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Tuesday, September 30, 1986 / University Daily Kansan
Red Sox pitch their way to first crown in 11 years
United Press International
BOSTON — Fighting off every challenger and fans' fears of yet another late-season fold, the Boston Red Sox won the American League East in a most uncharacteristic way — with pitching.
The Red Sox traditionally pump out hundreds of home runs while other teams win the division. This
Playoff Preview
year, pitching rather than power carried Boston to its first crown in 11 years.
Roger Clemens led the major leagues in pitching with a 24/4 record for Boston. Dennis "Oil Can" Boyd, despite his mid-season problems, won a career-high 16 games and Bruce Hurst posted four shutouts among his 13 victories, the best of his career.
"Pitching is the name of the game," said right fielder Dwight Evans. "And we have it."
The Red Sox are third in American League pitching with a 3.87 earned run average despite half their games being in the hitters' paradise of Fenway Park. The staff ranks second in strikeouts and complete games.
Red Sox confident going into playoffs
Carl Yastremski, who spent 23 years with Boston, was on the 1967 and 1975 teams which lost in the World Series.
BOSTON — The California Angels' logo is a halo, not a big red "S," which is why Dennis "Oil Can" Boyd thinks the Boston Red Sox will win the American League Championship Series.
"I haven't seen no Supermen walk around," he said after the Red Sox clinched the American League division championship Sunday. "I haven't seen anybody with an 'S' on their chest. I don't think they have the ballcub to beat us now."
The skinny right-hander recovered from his mid-season
problems and suspension and helped clinch the AL East crown Sunday with a 12-3 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays.
"We've just got to do what we're doing now," Boyd says. "We've got to throw some good pitching at them and good defense and hitting."
Teammate Al Nipper was equally direct: "We're going to rip those halos off them."
Boston's Tom Seaver, 41 and a veteran of 20 seasons, was more conservative in his prediction.
"I think it's just a matter of whoever pitches best," he says. "They have excellent pitching,
and I think our starters are just sucker."
California's pitching staff leads the American League with a 3.85 team earned run average, but Boston is close behind with a 3.88 ERA. The Angels' staff, led by Mike Witt, 18-10, has 11 shutouts to Boston's six but trails the Red Sox pitches in strikeouts, 993-924, and complete games, 36-29.
Roger Clemens, 24-4 and the leading candidate for the Cy Young Award, leads the Boston staff. Bruce Hurst, 13-7, has four of Boston's shutouts and has recovered from a mid-season groin injury that put him on the
In September, the pitching rotation was shuffled so Clemens could work the opening playoff game. Hurst would pitch the second game and Boyd the third.
disabled list
The Angels are the only team with a winning record against Boston this season, taking seven of their 12 meetings.
"They have a lot of veterans in California." Seaver says. "But we are not at a deficit to them. We have a good blend of youth and veterans. Some of our guys are young but with a lot of good experience, like Wade Boggs."
"In all the years I was with the Red Sox, we never had pitching like this," he said.
Manager John McNamara, in his second year with Boston, gives much of his attention to the pitchers.
"I've always been pitching-oriented," he said. "I strive to get the maximum out of every pitcher."
Evans, also with the 1975 team, sees another crucial difference between this club and its predecessors.
"Most importantly, it's the best group of guys," he said. "Nobody's
getting off on being a big cheese. There is much more closeness on this team. There is no jealousy on this team. Everybody is pulling for everybody else, and it's super to see.
"After seeing clubs that really weren't together, where we had all the talent you could possibly want on a ballclub and not win and then see this come together, is very gratifying."
The team has blended young talent with old.
farm-system products, are the only holdovers from 1975, though Rice missed the playoffs and World Series because of a broken hand.
Evans, 34, and Jim Rice, 33, both
First baseman Bill Buckner, 36, was acquired in 1984 from the Chicago Cubs for Dennis Eckersley. This season, despite an aching ankle, Buckner has driven in more than 100 runs for the third time and is one of four Red Sox with more than 30 doubles.
Dwight Evans and Bob Stanley," said Clemens. "Being as young as a lot of us are, we might get to go through it again."
Among the younger players produced by the organization, catcher Rich Gedman became an All-Star, second baseman Marty Barrett makes few physical or mental errors and third baseman Wade Boggs is again hitting over .350.
"I really feel glad for the older guys like Bill Buckner, Jimmy Rice,
During the winter, reliever Calvin Schiraaldi. Boston's most effective closer, arrived as part of the eight-
player deal which also sent Bob Ojeda to the New York Mets Reliever Sammy Stewart was acquired from Baltimore for shortstop Jackie Gutierrez.
Stewart was unwanted in Baltimore and said Boston's clinching of the division crown "is very special to me because of the trade. It was like going from a sinking ship to a rising Titanic."
During spring training, General Manager Lou Gorman traded left-handed hitting designated hitter Mike Easler for power-hitting right-hander Don Baylor. The 37-year-old former Most Valuable Player slugged 31 homers. He also brought maturity and the experience of having played with winners in Baltimore and California.
Three months into the season, Tom Seaver, 41, owner of 311 victories, was acquired from the Chicago White Sox for reserve outfielder Steve Lyons. He pitched 104 innings for Boston and won five games.
When shortstop Rey Quinones and center fielder Tony Armans failed to hit consistently, veteran shortstop Spike Owen and outfielder Dave Henderson were acquired from Seattle in August. The Red Sox gave up Quinones and second-line pitches Mike Brown and Mike Trujillo.
"The best thing for me is watching the young kids," Seaver said. "You can only win it the first time once."
New York grounds Blue Jays
United Press International
NEW YORK — Dennis Rasmussen scattered six hits and Dave Winfield drove in his 100th and 101st runs of the season leading the New York Yankees to a 8-1 out over the Toronto Blue Jays.
The only run scored off Rasmussen, 17-6, came in the ninth when Willie Upshaw hit his ninth home run.
Winfield became the first Yankee since Joe DiMaggio to drive in at least 100 runs in five straight seasons. DiMaggio did it in seven straight years (1936-1942).
Don Mattingly went 0 for 3 with a sacrifice fly and an intentional walk.
Mattingly's average fell to .349.
Phillies.
Minnesota 6. Cleveland 5
MINNEAPOLIS — Randy Bush's two-out single in the eight inning lifted the Minnesota Twins to a 6-5 victory over the Cleveland Indians.
Bert Blyleven, 16-14, pitched the first eight innings, walked one and struck out nine. He also surrendered three home runs setting a record of 49 home runs allowed in a season. Hall of Famer Robin Roberts held the previous record, 46 with the 1956
Mark Portugal pitched the ninth inning and earned his first major-league save.
Greg Swindell, 4-2, pitched the first seven innings for Cleveland.
Jay Bell, one of four players the Twins traded to the Indians for Blyleen last year, hit the record-breaking hero off Blyleen. Bell hit the first pitch becoming the 55th player in major-league history to homer in his first major league at bat.
Bell, who homered in the third, is also the 11th player to homer on his first pitch and the first since Gary Gaetti homered off Charlie Hough in 1981. The last Cleveland player to homer on his first pitch was Earl Averill in 1929.
Boston 7, Baltimore 5
BOSTON — Wade Boggs went 2-for-4 to raise his major-league leading batting average to .353 and drove in three runs, leading the Boston Red Sox to a 7-5 victory over the Baltimore Orioles.
Boston, which clinched the American League East title Sunday with a 12-3 victory over Toronto, needs to win its remaining six games.
to record a 100-victory season for the first time since 1946.
Al Nipier, 10-11, the first of four Boston pitchers, hurled five innings gaining the victory. Bob Stanley pitched the last inning for his 16th cave.
John Habyan, who struggled with his control, went only 1 2-3 innings and walked tour to drop to 1-3.
Texas 3. Oakland 0
ARKLINGTON, Texas — Pete Incaviglia hit a two-run homer, and Ed Correa and Jeff Russell combined on a four-hitter leading the Texas Rangers to a 3-0 victory over the Oakland A's.
Correa, 12-13, gave up one hit,
struck out eight and walked three
before leaving after six innings with a sore right arm. Rustic pitched the final three innings for his second save.
Seattle at Chicago postponed
Seattle at Chicago postponed
CHICAGO — Heavy rains forced postponement of the scheduled game between the Seattle Mariners and the Chicago White Sox and continuing downpours could force postponement of a makeup double-header, scheduled for tonight.
The first game of today's doubleheader is scheduled to start at 4 p.m.
Pirates lose games, crowds but keep faithful local fans
United Press International
PITTSBURGH — There is playoff talk now in New York, Houston, Anaheim and Boston.
But in Pittsburgh, the Pirates have the worst record in baseball, and Three Rivers Stadium, which can hold 58,433 fans, is now largely empty. The paid attendance on one unusually balmy Thursday night in late September is 3,963, most of it snuggled behind home plate.
"Babe Ruth used to strike out a lot, so did Willie Stargell," says Sonny Simpson, 62, wearing checkered shorts and black socks and shoes.
He mentions the baseball immortals while making comparisons to Barry Bonds, who stands at the plate, the Bucs down 7-1 in the sixth.
"If he hits a long ball now, it's 7-4," says his friend, Vince Boncontro, 60.
Bonds doesn't. And the Pirates lose again, their first defeat of the year.
another baseball and love it anywhere.
Another fan always up for the games is Matt Ellis.
21. But he has to be. As the mascot Pirate Parrot, he roasts inside his heavy green and yellow costume, his face lowered slightly from the weight of his massive bird head.
"We may have had small crowds lately, but these are hard-core baseball fans." he says. "I can still get the fans going. The old 'Let's Go Bucs'! still always works."
Tom Legge, a 59-year-old usher, worked for the Pirates when the team played at Forbes Field.
Legge then smiles and remembers the good.
"It's like an usher at a show," he says. "You just take the good with the bad."
However, the end of a losing season can yield unexpected bonuses.
"I was working the press box when the Pirates won the series in 1960," he says. "The whole city went wild. It was the biggest thrill of my life."
"We had tickets over there," says Mike Bobuk, 34, pointing to the rear of the box-seat section, about 50 rows back. "By the end of the game we were in the first row."
Mary Ellen Titton. 29. sports a book with four Pirates' autographs she gathered during the game by reaching into the dugout.
"You can't get that many when there's 40,000 people here," she says.
The Associated Press
KC buys out contract; Leonard may return
KANSAS CITY. Mo — The Kansas City Royals will exercise the buy-out clause in pitcher Dennis Leonard's contract and will not renew his contract for an additional two years at $800,000 annually, the team announced.
"We will buy out the option, and we will talk to him and his agent about the possibility of his continuing with the club for 1987." General Manager John Schuhrholz said Sunday.
When the team was in California earlier this month, Schuerholz talked with Leonard and his agent, Jerry Kapstein.
"We told him we'd be interested in his returning to the club next spr
ing," Schuerholz said, "and I told his agent that."
No offer has been made to Leonard, and Schuerholz said he had talked to him only in terms of generalities and concepts.
Schuerholz did not say if the Royals would offer Leonard a guaranteed contract for next year or just give him an invitation to spring training
"As far as next year," Leonard said, "I'll be a lot better off as far as handling the season than this year. The good part is they project me into their plans for next year as a starter."
Leonard has an 1-13 record for 1986 and a career high 4.44 earned run average. In his last three starts he has given up 15 earned runs and 19 hits in 6 and $\%_3$ innings.
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