Daily Archives: December 17, 2004

Book Excerpt

From Red Sox Century

By Glenn Stout and Richard A. Johnson

(Part 1, 2, and 3)

His remarkable streak began in Detroit. After Boston jumped out to an early 3-0 lead, the Tigers came back to tie the game 4-4, then went ahead. But with one out in the ninth, Yaz turned on a Fred Lasher fastball and drove it into the upper deck to tie the game again, and then a Dalton Jones home run won it in the tenth. The win tied Boston with Detroit for the lead.

The next night, Detroit was leading 2-1 when Adair singled and Yaz walked. Scott tied the game with a hit and Yaz scored the game-winner when he raced home on a wild pitch. The next night in Cleveland, with the game tied 4-4 and two out in the ninth, Yaz singled, Scott walked, and Reggie Smith singled Yastrzemski in with the game winner again. They stretched their winning streak to four games with a 6-5 win, then got blown out 10-0 in the first game of a doubleheader in Baltimore.

But Yastrzemski wouldnít allow the Sox to stay down. With Boston trailing, Yaz led a comeback and Boston rolled to a 10-3 win. The following day, his 42nd home run of the season put Boston ahead, but the bullpen failed and the Orioles won 7-5.

Next to Yaz, Jim Lonborg was the most important player on the team. In the last game of the road trip, he proved it, holding Baltimore scoreless through six innings as the Sox built a 7-0 lead. Then Dick Williams, daring to think ahead for the first time all year, gambled and pulled his ace to save his arm in case he was needed in the next few days. The Sox held on to win 11-7 and returned to Boston for two games against Cleveland and two against Minnesota to end the regular season. With only four games remaining, the Red Sox were in a dead heat with the Twins for first place, while Chicago trailed by

The day after Pedro Martinez was introduced to the media as the newest member of the Mets, the Yankees still managed to kick their cross town rivals off the back pages. According to reports, the Yankees are close to trading Javey Vazquez and their two best prospects (Dioner Navarro and Eric Duncan) to the Dodgers in a three-team trade that would bring Randy Johnson to the Bronx. John Heyman broke the story late yesterday for Newsday. The Times, News and Post all have slightly different spins on the story. The complicated trade could involve a fourth team before all is said and done.

Who knows if it’ll actually happen. So much can go wrong. I’ll believe it when I see it. My initial reaction when I heard the news last night was one of happiness. The Yanks got their man. It was quickly followed with concern that they were losing two valuable chips in Navarro and Duncan. The concern didn’t last long. What are prospects for, after all? (Just ask the Braves who shipped three of em to Oakland in exchange for my man Tim Hudson yesterday afternoon.) Duncan wasn’t going to get any burn with Alex Rodriguez playing third in the Bronx, and Navarro? Is he worth holding up a deal like this? Hardly. Then, I felt sad about the possibility of Javier Vazquez moving on so quickly. I am a big fan of his, and thoroughly enjoyed rooting for him last year, inspite of his poor second half. But sentiment aside, I think two years of Randy Johnson over three years of Vazquez is a risk that is well worth taking.

Anyhow, I’m getting ahead of myself. The deal ain’t done yet.