As the 88 season wound through Patriots Day, the Sox seemed to be satisfying the fans' expectations, though somewhat erratically. The mediocre Texas Rangers, with a young manager named Bobby Valentine, took a pair at Fenway by scores of 3-2 and 2-0 as hurlers Jeff Sellers and Steve Ellsworth wasted good efforts.
On Friday the 17th, another chilly night, the Rangers rallied from a 2-0 deficit to down Boston 3-2. Light-hitting Steve Buechele tied the contest at 2 with a solo homer off Sellers in the eighth and won it by popping one into the screen in the tenth off Wes Gardner. The Sox appeared to tie it in the bottom half when Ellis Burks singled with men on first and second, but Pete Incaviglia's throw to catcher Geno Petralli cut down Marty Barrett to end the game. The pitching star was knuckleballer Charlie Hough, who went all the way for his second victory. The 40-year-old righthander gave up two in the first, but shut the Townies down the rest of the way, holding them hitless from the second into the tenth.
Boston's hitting woes continued the following day as unheralded Paul Kilgus shut the Sox down on three hits before giving way to Mitch Williams for the final out. Ellsworth hurled seven strong frames and left trailing 1-0. The home squad had now gone 18 innings without a run and were batting .230 as a team. But as so often happens in the spring, they got hot in a hurry in the third Rangers game, battering five hurlers for 20 hits in a 15-2 rout. It was over very early, as Boston went out 10-0 after two with 10 hits off starter Mike Jeffcoat and reliever DeWayne Vaughn. Mike Greenwell and Todd Benzinger connected for homers, and catcher Rick Cerone led the hit parade with 4. Bruce Hurst eased to a complete game win to bring his mark to 2-0.
On Patriots Day morning the Bosox earned a series split with a 4-3 triumph. They continued the previous day's onslaught with 3 in the first off Arlington-born Bobby Witt, paced by Burks' leadoff homer. But Witt and Jeff Russell would hold them scoreless for the next 7 frames, and the Rangers reached Oil Can Boyd for one in the second and another in the seventh. Against closer Lee Smith in the ninth,the visitors would tie it on a Cerone passed ball after an attempted double steal. The Sox came back quickly in the bottom half, however, to win on a single, double and Greenwell sacrifice fly.
Though the Sox seemed up-and-down in the early season, the reviews on John McNamara's performance were generally positive. The often sharp-witted Michael Madden praised Mac for putting together a rebuilt squad after the 87 debacle. He praised the skipper's extensive use of rookies in the second half of the previous year and his early 88 moves.. He also mentioned McNamara's different lineups and men in different spots on the field, while mixing youth like Burks and age like Jim Rice. Late in his article, Madden writes "so far, so good." It was still early, however, and the Yanks and Indians were off to very strong starts.
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