Daily Rants From an Expatriate Red Sox Fan in China
September 18, 1967 - Coming off of three straight losses against the Baltimore Orioles at Fenway, the Red Sox traveled to Detroit to see if the home of Motown could help get them back into the groove. Despite two home runs by Norm Cash, the Red Sox found themselves tied in the Motor City at five-five and the game in extra innings. In the top of the 10th, with one out and the bases empty, Yaz hit his 40th home run of the year to give the Red Sox a 6-5 lead. Three Red Sox pitchers preserved this lead in the bottom of the 10th and with the win, the Red Sox moved into a three way tie for first place with Detroit and Minnesota. The Chicago White Sox remained one half game back in the American League race following their loss to the California Angels.
September 10, 1967 - The Red Sox beat the Yankees 9-1 in front of only 26,341 fans at Fenway Park on a Sunday afternoon in Boston. The Red Sox collected 13 hits in their shellacking of the visitors from New York. The Red Sox victory, coupled with the Twins' win over Baltimore, allowed the Sox to keep pace and remain a half game behind Minnesota for the American League lead. Gary Bell picked up his 12th win for the Red Sox while Al Downing took the loss for the Yankees. Ken Harrelson homered for the Red Sox, going two for three with two RBIs. The Red Sox have an off day on Monday before entertaining the Kansas City Athletics in Fenway on Tuesday.
September 3, 1967 - The Red Sox with pitcher Lee Stange on the mound lost today at Fenway to the Chicago White Sox 4-0. Tommy John got the win for the White Sox scattering 5 hits in a complete game shutout, one of 6 shutouts he had during the year and one of 9 complete games for John during the 1967 season. The loss moved the Red Sox to a half-game back behind the Twins with the White Sox in third, only one game out. The Red Sox now travel to the Nation's Capitol for a Labor Day doubleheader against the Senators.
August 28, 1967 - The Red Sox beat the Yankees in their series opener in the Bronx on Monday. The Red Sox offense scored 3 runs and Dave Morehead and Sparky Lyle combined to pitch a 5 hit shutout in the 3-0 victory. Reggie Smith homered for Boston. It was his 13th of the year. The Sox remained tied for first with the Minnesota Twins while the hapless Yankees dropped to 15 ½ games back and 14 games under .500 only ahead of Kansas City in the American League.
August 27, 1967 - The surging Red Sox won again at Chicago's Comiskey Park beating the White Sox 4-3. Carl Yastrzemski hit two home runs, his 33rd and 34th of the season. He also went 2-3 with 2 RBIs. George Scott also had two RBIs for the Red Sox who moved into a virtual tie with Minnesota in first place. The White Sox slumped to 1 game back.
August 26, 1967 - After splitting a doubleheader with the White Sox on Friday in Chicago, the Red Sox beat the Chisox on Saturday afternoon 6-2. George Scott and Reggie Smith each went 3 for 5 in pacing the Red Sox 13 hit attack. With the win the Red Sox moved into sole possession of first place with the Minnesota Twins a half game back and the White Sox and the Tigers both one game back in the very tight American League pennant race.
August 24th 1967 - The Red Sox 7-5 win over the Washington Senators coupled with the Chicago White Sox 5-0 loss to the Yankees, moved the Red Sox into a tie for first place in the American League. Third baseman Jerry Adair, catcher Elston Howard and reserve right fielder Jim Landis hit home runs for the Red Sox. Dave Morehead got the win for the Sox while John Wyatt earned his 17th save of the season. The Red Sox moved onto Chicago for a weekend series against their co-leaders in the AL.
August 23rd 1967 - Sparky Lyle gave up the go-ahead run, a sacrifice fly in the 9th inning, as the Red Sox winning streak was stopped at 5 games in their 2-1 loss to the Washington Senators in the Fens. Yaz hit his 32nd home run of the year in the 4th inning, putting Yaz 1 homer behind Harmon Killebrew for the league lead. Yaz was leading the AL in RBI's with 91 and was second in the AL to Baltimore's Frank Robinson with a .318 batting average. The loss, coupled with the Chisox 5-2 victory over the Yankees, put the Red Sox one game back behind Chicago in the American League pennant race.
August 21st, 1967 - The Red Sox stretched their winning streak to 4 games, defeating the Washington Senators at Fenway, 6-5 in a dramatic bottom of the 9th inning win. Elston Howard, who had been released by the Yankees and would prove to be an important component of the Red Sox stretch run, singled in home Jerry Adair, who had doubled to lead off the bottom the 9th. After Yaz grounded out, George Scott and Reggie Smith were walked intentionally to load the bases for Howard who then singled to center. Jim Lonborg went 7 innings giving up 6 hits and 5 runs in a no-decision outing. The Red Sox moved to 1.0 game behind the AL leading Detroit Tigers and Chicago White Sox who were tied for first.
August 18th 1967 - The 4th place Red Sox beat the California Angels in Fenway today 3-2 to move to 3 games behind the Minnesota Twins. The score and the victory hardly mattered though to the 31,027 in attendance and Red Sox fans everwhere. In the bottom of the 4th inning, after George Scott was thrown out at 2nd trying to stretch a leadoff single to center field into a double and Reggie Smith flied out to center field, Red Sox Tony Congiliaro stepped up for his second at bat of the night against the Angel's Jack Hamilton. On his first pitch, Hamilton threw a tailing fastball that caught Congiliaro just under his left eye, breaking his cheekbone and causing him to temporarily lose sight in his left eye. Congiliaro missed the rest of the 1967 season as well as the entire 1968 season. Tony C, who was from Revere, Massachusetts, was the youngest home run champion in the history of the American League when he hit 32 homers at the age of 20 in 1965. For many years Tony C also held the record as the youngest player ever to hit 100 career home runs (22 years old). Although he returned to the game in 1969 he was never the same, suffering vision problems. He only played two more full seasons in the major leagues. He died of a heart attack in 1990. A big thank you and shout out to "C" who pointed out the mistakes and inaccuracies in my original post.
August 17, 1967 - The Red Sox fell back into 4th place, 3.5 games behind the AL leading Twins after losing to Detroit at home, 7-4. Jim Lonborg lasted 5 innings for the Sox and Sparky Lyle was tagged with the loss giving up 3 runs with the game tied in the 9th. Detroit’s Al Kaline and Willie Horton hit home runs, with Willie Horton hitting two for the Tigers.
August 16, 1967 - The Red Sox, behind two home runs from George Scott and one from Reggie Smith, beat the Detroit Tigers and Denny McLean 8-3 at the Fens. Red Sox starter Lee Stange only lasted two innings for the Red Sox who moved into sole possession of 3rd place three games behind the league leading Minnesota Twins. Bucky Brandon got the win for the Sox. McLean fell to 15-13 for the Tigers.
August 15, 1967 –After an off-day on August 14th, the Red Sox returned from being swept on the west coast by the California Angels and opened a critical series against the third place Detroit Tigers. Red Sox right-hander David Morehead, who was limited to only 10 appearances for the Red Sox in 1967 because of arm ailments (Morehead is best remembered for no-hitting the Cleveland Indians 2-0 before only 1,247 fans at Fenway Park in 1965), pitched a complete game shutout for the Sox giving up 6 hits, 1 walk and striking out 8 in the 4-0 victory. Yaz, George "Boomer" Scott and Reggie Smith all went yard for the Red Sox who remained in 4th place, 3.0 games behind the league leading Minnesota Twins. The homerun was Yaz's 28th of the season
