Sox 67

The weekend of October 7 and 8 was pretty much a lost one for the Cardiac Kids, as the Cardinals pitching depth became apparent. St Louis made short work of Sox starters Gary Bell and Jose Santiago in 5-2 and 6-0 lacings, putting Boston on the brink of losing in 5 games.

Before 50,000 in new Busch Stadium, the home squad made good on their threat of retaliation as Nelson Briles immediately hit Carl Yastrzemski, prompting an angry appearence by Dick Williams. But it was soon apparent that hits batsmen would be relatively unimportant in this one, as St Louis chased Bell with one in the first, sparked by a Lou Brock triple, and two more in the second on a Mike Shannon homer. The Sox got one  on a run-scoring single by hot-hitting Dalton Jones, but the Cards quickly got it back off reliever Lee Stange. Briles pretty much cruised, surrendering 7 hits. St Louis, on the other hand, smacked 10 off four Boston pitchers. Yaz seemed to shrug off being hit, but Santiago was incensed at Briles, who had been quoted as calling the Sox “a weaker hitting team than any we face in the National League.”

If Jose had any ideas of throwing inside to the Cardinals the next day, he had very little chance; the righty failed to survive the first innning. Yaz’s “article” had, as was to be expected, predicted a defeat of  Bob Gibson, but it was not to be. St Louis chased Santiago in the first with 4 runs on 6 hits and plated 2 more off Jerry Stephenson in the third, as the Gibber breezed for the second time. He permitted only one runner past second base, walking one and fanning six.

Meanwhile, most syndicated columnists were predicting an easy Cards series win. After game 4, Milton Gross wrote “the Red Sox are talking to themselves, and what they are saying is sheer nonsense. They’re being overpowered, out-slicked, out-sped, and out pitched, except for Jim Lonborg.”But there was still life in the Impossible Dreamers. After a team meeting following Sunday’s contest, Williams said “I told the men the same thing I said before we played Minnesota…We haven’t quit all year and we’re not going to begin to do it now.” Always the gambler, Williams announced that his game 6 starter would be in-and-out rookie Gary Waslewski, who had pitched three hitless frames on Saturday.

Monday’s Globe headlined “Red Sox on Another Brink; Again It’s Lonborg or Never”. And Lonborg it was, staving off elimination with a 3-1 complete game. Against surprise southpaw starter Steve Carlton, who like Gibson would have a Hall of Fame career, Boston scored in the third on a Ken Harrelson single following a Shannon misplay. It remained 1-0 until the ninth, when the Sox erupted for two on a bases-loaded bloop hit by Elston Howard, appearing in his first non-Yankee World Series. Roger Maris’ two-out homer in the bottom half, prevented another shutout by Lonny, but the spirit was back.

At Logan Airport, 1500 screaming fans, described by Globe writers as mostly teenaged girls, welcomed the team home that evening. The Boston Fire Department Band played “For Boston”. In 18 innings, Lonborg had allowed 4 hits, with 1 walk and 8 strikeouts against the Cards’ formidable lineup. His ERA was 0.50. Waslewski would be facing Dick Hughes on Wednesday, but the feeling was there: it would come down to Lonny versus Gibson in game 7.