles, smacked eight doubles and 14 hits overall. Nate Minchey pitched five solid innings as the Red Sox beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 3-2, on June 22nd, for three straight wins at SkyDome, regaining third place in the AL East. A week ago, there was no chance that the Red Sox could pull out a come-from-behind victory in the ninth inning. But that's exactly how they overhauled the Milwaukee Brewers, 4-3, on June 24th. Roger Clemens threw 127 pitches again and left in the seventh inning with his club trailing, 3-2. Damon Berryhill drove in two ninth-inning runs, climaxing a spirited, unorthodox rally by a team that was suddenly doing whatever it took to win. That was their fifth straight win. But then they started another losing streak, losing the final game with the Brewers and then three straight to the Yankees at Fenway. On June 29th the Sox were 10 1/2 games behind New York in the AL East. On the final day of the month, June 30th, the Sox finally won a home game, only their second win at Fenway since June 1st. Damon Berryhill was basking in the small glory, as he had delivered a two-run, pinch-hit triple to the triangle in center that tied the game with the Yankees, 5-5, in the eighth inning. Then he made another terrific play, this one with his feet, not often the tools a catcher uses to win the game. Berryhill broke from third like an alley cat on Lee Tinsley's chopper to first and scored the winning run. Making the victory sweeter, was that Wade Boggs made a key error just before Berryhill's triple, botching a routine grounder to third.
Pitchers Chris Nabholz and Steve Farr were next traded from the Indians, for Jeff Russell on July 1st. Tom Brunansky, who had been discarded by the Red Sox, following the 1992 season, when his option called for a $2.5 million salary, returned June 16th this season and had been the Sox's most consistent player since then. On July 2nd, Brunansky pounded a fifth-inning grand slam in the Red Sox' 10-2 win over the Oakland A's, on a rare shining and enjoyable day at Fenway Park. A 4-1 victory on a holiday afternoon at Fenway on July 4th, featuring a 10-strikeout, two-hit performance by Roger Clemens saw him simply overpower the Angels before a less-than-packed house of 26,624 to earn his seventh victory against four losses, and his first win since one at Detroit on June 7th.
Red Sox shortstop John Valentin entered the history books by pulling off the baseball rarity in the sixth inning on July 8th. With runners going from first and second, he snared Seattle DH Marc Newfield's liner, stepped on second to force Mike Blowers, and trotted a few steps to tag the runner (Keith Mitchell) coming from first. It was the 11th time in major league history an unassisted triple play had occurred. In the bottom half, the Sox unloaded their first three-homer inning in nearly a decade, triggered by none other than Valentin, as they overtook the Mariners, 4-3, in one of the most memorable games you'd ever see at Fenway Park. The Red Sox seemed quite optimistic after a 9-2 shellacking of Seattle at Fenway on July 10th. There were few signs left of the team that entered the game having lost 44 of its first 85 contests, en route to batting an American League low .263 and rendering the 21st-highest earned run average (4.99) in the majors. The Sox' lineup (minus Mo Vaughn and Otis Nixon, both out with injuries) banged out 13 hits and scored three runs with two outs. Four batters had at least two hits each, including catcher Rich Rowland (3 for 4, 2 RBI). In all, the bottom four hitters in the Sox lineup went 9 for 13 with 7 runs and 3 RBIs. The Sox went into the All-Star break, in third place, 8 1/2 games behind the Yankees and eight games behind the Blue Jays.
For a while, Scott Cooper had a chance to be Most Valuable Player of the All-Star Game in Pittsburgh on July 12th. With the American League trailing, 5-4, he delivered a double to left-center off Philadelphia's Danny Jackson, the linchpin of a three-run rally that put the AL in command, 7-5. But the National Leaguers prevailed, 8-7, scoring twice in the ninth and again in the 10th. Danny Darwin (pulled back muscle), outfielder Otis Nixon (back spasms), first baseman Mo Vaughn (pulled thigh muscle), Andre Dawson (left knee), Mike Greenwell (left shoulder) and Roger Clemens (groin) all reported fit, and ready to go after the three-day All-Star break when the Sox left for a West Coast swing. On July 14th, Clemens came the closest he ever came to pitching a no-hitter. He took it into the seventh inning against the A's in Oakland, before Ruben Sierra popped in a single to end it. Clemens won the game, 2 to 1, but gave up a second hit, a home run in the ninth inning. For the second straight night, on July 15th, the Red Sox rode a stellar performance by their starting pitcher to a tough victory. This time, they waited until the ninth inning before rallying to a 4-1 win over the A's. Down 1-0 going into the ninth, Tom Brunansky slammed a three-run homer to left to give the Sox the victory. But that was icing on the cake. The Red Sox were one strike from a 1-0 loss when Mo Vaughn singled off Dennis Eckersley. Pinch runner Scott Fletcher stole second and scored on a pinch single by Mike Greenwell. Scott Cooper followed with another base hit to set up Brunansky's homer, his seventh. Following Roger Clemens' lead the night before, Chris Nabholz turned in eight innings of two-hit ball before yielding to Ken Ryan in the ninth, who earned his eighth save. On July 17th there was a 4-3 victory over the Athletics. The Sox won on a sacrifice fly by Tom Brunansky in the ninth inning. But if Ricky Henderson had let the ball drop into foul territory, they still might be playing. The Red Sox got good pitching and also got some clutch hitting to overcome a 2-0 deficit. But the key to the game was the run-scoring sprint by Otis Nixon, who was on third base when Henderson caught the ball. Henderson's throw home was strong, but he had no chance of catching Nixon, whose run broke a 3-3 tie. Next, after losing three straight in Anaheim, the Sox were sent home early because their West Coast road trip was derailed when ceiling tiles started raining down from inside the Kingdome roof in Seattle. So the series was shifted to Fenway Park. More than nine hours of baseball and rain finally ended on July 23rd with the day's top attraction, Ken Griffey Jr, homering into the left-field screen in the 11th inning to boost the Mariners to a 5-3 win and a split of a Saturday doubleheader at Fenway. The Sox, who held on for a 6-5 win in the opening game, blew a 3-1 lead late in the second game, and the much-maligned Seattle bullpen held the Sox in check the rest of the way. The Sox were able to score eight runs against a trio of Seattle Mariner unknowns in the next game of the unexpected series on July 24th. Roger Clemens proved he still had drawing power as 22,411, the best crowd of the series, walked in to watch Clemens beat the Mariners, 8-2. You win some, you lose some, sometimes you have ceiling tiles fall, sometimes a game gets suspended overnight, and sometimes you worry about the game being called on account of a work stoppage. The Red Sox had seen all of the above against Seattle. After an aborted West Coast trip and a weekend Woodstock at Fenway, the Sox went to New York and won two of three. On July 26th, the Yankees blew a five-run lead and lost to the Sox in a slugfest, 10-7. The Sox were down to Jimmy Key, the best pitcher in baseball, 5-0, after the first inning. They then went on an offensive blitz for the second straight game. They pounded Key for 11 hits and six runs before the "Cy Young" candidate, who dropped to 15-3, exited in the sixth inning. Mo Vaughn doubled and hit his 22nd homer, going 4-for-5 and scoring four runners. Otis Nixon and Damon Berryhill also came up big with three hits each. The finale on July 28th was easily the best game of the series. The Sox beat the Yankees, 1-0, on the strength of Joe Hesketh's pitching (two hits, eight strikeouts in 7 2/3 innings), Tom Brunansky's bat (eighth homer) and Lee Tinsley's glove (sensational catch in the eighth). Considering their 12 1/2 deficit in the American League East and key injuries to a handful of veterans, the latest, a sore shoulder that put Mike Greenwell on the disabled list, the looming strike might be good news ... sorta. Rookie Tim Van Egmond earned his first major league victory, a complete-game 7-2 verdict against the Milwaukee Brewers on July 29th. With the Sox out of it, the season had now partially evolved into a major league tryout camp for numerous members of the PawSox, including Van Egmond (1-3), who last year at this time was flinging 'em up in New Britain.
The Sox split a doubleheader with the Blue Jays on August 1st. They dropped the first game, 6-2, and won the nightcap, 4-3. Sox starter Nate Minchey, recalled from Pawtucket between games, had one of his best major league outings, in the second game, allowing just two runs and eight hits in seven innings. The Sox beat Toronto, 7 to 2, on August 3rd, behind Van Egmond, giving him his second straight win. On August 6th, in the first game of a doubleheader, the Sox won 8-4. John Valentin's 5-for-5 performance, including five RBIs, led the Sox to a win for interim manager John Wathan, subbing for Butch Hobson, who was serving the first two games of a five-game suspension. Carlos Rodriguez enjoyed his best career game (5-for-5, three doubles) on August 7th, in a 4-1 win over the Indians in the first game of a doubleheader. Joe Hesketh allowed the Tribe just three hits. The second game was a 15-10 slugfest that the Sox lost. Lee Tinsley enjoyed a 4-for-6 game with a home run. The Sox, went 5-7 on a 12-games-in-10-days homestand and left their fans feeling indifferent. On August 10th, after the Sox lost to the Twins, 17 to 1, the games ended for the season. The Players Association Executive Board set August 12th as a strike date. When that day came, the players went ahead with their threat to walk off the job. The Sox had a record of 54-61, in fourth place, 17 games behind the first-place Yankees at the time. Roger Clemens finished with a 9-7 record and a 2.65 ERA which was second best in the American League. The batters could only muster a .204 BA against him. His acting exploits also included the big screen, for which his most notable role was as an unnamed flamethrower who pitches to Ty Cobb in the 1994 film Cobb, based on Al Stump’s biography of the Georgia Peach. Aaron Sele finished 2nd on the Red Sox staff in starts, complete games, innings, and strikeouts and tied for 2nd in wins. He went 5–1, 2.29 in 1st eight starts before going 3–6, 4.79 in the final 14 outings despite allowing three or fewer earned runs in eight of those games. Danny Darwin was roughed up to the tune of a 6.30 ERA in 13 starts. He then went on the disabled list with a rib cage injury. Tony Fossas was without a loss (1-0), but with an 8.31 ERA, he was sent to Pawtucket in May, though lefties were hitting only .217 against him. With the PawSox, he worked in 11 games without surrendering a run, earned or otherwise. He rejoined the Red Sox on June 1st and picked up another win that very day. This brought his ERA down to 3.66, but his final outing was disastrous. He was 2-0 with a 4.76 ERA before the strike ended the season. Ken Ryan was a feared reliever during his major-league career, highlighted by this season's performance when he earned 13 saves in 42 games and a 2.44 ERA. He was named the Red Sox "Fireman of the Year" by the Boston chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America. Greg Harris pitched in 35 games over the first three months of the season, but after a 3.57 ERA in April, he hit a rough patch. His ERA climbed to 6.83 by the end of May and to 8.28 when the Red Sox released him on June 27th. Because of incentives in his contract, it would automatically renew when he reached a threshold number of “points.” He was leading the American League in appearances as spring turned to summer, but getting hit hard enough that the team could reasonably let him go without triggering a grievance. Harris was angry at being released and placed the blame on Dan Duquette. Mo Vaughn finished 17th in MVP voting. When play stopped, he was batting .310 with 26 home runs in 463 plate appearances. For the second straight season, however, Scott Cooper was the Sox’s lone All-Star representative and batted .282 in 104 games. He homered 13 times, a career-best, despite the team only playing in 70% of its scheduled games. By the end of April, he was batting .342 and added 10 RBIs in May, half of them in games the team lost. He had 14 RBIs in June, but in July he only drove in four. His last game was on August 3rd when he suffered torn cartilage in his right shoulder that had affected him for the month. Red Sox doctor Arthur Pappas thought he might have injured the shoulder when diving for a ball back in early July. He had surgery on August 23rd at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center in Worcester. Mike Greenwell's season (.264 BA, 11 HRs) ended on August 2nd. Oddly, Dr. Pappas also performed surgery on Greenwell for almost the same thing as he did on Scott Cooper, and on the same day. Shortstop John Valentin was having a good year, batting .316 in just 84 games, when play stopped. In his first season with the Red Sox, Otis Nixon produced virtually a carbon copy of his year before. He batted .274 with 42 steals. But his presence didn’t move the needle in the standings for his new club. Andre Dawson batted .240 and would have knee surgery, managing to play in only 75 games, his final season with the Red Sox. It looked like it would be a breakout year for Tim Naehring. He was healthy, and he got off to a great start, hitting .379 after the team’s first 18 games. He played in 80 games, mostly at second base, batting .276 and driving in 42 runs. Lee Tinsley hit .222 in 78 games while tying a club record by going 13-for-13 in stolen base attempts in his first full year in the majors. As soon as it became clear that the season was over, Butch Hobson, the Red Sox's least successful manager since Billy Herman, was fired. Duquette wanted his own guy, an experienced manager who would also serve as the organization's spokesperson.
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