Sometimes you just have one of those games that you have no business winning, but you end up surprising yourself. That's what happened in Game 5 of my classic team ALCS. I had my ace, Dennis Eckersley, going for the '78 Red Sox, but he only lasted 5 innings. Eck looked to be on his way to suffering his second loss of the series, and the offense just couldn't figure out '98 Yankee starter Orlando Hernandez. The long ball was the undoing of Eckersley and what hurt, even more, was that both two-run bridge balls by Tim Raines and Paul O'Neill came with two outs.
Hernandez allowed only two singles in his first four innings of work and was cruising along despite some mild resistance in the fifth. The Sawx strung together a couple of hits, but couldn't bring anyone across. Little did the Yankees realize that this was a harbinger of rough sailing in the sixth.
After New York pushed another run across in the sixth for a 5-0 advantage, I already started pondering how tough it would be to win the next two in the Big Apple. Boston reliever Andy Hassler struck out the first batter he faced, but then a double and two base hits later, and I was reaching back into the pen. I employed Jim Wright to save my higher-tier arms as I began hoisting the white flag, and he got the last two outs.
The Boston barrage was that of the creeping variety in the home half of the sixth as it began quite innocently with a leadoff walk to Fred Lynn. Hernandez retired Jim Rice on a fly ball, but that would be the last Boston batter he would set down. Carlton Fisk was the first of a string of five consecutive batters reaching base with a single, and Carl Yastrzemski put the Red Sox back in the game by clearing the bases with a double to make the score 5-2. George Scott brought Yaz around with a deuce of his own. Boston then loaded the bases on a free pass and a single forcing New York to get the hook out on Hernandez. Ramiro Mendoza got Rick Burleson to ground out on a slow roller, but a run scored to narrow the gap to 5-4.
At this point, there couldn't have been a more fitting cap to the comeback as Jerry Remy strolled to the plate. Scooter would get his teammate and broadcast partner off the hook as he slapped a single into center field to score a pair and give Boston their first lead of the game. From a fan perspective, losing Jerry last year was so tough, and I fondly remember Dennis receiving his ceremonial pitch before the wildcard playoff game against the Yankees.
After the dust had settled, Boston sent 10 men to the plate during this unfathomable rally. Here is a jubilant Remy after his game-winning knock.
Lost in all of this was the pitching performance of Boston reliever Dick Drago. After taking the lead, I shifted gears from mop up to closing this one out. Drago fired 2.2 innings of 2-hit baseball against this potent Yankee lineup. New York made one last attempt to recover putting two runners on in the ninth, but Tom Burgmeier grabbed the save by whiffing Bernie Williams.
I've now got two chances to put New York away after this memorable win, and it would be a damn shame to fall short as I'm just one win away from a World Series berth. It was a pleasure to score this game, but just ignore the last page on the pitchers as their stats are in the highlight reel below the scorebook.
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