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JOEL HORLEN |
THE CURSE OF THE BAMBINO, PART 6 ...
"THE IMPOSSIBLE DREAM"
The Sox are shutout by Tommy John
September
3, 1967 ... Tommy John shutout the Red Sox, 4
to 0, by getting Boston batters to hit 23 ground balls, and at one
stage, 12 straight outs were hit on the ground. John didn't give up a
walk and his sinker had the Red Sox swinging down and beating the
ball into the ground. Only Mike Andrews got a base hit by hitting a
bloop single over second baseman, Wayne Causey's head, into the outfield, in the
eighth-inning. His hit moved Joe Foy to second-base with two out, and it was the
only time the game that the Red Sox had gotten a runner past first. Jerry Adair
grounded out to end that threat.
The White Sox scored their first run off Lee Stange in the second inning,
when Rocky Colavito got a base hit, went to third on Tom McCraw single, and
scored on JC Martin's grounder to second.
Stange was saved by bad base running from Chicago in the third inning. He
walked Walt Williams who went to third on Tommie Agee's double to left. Pete
Ward was given an intentional walk to load the bases, and with Rocky Colavito at
the plate, Stange threw a slider that got past Elston Howard and rolled away
from him. Walt Williams broke from third and Howard retrieved the ball and threw
to Stange, who was standing at the plate. Stange missed the tag and Williams
missed the plate. Umpire Jim Odom waited until Williams headed back to the
dugout and then declared him out.
Eddie Stanky, the manager the White Sox, came out to argue, but the rule says
that as soon as the runner leaves the plate and heads toward the dugout, he is
declared out. Colavito was eventually walked to load the bases once again, but
Tom McCraw popped up for the final out of the inning.
John gave up a single in the first inning to Yaz and it was the only hit that
he was able to get on base all day. Yaz is now 4 for 34 and in a slump.
The stretch of 12 straight ground balls started in the fourth inning and
George Scott, who was also not swinging the bat well either, managed to hit a
grounder far enough to deep short, to beat it out for a base hit. But on the
first pitch to Rico Petrocelli, he grounded into a doubleplay.
The White Sox went ahead 2 to 0 in the sixth, when Pete Ward hit Stange's
first pitch over the Chicago bullpen. The final two runs came in the ninth with
Sparky Lyle on the mound for the Red Sox. He gave up consecutive singles to
Martin and Hansen before striking out John.
John Wyatt came in to face Ken Berry, who lined a triple to right that scored
the two baserunners. After a walk to Don Buford, Wyatt served up a nice pitch to
the liking of Tommy Agee, who slammed it toward the bullpen, and only a nice
catch reaching over the bullpen wall, by Ken Harrelson, saved more runs from
scoring. |
