Page 288 - 1975 BoSox

’75—THE RED SOX TEAM THAT SAVED BASEBALL 281
“Lynn’s run and ensuing catch struck with electrifying, sudden-death-like e ect.”8 e Chambliss foul pop to end the game excited Sox third baseman Bob Heise, who “caught it sliding toward home plate” and put an exclamation point on game one as he “spiked the ball as his teammates rushed onto the eld. It had nished a game that seemed like a season, one that had cut the heart out of the New Yorkers.”9
An impending sense of futility descended over New York since Boston, with the 1-0 win, surged nine games ahead of the faux Bronx Bombers, who now toiled in another borough (they played home games at Shea Stadium in 1974 and 1975 while Yankee Stadium was being renovated) and failed to hit with the force of their predecessors.
Game Two: Boston Red Sox 6, New York Yankees 0 — July 27, 1975, at Shea Stadium
With a six-hitter in which he walked just one, Roger Moret pitched his only shutout of the 1975 season as the Red Sox “added insult to injury with a 6-0 success in the nightcap”10 to complete a double-shutout sweep of a doubleheader, the rst one su ered by New York since June 15, 1958, against Detroit.11
Second-year New York pitcher Tippy Martinez would pitch in more than 500 American League games, but would start (and lose) just two of them (both in 1975), with this game against Boston representing his rst such e ort. Martinez struggled immediately in yielding a double to designated hitter Juan Beniquez followed by a walk to second baseman Doug Gri n. After a Carl Yastrzemski grounder to Chambliss advanced both runners, a single by Rice drove in the game’s rst run and gave Moret all the support that he would need.
Desperate for o ense, the Yankees almost tied the game in the bottom of the frame thanks to some daring baserunning by Bonds. After singling, he raced from rst to third on a groundout by designated hitter Walt Williams. (Both teams used di erent DHs in the two games but kept them in the same spots in the batting order.) Bonds failed to score, however, as White fanned and Munson skied out to Lynn.
e Red Sox rallied for two more runs in the third thanks to a homer by Yaz and a Carlton Fisk sacri ce y. Boston knocked out Martinez in the fourth on an RBI double by Gri n. Rice then greeted reliever Dick Tidrow with a run-scoring double of his own.
e Red Sox concluded the scoring in the seventh with consecutive hits by star rookies Rice (a single) and Lynn (a double).
Boston beat New York 6-0, but a little-noticed sub- stitution for New York heralded a future shift in the ongoing AL rivalry. In the eighth inning, a 24-year-old lefty made his major-league debut. Although Ron Guidry immediately gave up a single to Doyle, he retired Yastrzemski on a liner to left and chalked up his rst major-league strikeout, getting Rice, who had four hits so far, to go down looking. In the top of the ninth, Guidry yielded a double to Lynn and a single to Fisk but escaped with consecutive strikeouts and a y out.
e last gasp for the Yankees came in the ninth. Williams and White started with singles, but Munson grounded into a 5-4-3 double play. After Piniella lined to right, the Sox “had nished taking three out of four games in the series and, for all intents and purposes, buried the New Yorkers, some 10 games back of the Sox.”12
Yankee fans did not react to the “inglorious”13 sweep quietly: “Amidst endless brawls [in the stands], the throwing of beer and garbage and an echo of boos for everyone from [New York manager] Bill Virdon to Mason, no one noticed Moret. All he did was get his seventh win in eight decisions, overpowering the Yankees. ...”14
e margin between the two clubs would not drop below 81⁄2 games over the rest of the 1975 season. ree years to the day later, Hunter, the 1975 game-one loser, would su er a 17-5 loss to Cleveland that left New York eight games behind Boston, a margin that would not hold this time thanks in large part to the e orts of Guidry, whose 1975 debut at the end of a one-sided doubleheader left little hint of the impact he would