Page 312 - 1975 BoSox

’75—THE RED SOX TEAM THAT SAVED BASEBALL 305
Anderson, and the sting of losing in the World Series in 1970 and 1972, plus a grating loss in the 1973 NLCS to the underdog Mets, a last-place club a month earlier whose 82 wins represented the fewest victories ever for a pennant winner. After the Reds lost out to the Dodgers in the NL West in 1974, they hit the eld in 1975 with a singular goal: to win the World Series. Now was their moment. So of course they fell behind in the deciding game.
Don Gullett was Cincinnati’s ace and he’d sti ed the Red Sox in Game Five to put the Reds a win away from their coveted world championship. But he lost it in the third inning of Game Seven. After starting the inning by fanning opposing pitcher Bill Lee, Gullett walked Bernie Carbo, who got the start the night after his second pinch hit of the Series lit up Boston unlike anything since Paul Revere’s fabled ride 200 years earlier. Denny Doyle singled Carbo to third and Carl Yastrzemski followed with a single to right to score Carbo and send Doyle to third, with Yaz taking second on the throw. With Carlton Fisk’s momentous home run even fresher in Sparky Anderson’s mind than Carbo’s blast, the Reds manager ordered Fisk intentionally walked. Gullett struck out Fred Lynn for the second out, but he walked Petrocelli to force in a run. en he walked Dwight Evans to make it 3-0. It seemed like the Big Red Machine was breaking down right in the middle of Kenmore Square.
e Reds were not getting anywhere against Lee. Joe Morgan beat out a bunt and stole second to start the fourth inning, but three y balls left him stranded. After Cincinnati put runners on the corners with no outs in the fth, Lee again wriggled free, striking out Cesar Geronimo and getting Merv Rettenmund — pinch-hitting for Gullett — to bounce into a double play. e Red Sox had a chance to in- crease their lead against Jack Billingham in the bottom of the fth. A single sandwiched between two walks lled the bases with two outs for Lee, who drove a Billingham fastball to deep center eld that Geronimo tracked down.
Lee’s batwork was not what earned him a standing ovation, it was how he kept stranding Reds on the
bases. He allowed a single to Pete Rose to start the sixth, but Lee looked to have short-circuited another rally by getting Johnny Bench to ground to short for an apparent double play. Rose slid late and hard on Denny Doyle, forcing a bad throw and resulting in the second baseman’s second error of the game — as many errors as the Reds had in the entire Series. A similar slide by Rose had started a wild brawl against the Mets in the 1973 NLCS, but this time Charlie Hustle fueled a comeback.
Lee tried to sneak one of his blooper pitches past Tony Perez, one of the game’s best o speed hitters. Perez had noticed a hesitation in Lee’s delivery before he threw three “Leephus” pitches earlier in the game, including once to Perez.30 e Reds rst baseman was more than ready, his third home run of the World Series clearing the Green Monster and landing on Lansdowne Street. After scu ing all night against Lee, one poor throw and even poorer pitch selection had put the Reds right back in the game. “Another seat-squirmer in the ’75 World Series,”31 in the words of Curt Gowdy, who was working on NBC that night with Red Sox announcer Ned Martin, Gowdy’s former partner during his days in the Boston booth.32
e Reds caused more seat-squirming when they forged a two-out rally in the seventh. Boston still led, 3-2, but manager Darrell Johnson came out to the mound after Lee walked Ken Gri ey. A blister on his pitching hand kept Lee from putting the ball where he wanted, so southpaw Roger Moret replaced him.33 Moret retired Cesar Geronimo, but Gri ey stole second — Cincinnati’s ninth consecutive successful stolen-base attempt against Carlton Fisk (the Red Sox, third from the bottom in steals and caught almost half the time during the season, wisely did not test Johnny Bench’s potent arm). Moret’s big mistake was walking Ed Armbrister –a bench warmer who reached base, or sacri ced, in all four of his pinch-hitting appearances in the World Series. at brought up Pete Rose, the leading hitter on either team — save for Bernie Carbo. Batting right-handed, the switch- hitter singled to center and Fred Lynn’s throw to the plate was late.