It is generally agreed at the time that, to really make it a race, the Yankees will have to win 3 out of 4. Sox fans are confident their boys can take 3 out of 4 and finish the hated Yankees off.
But, just as the Yankees had been riddled with injuries in June and July, their bench barely keeping their heads above water, now, it was Boston's turn to see if they could overcome injuries. Carlton Fisk was catching with bad ribs. Butch Hobson was playing 3rd base with bone chips in his elbow, leading the former rocket-armed University of Alabama quarterback to made an alarming 43 errors before he finally got benched.
1st baseman George Scott, known as Boomer for his usual heavy hitting, was playing with a bad finger. 2nd baseman Jerry Remy, a particular pain in the neck in games with the Yankees earlier in the season, was out with a hand injury.
And right fielder Dwight Evans had been beaned, and was having what we would now call post-concussion syndrome. This forced the moving of the Sox' Most Valuable Player candidate, Jim Rice from left field to right field, and the team's greatest legend among active players, Carl Yastrzemski, away from the 1st base-designated hitter platoon he'd been in with Scott, and back to his former position of left field. And he was wearing a back brace.
The Yankees' biggest star at the time, Reggie Jackson, said:
It's hard to explain, but, somehow, we all seemed to believe we would win up there. Sure, we had our work cut out for us, and we knew it wouldn't be easy. But there was something in the air which made everyone even more confident.
On the 2nd play of the game, Hobson made a throwing error. This led to the Yankees scoring 2 runs in the 1st inning, 3 in the 2nd, 2 in the 3rd, and 5 in the 4th, knocking out Mike Torrez, who'd signed with the Sox in the off-season, after being one of the Yankees' own heroes in the previous year's World Championship season.
But, just as the Yankees had been riddled with injuries in June and July, their bench barely keeping their heads above water, now, it was Boston's turn to see if they could overcome injuries. Carlton Fisk was catching with bad ribs. Butch Hobson was playing 3rd base with bone chips in his elbow, leading the former rocket-armed University of Alabama quarterback to made an alarming 43 errors before he finally got benched.
1st baseman George Scott, known as Boomer for his usual heavy hitting, was playing with a bad finger. 2nd baseman Jerry Remy, a particular pain in the neck in games with the Yankees earlier in the season, was out with a hand injury.
And right fielder Dwight Evans had been beaned, and was having what we would now call post-concussion syndrome. This forced the moving of the Sox' Most Valuable Player candidate, Jim Rice from left field to right field, and the team's greatest legend among active players, Carl Yastrzemski, away from the 1st base-designated hitter platoon he'd been in with Scott, and back to his former position of left field. And he was wearing a back brace.
The Yankees' biggest star at the time, Reggie Jackson, said:
It's hard to explain, but, somehow, we all seemed to believe we would win up there. Sure, we had our work cut out for us, and we knew it wouldn't be easy. But there was something in the air which made everyone even more confident.
On the 2nd play of the game, Hobson made a throwing error. This led to the Yankees scoring 2 runs in the 1st inning, 3 in the 2nd, 2 in the 3rd, and 5 in the 4th, knocking out Mike Torrez, who'd signed with the Sox in the off-season, after being one of the Yankees' own heroes in the previous year's World Championship season.
Yankee catcher Thurman Munson collected 3 singles and an RBI, and 2nd baseman Willie Randolph reached base 3 times, all before Hobson, the 9th and last man in the Sox batting order, even came to bat for the 1st time.
In spite of a 12-0 lead going into the bottom of the 4th, manager Bob Lemon, himself a Hall of Fame pitcher, took Catfish Hunter out, due to a pulled groin muscle. Ken Clay relieved, and got the win despite giving up a home run to Fisk. Yankees 15, Red Sox 3. The Yankees are now 3 games back.
Reggie had an RBI single in the 1st. Yaz hit a triple off Catfish.
What the heck, it's only one game, right? In the words of Nathan Salant, in a book he wrote after the season, put it, imagining what a Sox fan would think, "After all, 15-3 losses were made to be laughed at. It couldn't happen again... "
*
September 7, 1978 was a Thursday. These other games were played in Major League Baseball that day:
* The New York Mets beat the Montreal Expos, 9-4 at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal. Joel Youngblood and Willie Montañez hit home runs, in support of Nino Espinosa. Montañez had 4 RBIs. Gary Carter, with the Expos at the time, went 0-for-3.
* The Atlanta Braves beat the San Francisco Giants, 6-5 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.
* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 5-4 at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto. Robin Yount went 2-for-5 for the Brewers.
* The Cincinnati Reds beat the San Diego Padres, 6-2 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. Pete Rose, Johnny Bench and Ken Griffey Sr. all hit home runs for the Reds. For the Padres, Dave Winfield went 1-for-3 with a walk.
* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Chicago Cubs, 5-3 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Mike Schmidt went 1-for-3 with 2 walks.
* The Seattle Mariners beat the Chicago White Sox, 5-3 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Yes, both Chicago teams were at home on the same day, and both lost.
* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 5-4 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. Neither the Cardinals' Lou Brock nor the Pirates' Willie Stargell played in this game.
* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Houston Astros, 3-2 at the Astrodome.
* The California Angels beat the Texas Rangers, 7-6 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim).
* Not scheduled to play that day: The Baltimore Orioles, the Cleveland Indians, the Detroit Tigers, the Kansas City Royals, the Minnesota Twins, the Oakland Athletics.
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