Manny Ramirez - 24 - LF
Week 25 - 19-25 September 2005

These days, most of the talk about the Red Sox centers on two things: the heated race with the rival New York Yankees for the division title and David Ortiz’s bid to become the first designated hitter to be named the MVP. Almost overlooked in all of this is the recent play of Manny Ramirez, unless he happens to run too slowly to first base on a groundout, igniting the wrath of local sports radio personalities. Quietly, however, the reigning World Series MVP has put together another season worthy (almost) of the outrageous salary that Dan Duquette and the Red Sox promised to him when he was signed as a free agent by Boston before the 2001 season.

This past week, as the Red Sox struggled to maintain their grip on their slim lead in the American League East, Ramirez was doing his part to help the team with his bat. Five times this past week, he sent a pitch deep and gone, twice in Tuesday’s blowout win in Tampa Bay. He also drove in 10 runs and scored eight of his own while batting a modest .296. Although it did not raised his average this season by much - he’s batting .288 - he now has 41 home runs, which is just two shy of the number he hit last season for Boston, and 135 RBI, the most runs he’s driven in for the Red Sox in a single season.

With the team’s season on the road complete, Boston returns to Fenway Park for seven more games that will decide whether or not the team will play further into October, especially when the dreaded Yankees show up this weekend to play a three-game series with the Sox. Home field has been an advantage for Boston all season, and Ramirez will look to park a few more on Lansdowne Street and hoist a division winner’s trophy over his head when all is said and done.

When 36-year-old George Lee “Sparky” Anderson made his managerial debut in 1970, he skippered the Cincinnati Reds to 70 wins in their first 100 games that season as the team easily cruised to 102 wins and a National League pennant, the club’s first in nine seasons. Unfortunately, his young squad ran into a talented and tested Baltimore Orioles team and lost the World Series, four games to one. Two years later, Anderson guided his team to yet another pennant and lost out on a world championship for a second time, this time to the mighty Oakland Athletics in seven games after trailing 3-1 in the series. Laden with talent, the mighty Reds would continue to sparkle over the 1973 and 1974 seasons with 99 and 98 wins, respectively, but that elusive championship remained just out of reach.

At the debut of the 1975 season, Anderson and the “Big Red Machine,” as the team was commonly referred to by the media in reference to the strength of its offense, were ready once again to make a run to the playoffs with the same nucleus as they had the previous seasons. The undisputed clubhouse leader was third baseman Pete Rose; already a legendary figure after 12 seasons in the majors, “Charlie Hustle” played the game just as his nicknamed alleged. Also leading the charge on offense was catcher Johnny Bench, the 1967 Rookie of the Year, league MVP in 1970 and 1972, and a perennial Gold Glove winner behind the plate as well as first baseman Tony Perez and shortstop Dave Concepcion. The pitching staff, not quite as impressive as the team’s offense, was led by Jack Billingham, who had won 19 games in each of the last two seasons.

Cincinnati struggled through the first month of the season, finishing April with a 12-11 record and sitting third behind Los Angeles and San Diego in the National League West Division; just over two weeks later, a six-game losing streak dropped the team a game under .500 and 5-1/2 games behind the Dodgers. Then the Reds won 17 of their next 20 to leap over the front-runners of 08 June and, from there, they would keep their grip on the lead. Cincinnati would go on another tear starting the second half of June, winning 22 of 25, including the final ten games before the All-Star break to build a 12-1/2 game lead over their rivals in the NL West and all but crowning them division champions for the fourth time in six years.

At season’s end, the Reds had taken the division by 20 games, cruising to a franchise-record 108 wins and averaging better than five runs per game. In comparison, the NL East division winners, Pittsburgh, had won a respectable 92 games and had split the season series with Cincinnati with six wins each. Second baseman Joe Morgan, who would win the league MVP award after the season, led the way on offense with a .327 average, 17 home runs, 93 RBI, 107 runs scored, and 67 stolen bases, while Bench would lead the team with 28 home runs, 110 RBI, and a .596 slugging percentage. Rose would lead the team with 210 hits and 112 runs scored while batting .317 with seven home runs and 74 runs knocked in. Surprisingly, even with a record number of wins, not one pitcher finished with more than 15 wins, with Billingham and Gary Nolan tying for the team lead. However, six pitchers with 19 starts or more finished with at least 10 wins. Rawley Eastwick, in just his second major league season, would lead the bullpen with 22 saves.

The only remaining obstacle in front of Cincinnati on the team’s march to the World Series was Pittsburgh, whom they met for a five-game AL Championship Series. The Pirates proved to be no match for the Reds, as the Big Red Machine easily controlled of the first two games of the series at Riverfront Stadium to pace wins of 8-3 and 6-1. With their backs against the wall, the Pirates fought hard in Game Three back at Three Rivers Stadium, where they had won 52 games during the regular season. Down 3-2 in the bottom of the ninth, the Bucs scored on a two-out walk with the bases loaded to knot the game at three, but could not push another run across the plate. That proved costly when, in the top of the tenth, the Reds scored two on a sacrifice fly by pinch-hitter Ed Armbrister and a double by Morgan, and a 1-2-3 bottom of the frame sealed Cincinnati’s third pennant in six years.

Six years ago in 1999, former Red Sox pitcher Pedro Martinez pitched the first of two great seasons, perhaps one of the most dominant seasons ever in the history of baseball. On the way to his second Cy Young award, his first with Boston, he won 23 games in 29 starts, threw five complete, struck out a franchise record 313 batters, and led the staff as well as the American League with a 2.07 ERA. After the departure of slugger Mo Vaughn following the 1998 season, the sole reason that the Boston managed, against all odds, to return to the playoffs for the second year in a row was because of the 27-year-old Dominican native who made the opposition look foolish in almost every start. However, when it came time to award the Most Valuable Player honor, Ivan Rodriguez, then of the Texas Rangers, won it with his .335 average, 35 home runs, and 113 RBI, arguably the best season of his career as his team won the AL West Division. Martinez, who earned one more first-place vote than “Pudge,” finished second by a margin of just 13 points.

Votes are cast by members of the Baseball Writers Association of America, the same people that decide what former ballplayers deserve enshrinement in the Hall of Fame. Unfortunately for Martinez, he was handicapped by some writers who believed that an MVP should go to an everyday player and not to a starting pitcher who only has to work every fifth day. In fact, a couple of writers even left him off the ballot, robbing him of some crucial votes that might have tipped the results in his favor.

Not surprisingly, history shows that pitchers, even with a season as great as the one Martinez enjoyed that year, have been hard-pressed to take home that hardware. The last pitcher in either league to win the award was Dennis Eckersley in 1992, but he won that award in the closers role, pitching in 69 games and collecting 51 saves. In fact, the last starting pitcher to win the award was Roger Clemens who took home the trophy following his spectacular 1986 season. Go back fifty years, and only six pitchers total have won the award in either league.

Fast-forward to 2005 and Red Sox slugger David Ortiz, who has started all but a handful of games in the designated hitter’s role, is on a tear. Through Sunday, he had batted .296, stroked 46 home runs, and amassed 140 RBI. In the month of September alone, which in recent years has sometimes been the decided factor in the vote - witness Vladimir Guerrero in 2004 - Ortiz has clocked 10 round-trippers and push 22 runners across the plate while batting a cool .305.

Time and again this season, he has delivered when Boston has needed him, often times driving home the run that helps tie the score or put the Red Sox ahead for good. Nine times this season, he has hit home runs in “close and late” situations; twice, he has ended games with walk-off home runs, sending the Fenway crowds into a celebration that shook the foundation of the 93-year-old park.

For the moment, the only other player in the American League putting up numbers worthy of consideration for the award is Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez, who won the honor two years ago in his third and final season with Texas. On the season, he has equaled Ortiz in the home run category with 46 and has knocked in 124 RBI while batting at a .319 clip. In September, he has averaged .321 while hitting six home runs and sending home 19 base runners.

On paper, these two players seem fairly evenly matched, but some would argue that Rodriguez deserves the nod again because he plays both offense and defense. Twice, he has won Gold Glove awards at the shortstop position and, since switching to third base after coming to New York, has transitioned well into his new role sharing the left side of the infield with teammate Derek Jeter. Ortiz, on the other hand, has made just 10 starts in the field at first base, committing just two errors in 82 chances; otherwise, on paper, his only contributions to this team have been at the plate. In his own defense, Ortiz told reporters two weeks ago in Toronto: “I never saw anybody win the MVP because they won the Gold Glove and hit .230.”

What perhaps some writers don’t see is that Ortiz does so much more than take his cuts and then sit on the bench reading the latest issue of The Sporting News. Between at-bats, he’s either taking hacks in the batting cage, riding on the stationary bike in the clubhouse to stay loose, or reviewing video of his last at-bat or the pitcher’s tendencies, trying to find any weakness that will allow him to produce those timely hits. What they also don’t see is how much of a catalyst he is, making those around him that much better; with Rodriguez, he is surrounded by some of the best players that money can buy and his absence, though large, would not hurt the team as much as the loss of Ortiz would be to his. With everything that’s happened to the defending World Champions this season - Schilling’s prolonged absence, the bullpen’s ineffectiveness, and some down years at the plate for other key members of the offense - an injury to Big Papi would have been truly devastating, knowing how much his heroics have rescued his teammates on more than one occasion this season.

With seven games to go in the season and the two teams deadlocked in a tie atop the AL East, it may just come down to whose team makes the playoffs and whose team hits the links a little earlier than last year. If the Sox win a division for the first time since 1995, Ortiz is a lock; if instead the Yankees win their eighth straight division title, Rodriguez will have another MVP trophy in his case. Should Cleveland fall off the wild card pace and both teams make the playoffs, then the debate will continue until the results are announced in November.

Ortiz’s own teammates and even his manager have told the media in recent days how much of an impact he has on this team, how his very presence and that infectious grin inspires his team to go out, against all odds, and win every night. One anonymous AL general manager stated without hesitation: “There is no player who means more to his team than Ortiz means to the Red Sox.”

Each writer has his or her own method of deciding who deserves an honor as revered as Major League Baseball’s Most Valuable Player award. However, beyond the numbers, the vote should go to the player who has had the biggest impact for his team and for whom his absence would have left an unimaginable void. In the minds of Red Sox fans everywhere, that would be David Ortiz, and being the designated hitter does not make him any the less valuable to his team.

David Ortiz - 34 - DH/1B
Week 24 - 12-18 September 2005

After he helped Boston take the rubber match of a three-game series with Toronto on Wednesday, thanks to a two-run home run that broke a late-inning tie, David Ortiz told reporters that he was looking to break the rules. With that “Big Papi” grin spread wide across his face, he cracked: “I’m just trying to break the rules — that a DH can’t win an MVP.” What happens in the final month of play usually helps sway the MVP vote in that direction; see Vladimir Guerrero, 2004 American League MVP. With the season down to just two weeks, the 29-year-old slugger is more concerned about helping his team stay just in front of New York to win the division crown but, if his play of late continues, chances are good that he will set a new standard for MVP candidates.

Balls were flying out of the yard everywhere this week when Ortiz strolled to the plate. In the opener against the Blue Jays in Toronto, he got Boston on the board with a solo home run and then won the game in extra frames with another long ball. Ortiz then hit home runs in each of the next two games to finish the series with four home runs, seven RBI, and a 6-for-12 (.500) performance at the dish. Against Oakland, he cooled somewhat, only batting 4-for-14 (.286), but hit another home run Friday night to tie the score in the sixth and give Boston a chance to win again in extra innings. So, for the week, Ortiz batted .385 with five home runs, nine RBI, and six runs scored.

On the season, Ortiz is batting .296 with a personal-best 43 home runs, second to Yankees 3B Alex Rodriguez, and 132 RBI, tops in the AL; of his 43 home runs, 39 have come as a designated hitter, a new record. Knowing that, some might argue that a DH, who comes to bat maybe four or five times in a game, is not deserving of an MVP but, to paraphrase Ortiz himself, no Gold Glover with a .230 average has ever done so, either.

As the American League Championship Series began, most baseball experts had the Oakland Athletics - even without the formidable Catfish Hunter - heavily favored to secure their fourth straight pennant and represent the AL in the 1975 Fall Classic. In nearly all respects, the defending World Series champions had a more potent offense, led by Reggie Jackson, and a better pitching staff, anchored by 22-game winner Vida Blue and closer Rollie Fingers, than the upstart Red Sox; in addition, Oakland had playoff experience while Boston had not enjoyed a taste of the post-season in eight years. The Sox did have the advantage, though, of playing the first two games of the five-game series at Fenway Park before the action would shift to Oakland for the final three; if they could enjoy the spoils of home cooking, there was a good chance to dethrone the defending title holders.

Game One featured two 18-game winners, Luis Tiant and Ken Holtzman, squaring off against each other. Right off the bat, the Red Sox sunk their teeth into the opposition; after two quick outs in the bottom of the first, the defense of the Athletics came unglued, allowing two runs on three straight errors. The score remained the same until the seventh, when the Sox batted through the order and pushed five runners across the plate on five hits and an error. On the other side, Tiant was nearly flawless; he didn’t yield a hit to the Athletics until the fifth, then allowed just a single unearned run as he pitched nine complete to give Boston a 7-1 victory and an early 1-0 lead in the series.

Determined not to go back to Oakland down two games to none, the Athletics jumped on Red Sox starter Reggie Cleveland as Reggie Jackson’s two-run home run with two outs in the first gave them an early 2-0 lead. With Blue on the mound, Boston could not crack the scoreboard over the first few innings; the only early threat came in the third but, with runners on first and third and just one out, Juan Beniquez grounded into a 6-4-3 double play to end the threat. The Athletics would post another run in the top of the fourth on consecutive doubles by Joe Rudi and Claudell Washington to give Blue what seemed like a comfortable cushion, but Carl Yastrzemski, playing left field for Boston with Rice out of action, stroked a two-run home run in the bottom of the frame to close the gap to a run. Having not yet recorded an out, Blue then gave up a double to Carlton Fisk and a single to Fred Lynn; just like that, the Oakland starter was gone from the game and inning would not end until Boston had tied the score at three runs apiece.

Given a reprieve, the Red Sox pitching staff kept the Athletics off the board for the rest of the contest, as Cleveland, Roger Moret, and Dick Drago allowed just four hits and a walk over the final five innings. Meanwhile, Boston would take the lead for the first time in the game in the sixth with a RBI single by Fisk to plate Yastrzemski and give the Sox a 4-3 lead. A Rico Petrocelli solo home run in the seventh and an run-scoring single by Lynn in the eighth added all the insurance Boston would need as they won the game 6-3, now needing just one win to take the pennant.

Back at Oakland-Alameda County Stadium, the Athletics knew that they were in a must-win situation and sent Holtzman back to the mound on just two days rest; Boston countered with Rick Wise, who had led the staff in wins that season with 19. Through the first three innings, the score remain knotted at zero as the Sox squandered an opportunity in the first and the A’s could only produce a harmless single in the bottom half of that frame. The Red Sox finally broke the deadlock with an unearned run in the top of the fourth, then exploded in the fifth with three more runs, all coming with two outs as Boston built a 4-0 lead and drove Holtzman from the game.

The Athletics finally broke a drought of ten straight innings in the series without a run when Sal Bando drove home pinch-hitter Cesar Tovar on a fielder’s choice in the sixth, but Boston responded with its fifth run of the day in the top of the eighth on an RBI single by Cecil Cooper to just about put the game out of reach. Though Oakland would force Wise from the game in the eighth after scoring two runs, one unearned, and had the tying run coming to the plate in Rudi, Boston closer Dick Drago squashed the rally by inducing a double play to secure the 5-3 lead. After that, he allowed just a harmless walk with two outs in the ninth and then induced a groundout to second by pinch-hitter Jim Holt that not only ended the game but clinched the AL pennant for the Red Sox and owner Tom Yawkey for just the third time since he had purchased the fabled club in 1933.

Curt Schilling - 38 - RHP
Week 23 - 05-11 September 2005

It’s been a rough year for the ace of last year’s championship staff, Curt Schilling. After finally recovering from ankle surgery that virtually kept him out of action until the All-Star break, he was asked to fill in as the team’s closer when he returned; while it wasn’t a rousing success, he did enough to keep his team saddled in first place during his tenure. Upon returning to the starting lineup in late August, Schilling was anything but dominant, going 0-2 in his first three starts and allowing 15 earned runs in 17-1/3 innings of work. However, when the need arose this past weekend for someone to step up to the plate against the Yankees, he responded in a big way.

After the Yankees had closed the gap to just three games with a win on Friday night over Matt Clement, Schilling took the hill at Yankee Stadium, having not worked there since his dominant performance in Game Six of the American League Championship Series last October as blood seeped through his sock. Apparently, the memory of that moment rekindled his fire as he suddenly reverted to form and pitched eight solid innings, allowing just two runs on five hits while walking only two and striking out six. In fact, he held the Yankees hitless through the first 3-1/3 innings until Jason Giambi broke the hex with a solo home run in the fourth. Only one other New York runner crossed the plate that day as he combined with Jonathan Papelbon to help Boston win, 9-2.

With 20 games left in the season and the Red Sox just three games in front of the Yankees, this race for the division title might come down to the final weekend of the season when New York visits Fenway Park for a three-game tilt; it should be interesting to see how many more times Schilling repeats that performance.

Charlie Finley’s Oakland Athletics had been a menace to American League teams for the better part of the early 1970s. After purchasing the club in 1961 and moving them from Kansas City to Oakland after the 1967 season, he finally had himself a winning club as the 1960s came to a close. After finishing second two years in a row, Finley hired former Red Sox manager Dick Williams to coach the club in 1971, and he responded by leading the A’s to 101 wins and a division title in his first season as manager. However, the next three seasons were much more fruitful; with players like starting pitchers Catfish Hunter, who won 20-plus games in each season, Vida Blue, and Ken Holtzman along with offensive threat Reggie Jackson, Oakland won seven-game World Series match-ups against the Cincinnati Reds and the New York Mets in 1972 and 1973, respectively, and easily cruised to a third straight title in 1974 under the guidance of manager Alvin Dark with a 4-1 series win over the Los Angeles Dodgers.

With the dawn of the 1975 season upon them, Finley and his club received some rather bad news when Hunter was declared a free agent by an arbitrator after the cantankerous owner, who had built his wealth through the sales of life insurance, failed to make contractually stipulated payments on behalf of the player into an insurance annuity fund. That left Hunter with the chance to bolt to New York, where owner George Steinbrenner paid a hefty sum to bring the reigning Cy Young award winner into his fold. Undaunted, the nucleus of the club, which also included Bert Campaneris, Gene Tenace, Rollie Fingers, and Sal Bando along with a host of other players that had made the team what it had been for the past number of seasons, remained intact. In addition, Finley traded for 37-year-old former Chicago Cubs star and future Hall of Fame inductee Dick Williams to add some pop in the designated hitter’s spot.

By the end of May, it appeared that Oakland’s only competition would come from manager Jack McKeon and Kansas City as the weak sisters of the division slowly treaded water at or below .500. In that respect, the latter half of June proved to be the turning point in the division and for the season. The Athletics won seven-of-eight against the Twins, taking four-of-five in Minnesota and then sweeping a three-game series at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, and took three-of-four at home against the Royals. After concluding the month with a three-game sweep against California, the Athletics had gone from just two games ahead two weeks earlier to 7-1/2 games in front of Kansas City on 29 June. By the All-Star break, Oakland was sitting pretty at 55-32, 8-1/2 games in front, and the club sent seven All-Stars to represent them in the mid-summer classic.

As had been the norm over the past few seasons, the club showed its strength in numbers. Blue would finish with 22 wins, Holtzman complemented his total with 18 of his own, and closer Rollie Fingers would save 24 games while also claiming 10 wins of his own. On offense, the 29-year-old Jackson hit just .253 but stroked 36 home runs to lead the AL in that category and drove in 104 RBI. Tenace chipped in with 29 home runs and 87 RBI, while Williams made the most of his new-found opportunity and hit 23 long balls while driving in 81 runs. Rudi not only finished with a .278 average, 21 home runs, and 75 RBI, but also won his second straight Gold Glove as an outfielder despite making 91 appearances at first and just 44 in the outfield as a left fielder.

From that point, the Athletics were in cruise control over the rest of the season, finishing seven games against of the Royals at 98-64 and winners of five straight division titles. Despite the loss of Hunter, it appeared to baseball analysts everywhere as though a shot at a fourth straight title, while not guaranteed, was not out of the question.

Kevin Millar - 15 - 1B/RF
Week 22 - 29 August - 04 September 2005

No one will ever confuse him for the greatest hitter that ever lived and Kevin Millar knows it; in fact, he considers himself lucky to be one of the 750 players holding roster spots in Major League Baseball. Still, perhaps what keeps him from getting pink-slipped is that he just tries so darn hard to keep the mood light and the atmosphere relaxed in the clubhouse, whether the team is enjoying a nice stretch or suffering through a losing streak. Although this season has not measured up to his first couple in Boston, the first baseman reminded fans last week that he still does have more to offer than a great smile.

After getting his first home run since early June the week before, Millar’s bat continued to sizzle this past week as he went 7-for-17 (.412) with two doubles, three home runs, five runs scored, and six RBI. Although he made just four starts as Francona shuffled the lineups to give John Olerud some playing time at first, Millar managed to make the most of his opportunities in front of the crowds at Fenway Park. On Wednesday, Millar stroked two home runs and pushed home three runs in a 7-6 win over the Devil Rays; then, on Saturday night against Baltimore, he hit a two-run home run to tie the game and then pushed an insurance run across the plate on a groundout in the next inning as the Red Sox held on for another 7-6 victory.

Millar is another player on the Red Sox whose contract expires after this season, paving the way for him to potentially become a free agent, and it will be interesting to see in Boston extends him an offer; he was almost the odd man out after last season when Boston had to choose between him and Doug Mientkiewicz. By all indications, the “Rally Karaoke Guy” would like to extend his stay here but, for now, he’ll concentrate on doing what he can to help his team make the playoffs for a third straight season.

Even with a six-game lead at the start of September, Boston knew that they had to pay close attention to second-place Baltimore, the defending East Division champions, who had gone on a tear in August and made up ground in the standings. Just one year earlier, the Red Sox had watched a big early September lead disappear in just a matter of days, so they knew that a strong finish would be necessary to make the playoffs for the first time since the “Impossible Dream” team surprised everyone outside of Boston in 1967. This year, however, was destined to be different; with a healthy Carlton Fisk behind the plate, a strong rotation that included Rick Wise, Luis Tiant, and Bill Lee, and two young phenoms in Fred Lynn and Jim Rice, Darrell Johnson’s team was ready to put the division title to bed.

After earning a split in a brief two-game series with New York, which had struggled since mid-season and cost manager Bill Virdon his job at the start of August, Boston flew to Baltimore to square off in another two-game series. Still six games in front of the Orioles, who had split a doubleheader against Cleveland the day before, the Red Sox looked to try and end the race early. Opening with Wise on the hill facing Baltimore 20-game winner Jim Palmer, Boston trailed 2-1 in the seventh before Rico Petrocelli brought Dwight Evans home from third with a one-out single to try the score. Then, in the top of the 10th, Cecil Cooper led off the inning with a home run off Palmer, and Wise finished off the Orioles for an inspiring 3-2 win. The next night, the rattled Orioles allowed two unearned runs in the first and Boston held on to win 3-1 and sweep the brief series.

With an eight-game lead, Boston felt secure that it could concentrate on getting to the post-season unscathed, so a split of a four-game series with Milwaukee did not unnerve the club. However, after dropping the final two games of the road trip in Cleveland, the Red Sox suddenly found themselves just five games ahead of the Orioles, who had lost just once in the past six games. Boston returned home to face Detroit and opening the series with a split of a doubleheader, with the Sox winning the opener; the team would then win the next day to take two-of-three and stay on pace with the Orioles. The Brewers came next and Boston opened that series with its third doubleheader in seven days, losing the first game but winning the nightcap. The Sox would take the next two while, in Detroit, Baltimore swept the Tigers to gain another half-game on Boston.

On 16 September, the two teams met for the final time that season and the stakes were high; Boston knew that it needed to take at least one game to remain comfortably perched in the East. Facing Palmer again, the Sox countered this time with Tiant, who was pitching not only in front of a packed house at Fenway Park but his parents, who had been granted permission by Cuban president Fidel Castro to see their son pitch in person. Tiant was near-perfect, yielding just five hits and one walk while striking out eight, and the Sox won 2-0 behind solo home runs by Petrocelli and Fisk. Though Boston would lose the second and final game of the series, with fewer than two weeks to go in the season, the Sox felt confident that, with a 4-1/2 game lead, they had the upper hand at that point.

Although there would be no swoon this season, it would not end without a bit of misfortune; playing in Detroit on 21 September, in his first at-bat of the game, Rice took a pitch thrown by pitcher Vern Ruhle off his hand. Though he stayed in the game, by the seventh inning it became necessary to make a substitution for him and Rice would not play again for his team that season. Still, Boston’s beloved nine won five-of-eight to end the season at 95-65, 4-1/2 games in front of Baltimore, for the club’s first-ever division title and, even better, a post-season berth.