If history is a guide, the third-place Boston Red Sox (44-40) need to look at the 1978 season. On July 19 that year, George Steinbrenner’s New York Yankees were in fourth place, 48-42, and 14 games behind Boston.
The Yankees went 51-21 down the stretch and beat Boston in the one-game playoff at Fenway Park. That was the Bucky Dent game, the game that New York held on to win, 5-4.
Reporters had more access in those days, and three hours before that game I was sitting next to Don Zimmer and some kid who’d snuck into the dugout. We were the only three people there and we stared silently at the field until a cop came and kicked the kid out.
When utility player Bob Bailey came into the dugout, I reminded him of what he’d said in spring training: “After 162 games you know who the best team is.”
Remember? I asked him, and he stared at me and replied, “Yes.”
With a runner on second base in the bottom of the seventh inning, Yankees reliever Goose Gossage came into the game and Zimmer sent Bailey up to pinch hit. In the essay by Jonathan Schwartz titled “A Day of Light and Shadows,” Gossage said of the situation: “When I saw Bailey coming up, I said to myself, with all respect to Bob, ‘Thank you.’”
Bailey struck out. It was his last big league at bat.
Now the tables have turned and it’s the Red Sox that are 11 games back with 78 games left to play. The season is in crisis mode and there ain’t no in-between during the next 30 games; 13 are against the hapless Blue Jays, Tigers and Orioles, and 17 are against the Dodgers, Yankees and Rays.
We’ll know by August 4 if the Red Sox are still in it. If they aren’t, well, Patriots training camp begins July 25.
Yes the bullpen is a mess, but the Red Sox also need a bona fide second baseman. Seven players have either started or subbed at least one game defensively at the keystone corner this season. Collectively they’ve made six errors in 321 chances.
For comparison’s sake, during Dustin Pedroia’s MVP year in 2008, the Muddy Chicken made six errors in 733 chances. They tried Ian Kinsler last year and that didn’t work. Tzu-Wei Lin wasn’t the answer, and soxprospects.com reports that Chad De La Guerra (Pawtucket) and Brett Netzer (Portland) project out to be “bench utility players.”
Contrived is the best word to describe last weekend’s Red Sox-Yankees series in London. The get-ready crew hauled in artificial turf from France and dirt from Pennsylvania, and to make it less of a Wiffle Ball park they constructed a big black wall in center field so announcers could use their latest in phrase, “the batter’s eye.”
Red Sox owner John Henry got a guaranteed gate — he was paid the same as if the games were sellouts at Fenway Park — and each player got a $60,000 bonus for making the trip. Everybody was happy except those fans who couldn’t afford flying to London.
Television dressed it up as a huge hit, but according to the box scores there were over 5,000 empty seats at both games. England has cricket and soccer and America has baseball and football, and n’er the twain shall meet.
BASEBALL NOTES: A person can only imagine that sitting beyond all the acreage of foul territory at London Stadium was like watching cars cross the Sunderland Bridge from the top of Mount Sugarloaf. … Xander Bogaerts is batting .299 and is on pace to hit over 30 home runs and 100 RBIs. Possessor of a $120 million contract, Bogaerts has taken Rafael Devers under his wing and become a team leader. … Alex Cora batted Mookie Betts at the top of the order despite his .111 average (3-for-27) against the Pinstripers. Betts is making $20 million and becomes a free agent in two years. … The New York Post’s Ken Davidoff reported on Monday that Cora said the Red Sox were tipping their pitches. “We tipped pitches. Sequence, everything,” said Cora. Sensing that Cora had implied the Yankees were stealing signs, DJ LeMahieu responded: “I think that’s paranoia talking.” … Who knew LeMahieu would be a Red Sox killer? The Colorado Rockies transplant is 12-for-35 with 12 RBIs against the Red Sox. … You know the saying, if you can’t dazzle ’em with brilliance, baffle ’em with B.S. That’s what MLB commissioner Rob Manfred did on ESPN when he was asked about the plethora of home runs this season. “The baseball appears to have a low drag,” said Manfred. … FOX analyst John Smoltz on the Red Sox woes vis a vis Alex Cora’s temperament: “It’s easier to complain and have excuses, but that’s not what Alex Cora is.” OK, so name a manager who does complain and make excuses. …. First baseman Michael Chavis’ error on a bouncing grounder by Gary Sanchez on Sunday was shades of Bill Buckner. … Uh-oh, A-Rod is co-opting Eck Talk. “The ball has some hair, real cheeeese,” he said of an E-Rod fastball. … No truth to reports that John Henry wanted to play in Rome so he could feed the bullpen to the lions. … Red Sox fans can take solace in the words of ‘The Old Perfessor,’ Casey Stengel: “Well, that’s baseball. Rags to riches one day, and riches to rags the next.” … For anyone interested in morning baseball, the Marlins and Nats play at 11 a.m. on the Fourth of July, the holiday that put America on the map.