At the end of a 3-5 West Coast trip, a Dan Shaughnessy piece was headlined "They Can't Afford a Swoon in June". However, the team started the month doing just that. The Blue Jays took two weekend games to complete their first four-game sweep of the Sox ever in Fenway.The scores were 10-2 and 12-4, and the games were as ugly as they sounded. Roger Clemens did his best on Saturday, going 7 innings, allowing 4 hits and 3 runs, walking none and fanning 9. But he left trailing 3-0, as three misplays in the field hurt. Homers by Ellis Burks and Dwight Evans narrowed the count to 3-2 in the eighth, but slumping reliever Lee Smith suffered a meltdown in the top of the ninth. It began with an error by Smith himself, and he proceeded to allow 6 runs, retiring only one batter before giving way to newcomer Zack Crouch.
After the contest, Lou Gorman finally spoke up, giving John McNamara the kind of vote of confidence that often precedes a firing. "Nothing that has happened on the ballclub is the manager's fault," said Uncle Lou…Right now, as far as I'm concerned, he's not in trouble." Gorman used his words carefully, as rumors flew that Jean Yawkey and John Harrington wanted a change. "Baseball can hardly be played worse than this," wrote ever-cynical Michael Madden. Fans and talk show hosts agreed.
The free-fall continued on Sunday, as the Jays pounded 19 hits off starter Jeff Sellers and four relievers. The Sox had 15 of their own, and knocked out Jays ace Dave Steib after 3 1/3. Boston trailed only 5-4 after four, but were then shut down by relief pitchers Mark Eichorn, Duane Ward and a young David Wells. The Sox stranded 13 and hit into four double plays. Perhaps trying to spark the team, McNamara argued a third strike and was ejected, but it hardly helped. The Sox were now at 25-26, 9 games behind and only half a game ahead of the sixth-place Jays. Noting that the Bruins and Celtics had already been eliminated, Madden proclaimed the season over for Boston fans.
Shaughnessy noted that the Sox could possibly get back into the race against the Yankees, who were off to their best start in 30 years under Billy Martin. Martin, in one of his five stints as NY skipper, had the Bombers at the top of the pack. Dan S, however, saw their pitching staff as rather fragile. Bruce Hurst began the series in Yankee Stadium with a 3-2 victory, going 8 innings, allowing 5 hits and fanning 6. Things got shaky in the ninth with Smith, but after a walk and error the embattled closer got the next three for a save. The good feelings lasted only one night, however, as the Yanks rebounded against fading Oil Can Boyd with a 4-3 win.
Off-the-field news was also plaguing the team. In the week after the Margo Adams lawsuit hit the media, Wade Boggs' palimony suit had the talk shows buzzing. One particular program had two hosts speculating on "designated wives" for road trips. Most players and writers expressed the fact that it was Boggs' business and no one else's, but the days of Babe Ruth's unreported womanizing were long gone. Jackie MacMullan, while sympathetic to Boggs, admitted that "regardless of the outcome of the suit, the damage to Boggs' reputation had been done. The adverse publicity has already plastered over the tabloids."
Nearly everyone was writing off the Sox at this point. But although no one knew it at the time, Boston had an ace-in-the-hole- a seldom-mentioned third base coach.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
