On June 24, Globe writer Larry Whiteside began his story: “Reports of the New York Yankees being turned into scrap iron for one of George Steinbrenner’s steamships have been greatly exaggerated.” In the first game of a crucial New York-Boston series at Fenway, the Yanks blasted Oil Can Boyd and the Sox, 11-3. Boyd did not survive the fifth inning, surrendering 11 hits and 5 runs and left trailing 5-1. Relievers Tim Lollar, Mike Trujillo, and Steve Crawford fared little better as the New Yorkers pounded out a season-high 19 hits, including 3 by Medford’s Mike Pagliarulo.
The Yankee onslaught continued the following night with another drubbing, this one 8-1. Starter Rob Woodward continued to have problems. He had hurled 4 shutout innings and been given a 1-0 lead before collapsing and yeilding 6 hits and 6 runs. An error by shortstop Rey Quinones proved costly, as Yankee catcher Ron Hassey went 4-for-4.
Reeling from these two losses, the Bosox got a boost when Al Nipper came off the disabled list and hurled 7 innings in a 5-4 win to avoid a Yankee sweep. The biggest play of the game occurred when reliever Joe Sambito, who had fanned the side in the eighth, picked Rickey Henderson off first base in the ninth to snuff out a New York rally.
The Sox would get more boosts that weekend when they traveled to Baltimore to take on the Orioles. The Rocket Man moved to within one victory of tying the AL record for victories at the start of a season with a 5-3 decision over the O’s, his fourteenth straight win. Before a crowd of over 52,000 at old Memorial Stadium (It’s sad now to see the team drawing less than 15,000 most nights for games at beautiful Camden Yards.). Roger went 8 innings, allowing 7 hits and fanning 11. The Sox’ 15-hit attack was led by 3 each from Marty Barrett and Bill Buckner as Bob Stanley picked up his eleventh save.
Meanwhile, Steve “Psycho” Lyons, still unhappy with John McNamara, was quoted as saying “There’s a lot of confusion in our locker room. No one knows what’s going on….everybody wonders if they’re going to pack their bags.” Lyons soon would be doing just that. Boyd then held the fading Orioles to 2 earned runs on 7 hits in a 7-3 victory. The Can brought his mark to 10-5 and lowered his ERA to 3.43 as Boston opened up a 7 game lead over the Yankees, their largest of the year. The next contest saw an unlikely pitching hero as Jeff Sellers threw a complete-game 8-3 victory over Baltimore to finish a three-game sweep. Dwight Evans, Wade Boggs, and Marty Barrett each had two of the Sox’ 11 hits. It was only the second complete game of Sellers’ career.
The biggest news of the night, however, was a trade. Lyons was sent to the White Sox for 306-game winner and future Hall of Famer Tom Seaver. Though Seaver was only 2-6 in Chicago at age 41, his presence would have a big effect on the still-depleted starting rotation.
Boston was now 49-25, 8 games ahead of the Yankees and 10 over the Orioles. Boggs was slumping a bit to .378, but Jim Rice was seventh in the league at .326. No one in either league could come close to Clemens’ 14-0 mark, and Boyd’s 10-5 record and 3.43 ERA were also impressive. One negative stat was Stanley’s role as a closer. He had 13 saves, but was giving up more hits than innings pitched, not a good ratio.
The Mets, amazingly, had the top four hurlers in the NL in Sid Fernandez, Bobby Ojeda, Ron Darling, and Dwight Gooden.
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