To describe what happened on the last day of an ugly May swoon for the Sox, I'll quote the beginning of a Dan Shaughnessy column: "The legend grows. With his wife in labor in a Houston hospital and his Red Sox teammates staggering on the edge of extinction, Roger Clemens last night beat the California Angels with a six-hit, nine strikeout 5-2 masterpiece."Clemens said later that he would have liked to leave for Texas, but owed it to the team to pitch despite obviously being distracted. Debbie Clemens delivered their second son, Koby Aaron.
It helped that the Rocket was facing the lowly Angels in the Anaheim twilight, but the victory was a welcome relief for the Sox, who had lost 5 of 6. Dewey Evans hit a two-run homer to put the team ahead, but it was still 3-2 after seven. Boston clinched it with a three-run uprising in the eighth off reliever Greg Minton. Wade Boggs and Marty Barrett each tallied three hits, while Evans produced three rbi's.
The positve vibes created by Clemens' performance apparently carried into the next contest, as journeyman Mike Smithson threw 7 shutout innings in a 4-3 win over the Angels. Barrett stayed hot with a 3-for-4 night including a double in the eighth to drive in the winner. But there was also a downside. High-priced closer Lee Smith, who had sat for 12 games, staggered to the save after surrendering 3 in the eighth, two of them earned. It seemed obvious that Smith should not have languished on the bench for so long. John McNamara again seemed out of touch.
As the season moved into June, the Sox remained cold. The first two games against the sixth-place Blue Jays at Fenway produced 5-4 and 5-2 defeats, with Bruce Hurst and Oil Can Boyd continuing to struggle. All was not well in the Sox dugout. Young Todd Benzinger was acquiring a reputation for fragileness, as a groin pull seemed to keep him out for too long. When asked about having to play first base, the outspoken Evans snapped :"How is (Benzinger) going to play first base if he's always hurt? What are you going to do, move everybody around to cater to him?" McNamara, as usual, said little, but seemed to agree with Evans. There was talk that Mac had little patience with young players, causing resentment.
Through all these bad times, there was little or no comment from GM Lou Gorman, Jean Yawkey, or de facto president John Harrington. Gorman was known to be a loyal guy who would never undermine his manager. While it is understandable that Lou would not comment on Mac's role in the Sox' problems, he might have helped a bit with some sort of statement about looking to improve the team. Gorman writes in his book that he was constantly trying to help the pitching staff, but found no takers.
As the Sox languished in fifth place at 25-24, 8 games behind New York, another bombshell appeared. It involved Boggs, a woman named Margo Adams, and a $6million lawsuit.
