A day-by-day look at the miraculous 1967 season.

August 30: One night after playing all 29 innings of an endless doubleheader, Carl Yastrzemski hit a solo home run in the 11th inning to give the Red Sox a 2-1 victory at Yankee Stadium.

Dick Williams gave Yastrzemski most of the night off, but with the game tied at 1 in the bottom of the eighth inning, Yaz went into left field in place of George Thomas. It had been Thomas who drove in the Red Sox' only run, on an RBI single in the fifth inning off Yankee starter Al Downing. With both teams' bullpens depleted, Downing was still on the mound in the 11th when Yastrzemski, mired in an 0-for-18 stretch at the plate, hit his 35th blast of the year.

John Wyatt, working his fourth inning of relief, allowed two Yankees to reach base in the bottom of the 11th before retiring Roy White to end the game and pick up his eighth win out of the bullpen. Jerry Stephenson had another solid start for Boston, lasting seven innings and giving up four hits and no walks.

For the Red Sox, there was good news happening outside of the Bronx, as well. The Detroit Tigers lost in Anaheim to the California Angels, 3-2, while the Baltimore Orioles beat the Minnesota Twins, 4-2, in Minneapolis. That left the Red Sox in first place by a game and a half over the Tigers and the Twins. Next, they would return to Fenway for four games against the fading Chicago White Sox. Box score

August 29: It was their fifth doubleheader in 10 days, and it's not like they made it a quick affair. After winning the first game, 2-1, over the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium, the Red Sox endured a 20-inning nightcap before finally falling, 4-3, on a Horace Clarke RBI single at 1:58 in the morning.

Boston had a great chance in the top of the 20th, loading the bases against Jim Bouton, who was working his fifth inning of relief. But Elston Howard grounded out to end the threat. In the bottom of the 20th, Darrell Brandon surrendered a one-out single to John Kennedy before hitting Bouton with a pitch. Dick Williams inserted Jose Santiago, the Sox' seventh pitcher of the game, but he would face just one batter, Clarke, who singled to right to bring home Kennedy. Earlier in the evening, the Red Sox had taken a 3-2 lead in the 11th inning, only to see Steve Whitaker tie it with a one-out home run off Sparky Lyle.

The first game was a pitchers' duel between Jim Lonborg and Mel Stottlemyre in front of 40,314 fans. Both pitchers went the full nine innings, but it was Lonborg who prevailed, running his record to 18-6 with a 2-1 victory. Lonborg gave up just three hits and struck out 11. He also drove in the decisive run, singling home Reggie Smith with two out in the seventh inning to make it 2-0. In the bottom half of the inning, Lonborg made his only mistake, yielding a solo home run to Tom Tresh. The Red Sox had manufactured their other run in the third thanks to an error, a sacrifice bunt, a wild pitch, and finally a suicide squeeze by Jose Tartabull to score Mike Andrews from third.

The Red Sox ended their lengthy day of baseball with a half-game lead in the American League standings, thanks to Minnesota's 4-3 loss to Baltimore. Game one box score, Game two box score

August 28: Strangely enough, the New York Yankees held Carl Yastrzemski night -- honoring the Red Sox star from Long Island -- before this night's game at Yankee Stadium. Massachusetts Governor John Volpe was among those on the field before the game to honor Yaz.

Red Sox manager Dick Williams said this about his star player: "The way he's played this year -- now this particular season I mean, I would put him in the class with Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle in their greatest seasons. He has done it all and done it well."

When the game started, Yastrzemski drove in the first run, with a sacrifice fly in the first inning -- and that proved to be all that the Red Sox would need. Boston posted a 3-0 shutout, with Dave Morehead and Sparky Lyle combining to shut out the Yanks. Lyle entered the game in the sixth inning with one out and the bases loaded. He struck out Steve Whitaker and Charlie Smith to end the threat, then threw three more shutout innings, surrendering only a hit and a walk.

Elston Howard drove in a run against his former team with an RBI single in the sixth inning, and Reggie Smith produced the final run by hitting his 13th home run of the season, in the eighth inning.

The Red Sox remained tied for first place with the Minnesota Twins, who beat Baltimore, 3-2. Box score

August 27: Bucky Brandon walked Rocky Colavito with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 11th inning, giving the White Sox a 1-0 win in the second game of a doubleheader.

Boston entered the day in first place for the first time in 18 years. In the first game, Carl Yastrzemski hit two solo home runs -- his 33rd and 34th of the season -- to lead the Red Sox to give the Red Sox a 4-1 lead. Gary Bell pitched out of a jam after giving up two unearned runs in the seventh inning (Mike Andrews was the defensive culprit). Then, in the ninth inning, with the score still 4-3, Ken Berry led off with a double off Bell. Sandy Alomar laid down a successful sacrifice bunt to get Berry to third, and manager Dick Williams replaced Bell with John Wyatt. Pinch-hitter Duane Josephson got a ball into the air in right field off Wyatt, and Berry tagged up, but Jose Tartabull threw him out at the plate -- Elston Howard leaping in the air to field the throw before slapping on the tag -- to end the game in dramatic fashion.

Unfortunately for Boston, the tables turned in the nightcap. Jose Santiago pitched a brilliant game for the Red Sox, giving up three hits and two walks in 9 2/3 shutout innings. But in the 10th, Santiago collided with catcher Mike Ryan as they both tried to field Berry's pop bunt, and Santiago had to leave the game after getting medical treatment on the field. Brandon closed out the 10th, but he walked four batters (one was intentional) to give the White Sox the game-winning run without the benefit of a hit.

Gary Peters, starting his second game in three days, pitched the full 11 innings for Chicago, giving up just four hits -- two by George Thomas. Boston ended the day locked in a virtual tie for first place, just a single percentage point behind Minnesota, which beat Cleveland. The White Sox were just one game back. Game one box score, Game two box score

August 26: The Red Sox took over first place in the American League for the first time, pounding out 13 hits on the way to a 6-2 win over the Chicago White Sox at Comiskey Park.

Jerry Stephenson and Darrell Brandon combined on a five-hitter, and the Red Sox chased White Sox starter Joel Horlen, who came into the game at 14-4, in the fifth inning.

The Boston win pushed the team ahead of both Chicago and Minnesota (which lost to Cleveland) and into first place with a 72-56 record. Box score

August 25: The Red Sox grabbed first place, then lost it, as they split a doubleheader with the Chicago White Sox. Chicago, which started the day in first place, ended it tied with Boston for second, a half-game behind the Minnesota Twins, who won in Cleveland.

In the opener, Jim Lonborg ran his record to 17-6 with a complete game effort as the Red Sox won, 7-1. Chicago picked up its only run in the bottom of the ninth. Boston got three in the first off White Sox ace Gary Peters, with Reggie Smith, Elston Howard and Rico Petrocelli hitting consecutive RBI singles. George Scott had four hits to lead a 16-hit attack for the Red Sox.

But the Boston bats went silent against Cisco Carlos in the nightcap. Carlos pitched 6.1 shutout innings, but Lee Stange nearly matched him for the Red Sox, giving up only one run in the fifth, on a solo home run by Ken Berry. Boston tied the score off relief pitcher Bob Locker in the eighth inning, when Smith singled home Jerry Adair. In the ninth inning, Chicago got a leadoff single from Ron Hansen off reliever John Wyatt. Sandy Alomar came in to run for Hansen, and Alomar went to second on a sacrifice bunt by J.C. Martin. Boston walked Smokey Burgess intentionally, but the move didn't work out, as Berry blasted a ball into the right-center field gap, scoring Alomar with the game-winning run.

Off the field, Boston was making news once agai, picking up first baseman Ken Harrelson, who had been released from Kansas City after feuding with owner Charlie Finley over the decision to fire manager Alvin Dark. Game one box score, Game two box score

August 24: Elston Howard hit a three-run home run in the seventh inning, the most important of three Red Sox homers on the night, as Boston beat the Washington Senators, 7-5, at Fenway Park.

Howard's shot came with the Red Sox clinging to a 3-2 lead, and it proved to be crucial, as Washington rallied for three runs in the top of the ninth inning before the final out was recorded.

The win, combined with a loss by the White Sox in New York, left those two teams in a virtual tie for first place as they prepared to play five games against each other in three days at Comiskey Park.

John Wyatt got the final two outs for the Red Sox in the ninth inning after reliever Darrell Brandon had allowed four straight one-out singles. Winning pitcher Dave Morehead struck out seven over 6.1 innings, and the Red Sox got home runs from Jerry Adair and Jim Landis in addition to Howard's blast.

The win was Boston's 10th in its last 12 games, and improved the team to 70-55; the White Sox finished the day 69-54. Box score

August 23: Some unlikely heroes led the way for the Washington Senators as they ended Boston's seven-game winning streak with a 3-2 win at Fenway Park.

Righ-hander Bob Priddy (2-5) threw his first complete game of the season; Ed Stroud hit his first major league home run (in the fifth inning, off Jose Santiago) to drive in two runs; and Paul Casanova, who had not hit a ball out of the infield in the last two games in which he played, hit the game-winning sacrifice fly in the ninth inning off Sparky Lyle.

Carl Yastrzesmki hit his 32nd home run of the season in the fourth inning to give Boston a 1-0 lead.

The loss dropped Boston to 69-55, one game behind the first-place White Sox, who beat the Yankees at Comiskey Park. Box score

August 22: The Red Sox won their sixth and seventh consecutive games, sweeping the Washington Senators, 2-1 and 5-3, in a doubleheader at Fenway Park.

In the first game, Jerry Stephenson and Phil Ortega each pitched six shutout innings before Boston finally broke through in the seventh, getting a pair of runs on a two-out triple by Dalton Jones. Washington got a run in the top of the eighth and then, facing reliever John Wyatt, loaded up the bases with no one out in the ninth. But Paul Casanova grounded into a double play, Jones throwing home to erase the lead runner at the plate, then Tim Cullen popped out harmlessly to first baseman Norm Siebern. For Stephenson, it was his first major-league win since June 4, 1966.

Washington got two runs in the first inning of the second game, but the combination of Gary Bell and Darrell Brandon mostly shut the Senators down the rest of the way, surrendering just two hits in the final eight innings. The Red Sox tied the game in the sixth inning on a Reggie Smith home run, followed by a Rico Petrocelli RBI single to drive in Jerry Adair. Boston then took the lead with three runs in the seventh, the big blow being George Scott's two-run single.

Also on this day, Boston signed 11-year veteran outfielder Jim Landis, who had recently been released by the Detroit Tigers. Landis, though not a feared hitter, was a five-time Gold Glover who figured to fortify the Red Sox defense down the stretch.

The Red Sox ended the day just one percentage point behind the first-place Chicago White Sox, who beat the Yankees at Comiskey Park. Game one box score, Game two box score

August 19: Harold Rich wrote: "The Boston Red Sox and the California Angels played a game decided by a one-run margin -- for the 11th time in 16 meetings this season. This one, though, was like none of the others. It was unlike most any other game that ever has been decided by a run."

In a game that lasted three hours and 35 minutes, and included 29 hits and six home runs, the Red Sox beat California, 12-11, despite nearly blowing a five-run lead in the ninth inning.

The Red Sox took the lead for good in the sixth inning, when Carl Yastrzemski hit a two-run home run to put Boston ahead, 7-6. In the seventh inning, the Red Sox added three runs on a bases-loaded triple by pinch-hitter Norm Siebern. The Angels closed the deficit to 10-7 in the eighth, thanks to a solo home run by Rick Reichert, but Boston added two more in the eighth. Elston Howard's sacrifice fly ended up plating two runners thanks to an error by Angels catcher Buck Rodgers.

Darrell Brandon, the fifth Red Sox pitcher of the game, nearly coughed it all up in the ninth. After a leadoff walk, Carl Yastrzemski misplayed John Werhas' single, allowing it to get past him and scoring Bob Knoop. Roger Repoz hit a two-run home run to make it 12-10. After Brandon struck out Jim Fregosi, Jim Hall slammed a homer to center to make it 12-11.

Rich wrote: "[Angels] manager Bill Rigney was getting optimisic. He rushed two starters, Curt Simmons and Jack Hamilton, out to the bullpen. A bit later, Jim Lonborg, the Sox' best pitcher, was seen rushing out of the dugout to the bullpen. You'd have thought it was the seventh game of the World Series. But that's the way it is these days in the frenetic American League race -- all out every game."

As it happened, Brandon was removed in favor of just-called-up rookie Jerry Stephenson, who fanned Don Mincher. California got two men on base before Rodgers grounded out to finally end it.

The Red Sox ended the day 64-54, in third place and three games behind first-place Minnesota. Box score

August 18: Tony Conigliaro was hit in the temple by a pitch from California Angels starter Jack Hamilton, a play that will live on forever in the memory of Red Sox fans, ending the All-Star right fielder's season and putting a serious damper on the Sox' 3-2 win at Fenway Park.

Conigliaro was taken off the field by stretcher to Sancta Maria Hospital, in Cambridge, but the severity of the injury was not yet evident. Journal writer Harold Rich, who devoted much of his game account to Gary Bell's strong pitching effort, noted that Conigliaro would be out at least three weeks.

Here's how Rich described the fourth-inning pitch in his August 18 story in the Journal: "The Sox had started the game's scoring with two runs in the fourth, though the inning had not begun well. George Scott led off with a single to center but was thrown out trying for a double. Reggie Smith lined out deep to center.

"Now, with Conigliaro at bat, Hamilton's first pitch struck the right fielder. The impact knocked Conigliaro's helmet from his head and he slumped to the ground."

The win left the Red Sox at 63-54, in fourth place and three games behind front-running Minnesota. Box score

August 17: Harold Rich wrote: "The Boston Red Sox erased a 4-0 deficit in their game with the Detroit Tigers, tying the score with three runs in the eighth and forcing the event beyond nine innings. It was just a lot of wasted effort, though."

The Tigers avoided a sweep at Fenway by scoring three runs in the top of the 10th off Sparky Lyle. They ended up with a 7-4 victory. Two of the runs were unearned as a result of a disastrous play involving third baseman Joe Foy. With the bases loaded, two out and the Tigers already on top, 5-4, Foy misplayed a ball hit by Jerry Lumpe, letting Norm Cash score from third. Foy then compounded the problems with a throwing error, which brought home Jim Northrup. The miscues were the 23rd and 24th errors of the season for the Red Sox' third baseman.

The Red Sox had tied the game at four by scoring three runs in the bottom of the eighth, helped by a Detroit error. But the potential game-winning run was erased at home plate when Al Kaline threw out Jerry Adair, who was trying to score from second on Jose Tartabull's single.

The Red Sox fell back to fourth place, at 62-54, three and a half games behind the first-place Twins. Box score

August 16: Harold Rich wrote: "George Scott must have done a lot of thinking while sitting out of the Boston Red Sox starting lineup recently for four games because of having been overweight. At any rate, the big first baseman has been booming them since his return to regular status."

Scott blasted a pair of two-run home runs as the Red Sox won their second straight, 8-3 over the Detroit Tigers. In so doing, they moved past the Tigers and into third place in the American League.

Sometime starter, sometime reliever Darrell Brandon went seven innings in relief of starter Lee Stange, who struggled, to get the win. Brandon (5-9) allowed just three hits and three walks and gave up no runs. Stange allowed the first two hitters to reach in the third inning (one of them, Dick Wert, came around to score later in the inning on an error by Joe Foy).

Scott put the Red Sox ahead to stay, 5-3, in the bottom of the third with his second homer. Both came against Denny McLain, who fell to 15-13 on the season.

The Red Sox ended their day 62-53, three games behind the first-place Twins. Box score

August 15: Harold Rich wrote: "Ah, so soothing -- the charm and the friendliness of Fenway Park. Having returned there after a painful road trip, the Boston Red Sox started to get well with a 4-0 victory over the Detroit Tigers."

A crowd of 27,125 watched Dave Morehead pick up his first big-league shutout since 1965. Morehead (2-2) gave up six hits and a walk while striking out eight.

Meanwhile, Reggie Smith and George Scott both connected for home runs in the first inning off Tigers starter Joe Sparma (12-5). Carl Yastrzemski added a home run in the eighth inning, his 28th of the season.

Tony Conigliaro helped Morehead along with a tumbling catch on a soft liner by Dick Wert, which ended a bases-loaded threat in the fifth inning.

The Red Sox climbed past the California Angels to fourth place, 61-53 and three games behind the league-leading Twins. Box score

August 14: The Red Sox returned home to Boston, as the next day's Journal headline read, "bent but unbroken."

After a 2-7 road trip, they looked forward to a lengthy 12-game homestand, beginning with three games against one of the teams they would have to pass in the standings, the Detroit Tigers.

August 13: Harold Rich wrote: "The organist here at Anaheim Stadium played 'Take Me Out to the Ball Game.' Very appropriate -- for everybody at the park except the Boston Red Sox. The Sox were singing a different tune, something called 'Take Me Back to Dear Old Boston.'"

The Red Sox concluded their worst road trip of the season with a 3-2 loss, resulting in a sweep at the hands of the Angels and a 2-7 trip overall. They finished the day in fifth place, after having been in second just three days before.

Boston was shut out until, with two outs in the ninth inning, Rico Petrocelli hit a two-run home run off California reliever Jim Weaver.

Jim Lonborg, who surrendered an inside-the-park home run in the first inning to leadoff hitter Jose Cardenal, took the loss to fall to 16-6 on the season. Lonborg lasted only four innings. Cardenal's homer came when Carl Yastrzemski just missed a tremendous catch, crashed into the fence and was shaken up.

The Red Sox fell to 60-53. In Minnesota, the Twins defeated the White Sox to take over first place; Boston was just two and a half games back, but now behind the Twins, the White Sox, the Tigers and the Angels. Box score

August 12: Harold Rich wrote: "Jim Fregosi's infield hit in the sixth inning gave the California Angels a 2-1 victory over the Boston Red Sox. The one-run margin was the eighth in 13 games the teams have played this season and was the Angels' second in a row."

The Red Sox' second straight loss on the West Coast dropped them to fourth place, behind Detroit and into a virtual tie with the Angels.

This time, Gary Bell played the role of unfortunate loser for the Red Sox, falling to 7-10 on the season despite pitching six solid innings. Jack Hamilton, who unbeknownst to him was less than a week away from a date with infamy, picked up the win for California, scattering six hits over six innings.

The fist-place White Sox lost again, so Boston remained just two games out of first place. Box score

August 11: Harold Rich wrote: "Jim McGlothlin, California Angels right-hander, pitched a three-hitter in beating the Boston Red Sox, 1-0. The Angels scored their run on a wild pitch by right-hander Lee Stange, the Sox starter, in the fifth inning."

For Stange, who fell to 7-8 despite an excellent 2.69 E.R.A., it was another hard-luck loss. He gave up only four hits and one walk in seven innings, but consecutive singles by Jim Hall and Don Mincher, followed by the wild pitch that scored Hall from third, turned out to be his undoing.

Boston did not lose any ground on Chicago, which also lost. The Red Sox ended the day 60-51, still two games back, but now in third place behind victorious Minnesota. Box score

August 10: The Red Sox had a day off as they traveled to Anaheim for a three-game series with another upstart club, the California Angels. The Angels entered the series in fifth place, but just two games behind the second-place Sox and four games out of first place. They were 59-53, on pace for a big improvement over their 80-82 season of a year ago.

August 9: Harold Rich wrote: "The Boston Red Sox, looking again like a club worthy of profound consideration in the American League pennant race, whipped the Kansas City Athletics, 5-1. The Sox thereby moved to within a game and a half of the league-leading Chicago White Sox, who lost last night to Detroit."

Jim Lonborg picked up the win in Kansas City, running his record to 16-5 as he went 7.2 innings, striking out seven. Jerry Adair, playing at second base in place of Mike Andrews, picked up three hits and three RBI to lead the Sox' offensive attack.

The win moved the Red Sox' record to 60-50. Minnesota lost to Washington, meaning the Sox had second place to themselves. Box score

August 8: Harold Rich wrote: "Norm Siebern hammered a bases-loaded double in a three-run ninth innning as the Boston Red Sox beat the Kansas City Athletics, 7-5, in the second game of a twi-night doubleheader. The Sox thereby ended a four-game slide."

Boston had fallen in the early game, 5-3, when a ninth-inning rally fell short. Jim Hunter limited the Red Sox' slumping bats to four hits for the first eight innings and retired the first two batters in the ninth inning before Carl Yastrzemski singled and Tony Conigliaro homered. George Scott followed with a single, but relief pitcher Jack Aker then entered the game and retired Rico Petrocelli.

Boston fell behind, 4-0, in the second game, as starter Gary Bell struggled. They cut the deficit to 4-3 entering the ninth, when Siebern, the outfielder and first baseman acquired earlier in the season in a trade with San Francisco, picked up his big hit off relief pitcher Bill Stafford.

Manager Dick Williams, trying to jump start his struggling team, switched around his lineup for the second game, putting Jerry Adair at third base for Joe Foy, moving Yastzemski to center field and putting Siebern in left, as Reggie Smith sat out. Williams also used seven pitchers in the game -- John Wyatt got the win while Bucky Brandon (usually a starter) picked up the save.

The Red Sox ended their day 59-50, two and a half games behind first-place Chicago and still tied for second with Minnesota. Game one box score, Game two box score

August 7: The Red Sox had the day off as they prepared to play three games in two days in Kansas City.

Although they had lost three straight and had gone 6-9 since their 10-game winning streak, the Red Sox were heartened that they had not lost too much ground on the up-and-down White Sox, who remained in first place.

One team that was increasingly on the radar screen was the Twins, particularly after they had beaten Boston six times in eight tries over a 10-day period, grabbing a share of second place in the process. Boston manager Dick Williams predicted on this day that the American League pennant race would come down to the final two games of the season, when Minnesota traveled to Fenway Park.

August 6: Harold Rich wrote: "When it rains, it pours. The Boston Red Sox will attest to that. Hoping to extricate themselves from a hitting slump, they had the misfortune of having the Minnesota Twins' Dean Chance throw a perfect no-hitter at them for five innings before a driving rain caused the game to be called in the bottom of the fifth."

The rain-shortened 2-0 loss to Minnesota completed a three-game sweep and left the Red Sox 5-30 at Metropolitan Stadium since 1964 (2-5 for the 1967 campaign).

The Twins scored both their runs off Jim Lonborg in the fourth inning. The first came on an RBI double by Bob Allison; the next hitter, Rich Rollins, singled home Allison. Lonborg fell to 15-5 on the season, while Chance improved to 14-8.

Manager Dick Williams held Joe Foy and George Scott out of the game, stating: "We're a little bit weary now." It showed.

With the loss, the Red Sox fell to 58-49, and found themselves in a second-place tie with the Twins. But they actually gained half a game on the first-place White Sox, who were swept by Baltimore in a doubleheader. Box score

August 5: Harold Rich wrote: "One run in 18 innings. It's hardly the kind of performance expected of a team with pennant aspirations."

And yet, that's where the Red Sox found themselves, after a 2-1 loss in Minnesota. A night after being shut out by Jim Merritt, Boston managed only one run off three hits against Twins starter Dave Boswell.

Rico Petrocelli hit a home run in the second inning to tie the score at 1-1, but Zoilo Versalles broke the tie for good with a solo shot of his own in the third.

Lee Stange took the loss despite seven strong innings. The loss ended a four-game winning streak for Stange.

With the loss, the Red Sox were 58-48, three games behind the first-place White Sox. Box score

August 4: Harold Rich wrote: "Jim Merritt, Minnesota left-hander, pitched a strong five-hitter in shutting out the Boston Red Sox, 3-0. The victory was his second over the Sox this week."

Merritt, who ended the day leading the American League with his 2.06 E.R.A., struck out six and did not walk a batter as the Red Sox got their nine-game road trip off to a shaky start.

Boston played poor defense, committing three errors and giving up two unearned runs. The miscues started in the first inning, when third baseman Joe Foy failed to handle a Cesar Tovar bunt. Tovar came around to score the Twins' second run when Boston starter Bucky Brandon (4-9) walked Ted Uhlander with the bases loaded.

In the seventh inning, second baseman Mike Andrews booted a ground ball by Zoilo Versalles, allowing Sandy Valdespino to come in from second base.

The Red Sox ended the day 58-47, two and a half games behind the White Sox, whose game was rained out. Box score

August 3: Harold Rich wrote: "As has been the case frequently in the last 10 days, the Boston Red Sox had to play catch-up because of the inadequacy of one of their starting pitchers. This was one of the times the Sox made it. Thanks principally to the first-year second baseman, Mike Andrews, the Sox defeated the Kansas City Athletics, 5-3."

Andrews' two-run single in the sixth inning put the Sox ahead to stay, 4-3. Later, in the eighth, Andrews hit a solo home run, his seventh homer of the season, to give his team some insurance.

The Red Sox collected 14 hits in all, led by Andrews' three.

Relief pitcher Dave Morehead picked up the victory, his first of the season, going five shutout innings after starter Bill Landis gave up three runs in two innings of work.

With the win, the Red Sox ended their 10-game homestand with a 6-4 mark.

In other news, the Red Sox announced the acquisition of Elston Howard, the veteran catcher, whom they picked up from the struggling Yankees in exchange for cash and two players, Pete Magrini and Ron Klimkowski. The 38-year-old Howard had been hitting just .198 with the Yankees.

"He'll see a lot of action," said manager Dick Williams. "With his knowledge and his experience of playing under pressure with a pennant-winning ball club, he'll be invaluable."

To make way for Howard, the Red Sox optioned outfielder Jose Tartabull to minor-league Pittsfield.

The Red Sox ended their day at 58-46, two games behind idle Chicago. Box score

August 2: Harold Rich wrote: "The last-place Kansas City Athletics got into the hair of the second-place Boston Red Sox again last night. After having gained a split of a doubleheader with the Sox Tuesday night, the Athletics rallied last night for two runs in each of the seventh and eighth innings and defeated the Sox, 8-6."

John Wyatt (5-5) had a tough night pitching in relief, giving up all four of the runs in the seventh and eighth. Kansas City went ahead when Ken Harrelson doubled to right-center, scoring two runs. Reggie Smith appeared to have the ball, but it popped out of his glove as he slammed into the fence.

Boston knocked Kansas City's starter, Jim Nash, out of the game in the third inning, after Mike Andrews' home run gave the Sox a 5-3 lead.

The Red Sox ended the day 57-46, and remained two and a half games behind the White Sox, who fell to Cleveland. Box score

August 1: Harold Rich wrote: "The Boston Red Sox fell behind early in each game of their twi-night doubleheader with the Kansas City Athletics. They fell short of victory in the opener but they pulled out the second game with four runs in each of the fifth and seventh innings for an 8-3 triumph before a crowd of 26,750."

In the opener of the doubleheader, at Fenway, Kansas City got all of its runs in the third inning, three of them on a bases-loaded triple by Bert Campaneris off of starter Dave Morehead, who had just been promoted from minor-league Toronto. The final score was 4-3; the Red Sox got all of their runs on Carl Yastrzemski's 27th home run, in the sixth off Chuck Dobson (7-6).

The nightcap was a different story, as Jim Lonborg picked up his 15th victory in 19 decisions, despite early trouble. Yastrzemski helped out by throwing out Rick Monday at home plate in the fourth inning.

Lonborg came out of the game after hitting Dan Cater in the head, forcing Cater to leave the game on a stretcher. Sparky Lyle pitched three and two-thirds no-hit innings to preserve the win, and backup catcher Mike Ryan provided some insurance with a three-run home run off reliever Jack Aker in the seventh inning.

The Red Sox ended the day 57-45, two and a half games behind first-place Chicago. Game one box score, Game two box score

July 31: Harold Rich wrote: "The Boston Red Sox sorely needed a stopper yesterday and Lee Stange filled the bill with remarkable efficiency. The right-hander pitched a perfect no-hitter for six and two-thirds innings and finished with a three-hitter while facing only 30 batters in throttling the Minnesota Twins, 4-0."

The win at Fenway Park ended a remarkable month for the Red Sox, and for Stange. The team finished the month 19-10, and Stange himself went 5-1 with a 1.70 E.R.A.

Carl Yastrzemski hit a three-run home run off Minnesota starter Dave Boswell in the third inning. It was Yaz's 26th home run.

The Red Sox ended the month 56-44, two games behind first-place Chicago. Box score

July 30: Harold Rich wrote: "Red Sox worshipers who have been investing their heroes with the qualities of Superman nearly were vindicated yesterday.

"Trailing Minnesota by 7-1 with two out in the ninth innning, the Sox scored four runs on six hits, then had the potential winning run at the plate before the Twins subdued them, 7-5, with a breath-taking circus catch on a pop-fly."

First baseman Rich Reese cinched the game for the Twins when he caught Carl Yastrzemski's pop-up even after colliding with third baseman Cesar Tovar. The force of the collision caused the ball to pop out of Reese's glove, but as Reese fell to the ground, he snared it out of the air.

Before Yaz made the final out, Boston had collected five consecutive two-out hits off relief pitchers Ron Kline and Al Worthington. First Reggie Smith singled Tony Conigliaro to second; then Russ Gibson hit a two-run double; Dalton Jones followed with an RBI single; Mike Andrews singled Jones to second; and Joe Foy hit a wall-ball single to score Jones.

Jim Roland was on the mound when the final out was recorded, ensuring a win for starter Jim Merritt (7-3).

The Red Sox fell to 55-44, two games behind idle Chicago. Box score

July 29: Harold Rich wrote: "The Minnesota Twins whacked five homers last night in drubbing the Boston Red Sox, 10-3, and salvaging a split of the twi-night doubleheader witnessed by a crowd of 35,469, largest at Fenway Park in 11 years.

"The Sox had won the first game, 6-3, with a four-run eighth inning."

In the opener, the Sox trailed, 3-2, heading into the bottom of the eighth. Minnesota manager manager Cal Ermer pulled starter Jim Perry after George Scott led off the inning with a single, and the Sox battered relievers Al Worthington for four more hits before Worthington came out of the game with two outs in the inning. Jerry Adair, Dalton Jones and Joy Foy all drove in runs in the decisive rally, which made a winner of John Wyatt (5-4).

In the second game, Gary Wasilewski lasted just an inning, giving up three runs, in his third consecutive short start. But the game remained close until the Twins scored five off Bill Landis in the fifth. Tony Oliva and Harmon Killebrew added back-to-back solo home runs for the Twins in the sixth off Dan Oslinski.

The Journal ran its game story over a Frank Lanning cartoon labeled, "Those Fabulous Red Sox...They're For Real." The cartoon featured large drawings of Lonborg, Triple Crown contender Yastrzemski and rookie manager Williams.

The Red Sox ended the day 55-43, a game and a half behind the White Sox. Game one box score, Game two box score

July 28: Harold Rich wrote: "The Minnesota Twins, who had scored only nine runs in their last six games, posted nearly that many in only one inning last night while whipping the Boston Red Sox, 9-2, in a game delayed an hour and 58 minutes because of rain."

The Red Sox had their ace on the mound, Jim Lonborg, but a disastrous fourth inning removed any chance of Boston winning its 13th game in 14 tries. Having surrendered Harmon Killebrew's solo home run in the first inning, Lonborg gave up four straight hits and a walk to start the fourth -- including a two-run triple by Cesar Tovar. After getting an out but then seeing the bases loaded on a bunt single by pitcher Dean Chance, Lonborg left the game in favor of Jose Santiago, who could not stop the Twins from totaling seven runs in the inning.

Chance (12-8) pitched a complete game for the Twins. Box score

The Red Sox fell to 54-42, but remained a game behind first-place Chicago.

July 27: Harold Rich wrote: "Red Sox lightning struck at Fenway Park again yesterday, straining the credibility of a standing-room assemblage of 34,193 witnesses."

The Red Sox erased a 5-2 deficit by scoring three runs in the ninth inning, then won it with a run in the 10th. Joe Foy cut the California lead to 5-4 with a two-run home run in the ninth off of starter Jim McGlothlin; two batters later, Tony Conigliaro tied it with a Monster shot off of reliever Bill Kelso.

In the 10th inning, the Red Sox kept the Angels off the board when Carl Yastrzemski threw out Don Mincher, who was trying to score from second on a single by Bob Rodgers (Mincher ran through a stop sign), at home plate to end the inning.

In the bottom of the inning, Reggie Smith led off with a triple off Kelso, the ball caroming wildly around the right-field wall. New pitcher Minnie Rojas retired Russ Gibson without allowing the run to score. Next up was pinch hitter Jerry Adair, who hit a routine grounder to third baseman Paul Schaal. But distracted perhaps by Smith, Schaal let the ball get past him, a game-deciding error.

Sparky Lyle picked up his first major league win. The Red Sox improved to 54-41 and moved a game behind first-place Chicago. Next up would be five games at home against the Minnesota Twins. Box score

July 26: A crowd of 32,403 watched as the Red Sox scored six runs in the seventh inning to key a 9-6 victory over the California Angels.

Carl Yastrzemski's three-run double in the seventh erased a 4-3 California lead and put the Fenway crowd in a frenzy. The following inning, the Sox got back-to-back home runs from Tony Conigliaro and George Scott.

As the excitement built around the Red Sox team, Boston welcomed Ted Williams to the dugout for a pregame tour (he described the club as "excellent"), and, more importantly, welcomed Rico Petrocelli back into the lineup for the first time in 13 days. Petrocelli had been nursing a wrist injury.

With the win, the Red Sox improved to 53-41, and moved a game and a half behind the White Sox. Box score

July 25: The streak finally ended, as the Red Sox fell to the California Angels, 6-4, at Fenway Park.

Boston's return from its triumphant road trip had already been tempered by rain that delayed the start of the game, but it was the Angels, who won their seventh straight, that really spoiled the party, scoring three runs in the first inning. They went on to collect 11 hits off six different Red Sox pitchers, as starter Gary Wasilewski (2-1) lasted only 2.1 innings.

The loss dropped the Red Sox to 52-41, two games behind first-place Chicago. Box score

July 24: The Red Sox had the day off as they prepared for a triumphant return to Fenway Park. But with the team on a 10-game winning streak and the city caught in pennant fever, Journal-Bulletin sports writer Harold Rich took stock of the situation, and saw reason for optimism in the Red Sox' remaining schedule.

"Counting the opener of a 12-game homestand (July 25) at Fenway Park, against third-place California, the Sox will play 41 games in Boston. Only 29 remaining games will be on the road."

July 23: The Red Sox ended their undefeated six-game road trip with a bang, sweeping a double header from the Cleveland Indians, 8-5 and 5-1, for their ninth and 10th consecutive wins.

Both Boston starters -- Jim Lonborg in the opener and Gary Bell in the second game -- went the distance, with Bell giving the more impressive outing by surrendering just five hits and no walks.

Tony Conigliaro hit a home run in each game, his 16th and 17th of the season; Carl Yastrzemski hit his 24th homer in the first game and added three hits in the second; and Joe Foy hit a grand slam off John O'Donoghue in the first game.

Conigliaro reached 100 home runs for his career.

Not to be outdone, the White Sox swept the Athletics in a double header to remain a half game out in first place. The Red Sox were now 52-40, and 11-1 since the All-Star break. Game one box score, Game two box score

July 22: Lee Stange pitched a three-hit shutout as the Red Sox won their eighth in a row, 4-0, over the Cleveland Indians at Cleveland Stadium.

Mike Andrews hit a home run on the second pitch of the game from Cleveland starter Steve Hargan (9-8). Carl Yastrzemski added another homer -- his 23rd -- in the eighth inning to cap the Boston scoring.

Stange, whom Cleveland traded to Boston during the 1966 season, retired the final 11 Indians batters. In pitching his second consecutive complete game, "Stinger" ran his scoreless innings streak to 13 and evened his record at 6-6.

With the White Sox losing in Kansas City, the Red Sox found themselves just a half game out of first place in the American League. Box score

July 21: Joe Foy hit a three-run home run in the third inning, Bucky Brandon hurled a complete game, and the Red Sox beat the home Cleveland Indians, 6-2, for their seventh straight triumph.

The win vaulted Boston ahead of the Twins for second place in the American League. Minnesota lost to California.

Brandon's shutout bid was foiled in the eighth inning, when Leon Wagner hit a two-run home run. But his effort was amore than enough for the hot Red Sox offense, which chased Cleveland starter Luis Tiant (7-5) after just three innings.

It was also a sad day for the Red Sox franchise, as Hall of Famer Jimmie Foxx died in Miami. He was 59.

Boston's latest triumph left the team at 49-40, still a game and a half behind the White Sox. Box score

July 20: The Red Sox were off to a good start as they tried to win their seventh straight game, but then the rain started, and it did not stop soon enough for the 2-0 Boston lead to hold up.

Reggie Smith's seventh home run of the year, in the second inning off Jim Hardin, was erased from the record books. With first-place Chicago and second-place Minnesota both off, the top of the standings in the American League remained unchanged.

July 19: The Red Sox' winning streak reached six as Boston beat Baltimore, 6-4, at Memorial Stadium.

Jose Santiago picked up the win pitching in relief of Gary Bell, who failed to get out of the fifth inning. Santiago ended a Baltimore rally in the fifth and stayed to pitch the rest of the game, giving up two runs on three hits in 4.2 innings while striking out six.

The Red Sox rallied for five runs in their half of the fifth inning, three of them on a home run by Mike Andrews off Baltimore starter Pete Richert. Tony Conigliaro and Joe Foy had three hits apiece for Boston.

With the win, the Red Sox were 48-40. The White Sox stumbled against the Angels, leaving Boston just a game and a half back. Box score

July 18: Jim Lonborg became the majors' winningest pitcher as the Red Sox beat the Orioles, 6-2, at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore, for their fifth straight victory.

Lonborg pitched a complete-game five hitter to run his record to 13-3. He pitched seven innings of shutout ball until Curt Motton hit a two-run home run for Baltimore.

Orioles starter Dave McNally, who shut out the Red Sox in Boston a week earlier, lasted less than two innings this time, giving up four runs on RBI hits by George Scott, Jerry Adair, Lonborg and Joe Foy.

With the win, the Red Sox were now 47-40, and just two and a half games behind first-place Chicago. Box score

July 17: The Red Sox concluded a terrific homestand with their fourth straight victory, a 7-1 rout of the Detroit Tigers. It was the Tigers' seventh straight loss.

"With a large assemblage of buffs" in the seats at Fenway -- 28,991, Boston pounded out 10 hits, including a Carl Yastrzemski home run and two doubles by Joe Foy.

Lee Stange pitched a complete game, running his record to 5-6 and easily outdoing Detroit starter Denny McLain (10-11).

With the win, the Red Sox were all alone in third place, and three and a half games behind the Chicago White Sox. They concluded their second-half-opening homestand at 5-1. Box score

July 16: The Red Sox jumped all over the Detroit Tigers at Fenway Park, winning by a 9-5 score and tying Detroit for third place in the American League.

After falling behind, 1-0, Boston got five in the third inning on a two-run single by Mike Andrews and a three-run home run by Tony Conigliaro. After four innings, the Red Sox had an 8-2 lead.

Carl Yastrzemski belted his 21st home run, and rookie Sparky Lyle picked up his first major league save, as Bucky Brandon won to improve his record to 3-7.

The win lifted the Red Sox to 45-40, four and a half behind first-place Chicago. Box score

July 15: Jose Santiago and Gary Bell, pitching in relief, shut down the Baltimore Orioles as the Red Sox won, 5-1, at Fenway Park.

Santiago entered the game in relief of rookie Gary Wasilewski, who faced two batters, walked them both, and was promptly pulled from the game by Dick Williams. Santiago proceeded to get the Red Sox out of that inning unscathed, thanks to a triple play. Baltimore's Paul Blair smashed the ball to the right of third baseman Joe Foy, who made the play, then threw to Mike Andrews to get Luis Aparicio at second. Andrews fired to George Scott at first to retire Russ Snyder.

Santiago picked up the win, pitching a total of six innings while giving up just four hits and one run. Bell, who had struggled in his recent starts, pitched the final three innings, giving up just one hit.

The Red Sox improved to 44-40, moving just four and a half games behind second-place Chicago. Meanwhile, the defending World Series champion Orioles fell to 40-46. Box score

July 14: The Red Sox offense returned in a big way as Boston beat the Baltimore Orioles, 11-5, in front of 27,787 fans at Fenway Park.

After scoring no more than four runs in eight straight games, Boston put five in the board in the first two innings off Orioles starter Mike Adamson. The big blow was Tony Conigliaro's two-run homer off the Green Monster in the first inning.

Carl Yastrzemski hit his 20th homer, a solo shot in the sixth, equaling his career high.

Jim Lonborg (12-3) picked up the win, going 6.2 innings.

With the win, the Red Sox were 43-40, five and a half games behind first-place Chicago. Box score

July 13: The Red Sox opened the second half of the season with a day-night double header at Fenway Park, and the results were decidedly mixed.

In the day game, Boston got three runs in the first inning off Tom Phoebus and held on for a 4-2 win. With the bases loaded and Rico Petrocelli at the plate, Phoebus threw a wild pitch, bringing Mike Andrews home from third. Petrocelli then singled home Carl Yastrzemski and George Scott. Joe Foy added a solo home run in the fifth inning.

Lee Stange (4-6), Sparky Lyle and John Wyatt combined to hold Baltimore to two runs on seven hits.

The second game was a very different story. Baltimore battered the suddenly struggling Gary Bell for six runs in four-plus innings en route to a 10-0 victory, as Dave McNally pitched a complete-game shutout.

A total of 42,282 fans came to Fenway between the two games, putting the team 188,055 ahead of its attendance pace from 1966.

With the double-header split, the Red Sox were 42-40, six games behind first-place Chicago. Game one box score, Game two box score

July 11: Three Red Sox players were in the starting lineup for the All-Star Game at Angel Stadium of Anaheim. Carl Yastrzemski went 3-for-4 in the game, with a double, two singles and a walk, but it wasn't enough, as the American League lost, 2-1, in a 15-inning marathon.

It is quite an indication of how much the All-Star Game has changed that Yastrzemski and Tony Conigliaro each played the entire game. Conigliaro had a rough day, going 0 for 6 and striking out twice (once Fergie Jenkins was the pitcher; the other time it was Bob Gibson). Rico Petrocelli, the starting shortstop, played three innings, flying out in his only at-bat. Pitcher Jim Lonborg never entered the game.

Cincinnati's Tony Perez won the game for the National League with a solo home run in the 15th inning off Catfish Hunter of Kansas City, who was working his fifth inning in relief. Box score

July 9: After the Red Sox were hammered in the first game of a double-header in Detroit, Jim Lonborg steadied the ship, pitching seven shutout innings to help Boston end its five-game losing streak and avoid falling back to .500 on the season.

Detroit ran its winning streak to seven games in the early game, knocking around Gary Bell for 5 runs on 2 2/3 innings on a hot, humid day at Tiger Stadium. For the second game in a row, Lenny Green sparked the Tiger attack, singling to start a four-run rally in the third inning and then doubling to key another four-run effort in the fourth. Earl Wilson had no trouble getting his 10th win of the season for the Tigers. The final was 10-4.

The second game, however, was all about Lonborg, who escaped a first-inning jam and then cruised the rest of the way, retiring the final 13 hitters he faced before being relieved by John Wyatt for the eighth and ninth innings. Lonborg gave up just three hits and didn't walk anyone. The Red Sox got all of their runs on home runs -- a two-run shot by Reggie Smith in the second inning and a solo blast by Carl Yastrzemski (his 19th) in the eighth. Final score: 3-0.

The Red Sox entered the All-Star break at 41-39, in fifth place, but only six games behind the first-place Chicago White Sox. That was quite an improvement over a year earlier, when the team was 37-52, last in the American League and 22 games behind the first-place Baltimore Orioles. Even so, it would have been hard for anyone to imagine what was in store for Boston fans when the All-Star break ended. Game one box score, Game two box score

July 8: The Tigers kept on rolling, winning their sixth straight game, and the Red Sox kept sliding, losing their fourth straight. The story of the game was Denny McLain; the Tigers pitcher held the Red Sox to four hits in a complete-game shutout to improve his record to 10-9.

Detroit left fielder Lenny Green drove in the first run of the game with an RBI single in the third inning off Boston starter Lee Stange (3-6). In the eighth inning, Green beat out an infield hit and then came around to score the second run on a Norm Cash single.

The Red Sox, tied for second just five days before, now fell into fifth place, with a record of 40-38, seven games behind the league-leading White Sox. Box score

July 7: Bill Freehan hit a game-winning RBI double off John Wyatt in the 11th inning as the Detroit Tigers beat the Red Sox, 5-4, in front of 27,213 fans at Tiger Stadium.

Carl Yastrzemski nearly saved the game with his throw home after he dug the ball out of the left-field corner, but Jim Northrup just beat the tag of catcher Russ Gibson to score the decisive run.

For the third straight game, the Red Sox lost despite mounting a ninth-inning rally. They entered the ninth trailing 4-1, managing only two hits to that point off of Detroit starter Joe Sparma.

Sparma got the first two outs of the inning with no trouble, but then Tony Conigliaro hit a solo home run to make it 4-2, and George Scott and Rico Petrocelli followed with consecutive singles to chase Sparma. Reliever Mike Marshall gave up an RBI single to Reggie Smith and the game-tying RBI double to pinch-hitter Jerry Adair. But Marshall got out of the innning and settled in after that, holding the Red Sox scoreless in the 10th and the 11th to earn the win.

Rookie starter Gary Wasleweski lasted only two innings for Boston, which got three innings of scoreless relief from Bill Landis.

The game put Detroit in sole possession of second place and dropped the Red Sox to 40-37, in fourth place and six games behind league-leading Chicago. Box score

July 6: The Red Sox had the day off as they prepared to take on the Tigers in Detroit.

July 5: The Red Sox came back to take the lead in the ninth, then lost the game on Don Mincher's two-run home run in the bottom of the inning, as California won, 4-3, at Angels Stadium of Anaheim.

Trailing 3-2 with two out and none on in the ninth, the Red Sox mounted a stunning rally off starter George Brunet, who had held them to three hits entering the innning. Jerry Adair scratched out an infield single, bringing to the plate George Thomas, who connected for his first home run of the season.

But Jose Santiago, who replaced Jim Lonborg to start the eighth inning, could not record an out in the ninth. Jim Fregosi led off with a single, and Mincher's 13th home run of the season, hit into the right-field bullpen, handed Boston its second straight defeat.

With the loss, Boston dropped to 40-36, five and a half games behind league-leading Chicago. The Red Sox now went to Detroit for a four-game series that would close out their 13-game road trip. Box score

July 4: California jumped on Red Sox starter Gary Bell early, getting three runs in the second and holding off a ninth-inning comeback to win, 4-3, in front of a big Independence Day crowd of 39,673 at Angels Stadium of Anaheim.

Bell walked the first two hitters of the second inning, then allowed Bob Rodgers' single to load the bases. Tom Satriano blooped a single to score two runs, and Rodgers eventually came home on a wild pitch.

Bell, in losing only his second start since joining the Red Sox, lasted just four and a third innings. A walk set up the Angels' final run in the fifth. Bucky Brandon and rookie pitcher Sparky Lyle, who pitched two innings in his major-league debut, shut out California for the final three innings.

The Red Sox trailed 4-1 heading into the ninth. With reliever Minnie Rojas working his second full inning (he replaced starter Rick Clark in the seventh), Jerry Adair led off with a single and advanced to third on Reggie Smith's double to right. Rojas struck out pinch-hitter Ken Poulson for the first out, then got Russ Gibson to ground out on a play that scored Adair and sent Smith to third. Smith came home on a single by Mike Andrews, but Joe Foy struck out to end the game.

The Red Sox fell to 40-35, slipping from a second-place tie to fourt, four and a half games behind first-place Chicago. Box score

July 3: The Red Sox won their fourth straight road game, riding three home runs to a 9-3 rout of the California Angels in front of 17,005 fans at Angels Stadium of Anaheim.

The Red Sox got home runs from Mike Andrews in the third inning, from Reggie Smith in the seventh and from Tony Conigliaro in the eighth. Conigliaro's was his 10th home run in 22 games, and his 12th of the season.

California starter Jack Hamilton (3-1) lasted only into the third inning, giving up three runs, two of them earned. For Boston, Lee Stange (3-5) went the distance, giving up seven hits and a walk while striking out two.

With the win, Boston was 40-34, tied for second place with Detroit and Minnesota and three and a half games behind Chicago, which lost to Baltimore. But the Red Sox were about to suffer a serious loss of momentum. Box score

July 2: Joe Foy's two-out, eighth-inning solo home run broke a 1-1 tie and gave the Boston Red Sox a three-game sweep of the Kansas City Athletics at Municipal Stadium.

Rookie starter Gary Waslewski pitched eight and a third innings to improve his record to 2-0. He gave up three hits and four walks before yielding to closer John Wyatt, who finished off the Athletics.

Kansas City starter Jim Hunter (8-6) also gave up three hits and four walks, but the Foy home run (his 11th), a line drive over the right-center field fence, proved decisive.

With the win, Boston was 39-34, now in a three-way tie for second place with Detroit and Minnesota (the Twins swept a double-header from Washington), and four and a half games behind the Chicago White Sox. Box score

July 1: The Red Sox moved into a second-place tie by hammering the Kansas City Athletics, 10-2, at Municipal Stadium.

Jim Lonborg, named an American League All-Star just before the game, ran his record to 10-3 by giving up five hits over seven innings. He added a two-run single in the sixth inning, a hit that followed three straight walks by losing pitcher Chuck Dobson (4-5) and broke open a close game. Earlier in the inning, Tony Conigliaro broke a 2-2 tie with a solo home run, his third homer in four games.

With the win, the Red Sox were 38-34, tied with Detroit for second and still five and a half behind the White Sox. Box score

June 30: On the same day that he was named to his first All-Star team, Tony Conigliaro hit a towering three-run home run in the sixth innning to lead Boston to a 5-3 victory over the Kansas City Athletics at Municipal Stadium.

Conigliaro broke a 1-1 tie with his home run off Kansas City starter Jim Nash (8-7), driving in Joe Foy and Carl Yastrzemski. George Scott also hit a solo home run for Boston; the home runs were the 10th for both Conigliaro and Scott.

Gary Bell was the winning pitcher, running his record to 5-1 since being acquired in a trade from Cleveland.

With the win, the Red Sox were 37-34, five and a half behind first-place Chicago. Box score

June 29: The Red Sox had the day off as they traveled to Kansas City for a series with the Athletics.

June 28: Cesar Tovar singled home the tie-breaking run in the seventh inning and Minnnesota pitcher Dave Boswell struck out 13 Red Sox batters while allowing only four hits, as the Twins beat Boston, 3-2, at Metropolitan Stadium.

Former Red Sox catcher Russ Nixon was a major thorn in Boston's side in this one. He singled home two runs in the fourth inning off starter Lee Stange. Then, after the Red Sox had tied it on solo home runs by Jerry Adair (his first) and Reggie Smith (his fourth), Nixon got the Twins started in the seventh by reaching on George Scott's second error of the game.

Nixon was erased on a fielder's choice hit by Ted Uhlaender, and after Boswell sacrificed Uhlaender to second, Tovar delivered the game-winner.

The Twins and the Red Sox once again found themselves tied for third, seven games behind first-place Chicago. Box score

June 27: Tony Conigliaro hit a two-run home run in the first inning, and rookie pitcher Gary Waslewski picked up his first major league win as the Red Sox beat the Minnesota Twins, 3-2, in front of 18,711 at Metropolitan Stadium.

Conigliaro's home run off Minnesota starter Dean Chance (10-6) was his ninth of the year.

Waslewski pitched six effective innings, surrendering a solo home run to Tony Oliva along the way. He got out of a jam in the sixth when he got Harmon Killebrew to bounce into a double play with two men on. John Wyatt pitched the final three innings, giving up one run and three hits.

Boston got a key insurance run in the seventh inning when Jerry Adair, Bob Tillman and Reggie Smith hit consecutive singles off Chance.

The win moved the Red Sox to 36-33, breaking a third-place tie with Minnesota and putting the Red Sox just a half-game behind second-place Detroit. They remained six behind first-place Chicago. Box score

June 26: Jim Lonborg was very good, but not good enough to pick up his 10th victory, as the Red Sox fell to the Minnesota Twins, 2-1 in front of 13,701 at Metropolitan Stadium.

Lonborg (9-3) struck out 10 over seven innings of work, giving up both Twins runs, six hits and four walks. At the end of the game, he lead the American League in strikeouts with 15.

But the Twins got a superior performance from Jim Kaat (5-8), who went 7.2 innings, surrendering six hits while striking out eight and not walking anyone.

The Red Sox scored their only run in the first inning, when George Scott singled home Mike Andrews, who had led off the game with a single and advanced to second on a groundout.

Minnesota picked up both of its runs in the fourth inning. Tony Oliva led off with a double, and after Bob Allison struck out, Zoilo Versalles singled home Oliva. Lonborg struck out Russ Nixon, but Ted Uhlaender followed with the key hit of the game, an opposite-field triple to plate Versalles.

Twins reliever Al Worthington pitched out of jams in the eighth and ninth innings to preserve the victory.

The result left both the Red Sox and the Twins at 35-33, tied for third and six games behind the first-place White Sox. Box score

June 25: According to Journal-Bulletin baseball writer Harold Rich, Red Sox pitcher Gary Bell was "oozing elation" after beating his old team, the Cleveland Indians, 8-3, in front of 23,719 fans at Fenway Park.

The Indians actually chased Bell by scoring three runs in the sixth inning, but those runs only cut the Boston lead to 5-3. Bob Tillman hit a solo home run off Indians starter Luis Tiant in the second, Carl Yastrzemski hit a two-run shot in the third and Joe Foy homered in the fifth.

Jose Santiago pitched 3 2/3 innings in relief of Bell, giving up three hits and no runs.

The win put Boston at 35-32 on the season, 5 games behind first-place Chicago. Box score

June 24: The Red Sox drew another big crowd to Fenway, but the fans left unhappy, as the Cleveland Indians won, 3-2, behind the pitching of Steve Hargan.

Hargan beat Boston for the second time of the season. Down 3-1 heading into the ninth inning, the Red Sox mounted a rally, with Mike Andrews doubling off the wall to lead off the inning, then scoring with two outs on Tony Conigliaro's two-out infield single. But Hargan got George Scott to ground out to end the game.

With the loss, in front of 30,027 fans, the Red Sox' record fell to 34-32, and their deficit grew to six games behind the Chicago White Sox. Box score

June 23: Lee Stange pitched a complete game and the Boston offense collected 13 hits as the Red Sox beat the Cleveland Indiands, 8-4, in front of 30,223 fans at Fenway Park.

But the win was tempered by an injury to Rico Petrocelli, who was hit in the right wrist by a pitch from reliever George Culver. X-rays showed no broken bones, but the Boston shortstop would go on to miss nearly two weeks of action.

Tony Conigliaro homered off Cleveland starter Sonny Siebert, who left the game in the second inning because of a dizzy spell. Joe Foy hit two triples in the game, collecting four hits overall and scoring three runs.

The win improved the Red Sox' record to 34-31 and left them five games behind first-place Chicago. Box score

June 22: The rain returned to the Bronx, and the Red Sox and the Yankees had to postpone a game that had been scheduled as a makeup for another rainout.

It was the second time in a week that pitcher Bill Landis, who had appeared in seven games as a reliever, was bumped from his first scheduled start.

The Red Sox now returned home for a three-game weekend series against the Cleveland Indians.

June 21: The Boston Red Sox hammered the New York Yankees for the second straight night in a game that featured a bench-clearing free-for-all between the teams.

The Red Sox ended the suspense pretty quickly, scoring four runs in the first on an RBI single by Carl Yastrzemski and a three-run home run by Tony Conigliaro.

In the second inning, Yankee starter Thad Tillotson grazed Joe Foy, who had hit a grand slam the day before, in the head with a pitch. In the bottom of the inning, Jim Lonborg retaliated, hitting Tillotson in the back. Both benches and bullpens cleared, and players exchanged punches and shoves. New York's Joe Pepitone had to leave the game with a wrist injury after getting into a wrestling match with George Scott. Later in the game, Yankee manager Ralph Houk was ejected, Tillotson threw at Lonborg but missed, and pinch-hitter Dick Howser had to leave the game after being nailed in the head by another Lonborg pitch.

On the field, it was a rout: the Sox had an 8-0 lead after four innings, and they cruised to an 8-1 victory, with Lonborg picking up the victory to go to 9-2.

The Red Sox improved to 33-31, but they actually lost half a game in the standings. Chicago swept a double header from Washington, and Boston was six games back, tied with Cleveland for third place. Box score

On the same day, back in Boston, Tom Yawkey appeared with local business and political leaders, threatening to move the team out of Boston unless a replacement for Fenway Park was built. Actually, he said it was not a threat, but a statement of fact. "I am losing money with the Red Sox," he said, "and no one -- unless he's a damn fool -- likes to lose money."

June 20: Joe Foy hit a grand-slam home run, his ninth homer of the year, in the fifth inning off Mel Stottlemyre, highlighting a 7-1 Red Sox win in front of a Yankee Stadium crowd of 8,739.

Gary Bell continued to pitch well for the Red Sox, going the distance and giving up five hits to raise his record to 3-1 since joining Boston. Bell took a shutout into the ninth inning, but Joe Pepitone broke it up with a home run to lead off the inning.

The win improved Boston's record to 32-31, leaving them five and a half games behind first-place Chicago. Box score

June 19: The Red Sox and the Yankees were rained out of the scheduled opener of their series in the Bronx, but manager Dick Williams got the attention of some by shuffling his lineup. Williams moved Mike Andrews into the leadoff spot and dropped former leadoff man Reggie Smith (batting .187) to the eighth position. Joe Foy moved into the second spot in the order, and catcher Russ Gibson (batting .232) was replaced by Bob Tillman, who had not started since May 12. In that game, Tillman had accidentally hit pitcher John Wyatt in the head while throwing to try to catch a base stealer.

June 18: The Red Sox tied it with a ninth inning rally, then lost the game in the 10th inning, wrapping up a disappointing series in Washington with a 3-2 loss to the Senators.

Washington starter Phil Ortega held Boston scoreless for eight innings, but he ran into trouble trying to close out a 2-0 victory in the ninth. Mike Andrews led off the inning with a single, and Carl Yastrzemski followed by pounding his 16th home run of the season over the right-field fence. Tie game.

The Red Sox could not get anything going in the 10th. Reliever Jose Santiago, who got Boston out of a bases-loaded situation in the ninth, got himself in trouble in the bottom of the 10th by walking leadoff hitter Bob Saverine. Ed Stroud's sacrifice bunt got Saverine to second. Santiago intentionally walked Fred Valentine to set up a double play, but he ended up striking out the next hitter, Cap Peterson. Dick Williams called on Dennis Bennett to face left-handed hitting Mike Epstein, but the move backfired, as Hank Allen entered the game as a pinch-hitter and promptly struck the game-winning single to left field.

The loss dropped Boston to 31-31, six and a half games behind first-place Chicago. Box score

June 17: Jim Lonborg recovered from consecutive subpar starts to spin a beauty, leading the Red Sox to a 5-1 win over the Washington Senators in front of a paltry crowd of 3,944 at RFK Stadium.

Lonborg (8-2) pitched a complete game, giving up just five hits and two walks while striking out six. He also drove in a run with a fourth-inning single that brought in Joe Foy.

Tony Conigliaro got the Red Sox' offense started with a solo home run, his sixth, in the second inning off Washington starter Barry Moore (3-4). Carl Yastrzemski made it 3-0 with a two-run double in the third inning.

The win put Boston back over .500 at 31-30, five games behind first-place Chicago. Box score

June 16: On the day after a spirited win, the Red Sox crashed back to earth, getting swept by the last-place Washington Senators in a double-header at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium.

The Red Sox wasted a third straight strong start by Gary Bell in the opener, losing 1-0. The Senators got all the offense in the game in the third inning, when Bob Priddy laid down a successful suicide squeeze to score Ken McMullen, who had doubled and advanced to third on a fielder's choice. Priddy, a relief pitcher pressed into action for a rare start, shut down the Red Sox on seven hits over seven scoreless innings to pick up his first victory of the season.

In the second game, the Senators scored all four of their runs in the ninth inning to take a 4-3 victory. The Red Sox used four pitchers in the inning -- starter Bucky Brandon and relievers Dennis Bennett, John Wyatt and Jose Santiago -- yet they recorded only one out. Wyatt ended up taking the loss. The game really unravelled on a throwing error by Joe Foy -- his 12th error of the season -- which scored the tying run and set up the game-winning play, a ground ball to first base by pinch-hitter Paul Casanova that brought in McMullen.

The Red Sox ended the day back at .500 -- at 30-30 -- and five games behind first-place Chicago. Game one box score, Game two box score

June 15: Tony Conigliaro hit a two-out, two-run home run in the 11th inning to beat the Chicago White Sox, 2-1, in front of 16,775 fans at Fenway Park.

Neither team could score a run in the usual nine innings. Boston rookie Gary Waslewski pitched nine innings of six-hit ball in just his second big league appearance. Meanwhile, the Red Sox got just eight hits over nine innings against starter Bruce Howard and reliever Hoyt Wilhelm.

The White Sox finally got on the board in the 11th against John Wyatt, who had entered the game in the 10th to stop a two-on, no-out rally. Walt Williams led off the inning with a double, and came around to score on Ken Berry's two-out single.

Struggling Chicago reliever John Buzhardt had retired the Red Sox in order in the 10th. He began the 11th by getting Carl Yastrzemski to fly out to right, and George Scott to line out to first. But Joe Foy kept the inning going with a single, setting the stage for Tony C's heroics.

The win lifted the Red Sox to 30-28, and left them four games behind the first-place White Sox. Box score

June 14: Red Sox' bats came alive, but they were only good enough to take one of two in a double-header against the Chicago White Sox at Fenway Park.

The White Sox had 16 hits in the first game, but it was a heroic save by Wilbur Wood that sealed an 8-7 victory. Wood entered the game in the ninth inning, with the bases loaded and two out, after Bob Locker walked Mike Andrews to bring in a run and make the score 8-6. Wood walked Carl Yastrzemski, scoring George Thomas. But he recovered, striking out George Scott to end the game.

Dennis Bennett (4-3) took the loss for Boston, giving up six earned runs in three-plus innings. Scott and Rico Petrocelli hit home runs.

In the nightcap, Scott and Yastrzemski both homered, and the Red Sox got 15 hits as they won, 6-1. They iced the game with a four-run seventh inning, which included Yaz's solo shot and a two-run triple from pinch hitter Reggie Smith.

Lee Stange (1-4) got his first win, going seven strong innings.

The attendance at Fenway was 22,178. The double-header split left the Red Sox at 29-28, five games behind the White Sox, who remained in first place. Game one box score, Game two box score

June 13: The New York Yankees got 12 hits -- 10 of them singles -- off Red Sox ace Jim Lonborg, enough to grab a 5-3 win in front of 17,190 fans at Fenway Park.

The struggling Yankees, who entered the game 25-29, came in needing some offense to complement their pitching, as manager Ralph Houk pointed out before the game: "Our pitching has been good. And our defense has improved. If we start hitting, we'll be alright."

It was the Red Sox who started the hitting, with Joe Foy and Tony Conigliaro connecting for back-to-back solo home runs in the second inning off Fred Talbot (3-2). But the Yankees got to Lonborg (7-2) in the fourth and fifth innings, scoring two runs in each frame. They did it without the benefit of an extra-base hit: The important blows were RBI singles by Tom Tresh and Steve Whitaker; and sacrifice flies by Charlie Smith and Elston Howard. Tresh actually got two hits in the game to end an 0-for-27 drought.

Tresh made it a 5-2 game with an RBI double in the seventh inning, which scored Joe Pepitone, who had also doubled.

The Red Sox managed a run in the eighth on an RBI single by George Scott.

The loss dropped Boston's record to 28-27 and left them five games behind first-place Chicago, the team that was about to come to Fenway for a three-game series. Box score

June 12: In his second start for the Red Sox, Gary Bell picked up his second complete-game victory, scattering seven hits and striking out eight as the Red Sox beat the New York Yankees, 3-1, in front of 18,939 fans at Fenway Park.

Bell got all the offensive support he would need when Russ Gibson hit a two-run home run over the Monster in the second inning off Yankee starter Joe Verbanic (2-1).

It was the fourth straight loss for the Yanks. The Red Sox improved their record to 28-26, four and a half games behind first-place Chicago. Box score

June 11: The Red Sox fell behind in both ends of a double-header with the Washington Senators; they came back to win the first game, but their rally in the second one fell short.

Trailing 3-0 in the first game, Boston got two in the sixth, one in the seventh and one in the eighth to earn a 4-3 win. Jose Santiago (4-2) picked up his second victory of the weekend series by pitching three scoreless innings in relief of Bucky Brandon. Tony Conigliaro had the decisive hit, a line drive double that went off the arm of reliever Dave Baldwin (0-1) and scored Joe Foy from third base.

Rookie Gary Waslewski made his pitching debut for the Red Sox in the second game. He gave up three unearned runs in the first inning, thanks to fielding errors by Rico Petrocelli and Foy. The Red Sox erased the early deficit, tying it at 4-4 on Carl Yastrzemski's fifth-inning RBI double. The Senators responded with four runs in the sixth off reliever Dan Osinski (2-1). George Scott made the Fenway crowd cheer by blasting a three-run, two-out home run in the ninth inning, but Washington reliever Bob Priddy entered the game and got Petrocelli to ground out to end the game.

The double-header split left the Red Sox at 27-26, five games behind the first-place White Sox. Game one box score, Game two box score

June 10: One day after failing to come through in a key situation in the ninth inning, Frank Howard buried the Boston Red Sox with two home runs as the Washington Senators won, 7-3, in front of 15,634 at Fenway Park.

The 6 foot 7 inch Howard hit a two-run shot over the Green Monster off Lee Stange (0-4) in the first inning, then added a solo homer onto Lansdowne Street in the ninth inning -- a shot that Journal Bulletin baseball writer Harold Rich estimated at 480 feet.

The Red Sox scored three times in the first two innings off Washington starter Camilo Pascual (6-3), but they got nothing after that, as the Senators' bats kept cracking.

Rich wrote: "Stange was treated with the abandon a team normally reserves for batting-practice throwers." Stange gave up six runs on nine hits in five-plus innings.

The loss dropped the Red Sox to 26-25, four and a half behind first-place Detroit. Box score

June 9: Carl Yastrzemski and Joe Fopy hit two home runs each as the Red Sox outslugged the Washington Senators, 8-7, in front of 25,326 fans on Cap Night at Fenway Park.

The big crowd saw Jim Lonborg and the Red Sox fall behind, 6-2, heading into the bottom of the fifth. But the Red Sox tied it that inning with four runs, with Foy, Yaz and Reggie Smith all homering in the frame off of Washington starter Barry Moore.

Yaz added his 14th home run in the seventh inning, and Foy hit his seventh in the eighth.

But Washington, trailing 8-6 heading into its final at-bat, mounted a rally off Jose Santiago (3-2). Santiago hit leadoff batter Jim King, and Bob Saverine and Fred Valentine followed with consecutive singles, King scoring on the Valentine hit.

John Wyatt entered the game with runners on first and third and no one out. He got slugger Frank Howard and Cap Peterson on consecutive strikeouts, then recorded the final out on a fly ball to left by Mike Epstein.

The win improved the Red Sox' record to 26-24, four and a half games behind first-place Detroit. Box score

June 8: Gary Bell, making his first start for the Red Sox, pitched a complete game to win the second game of a double-header, 7-3, after the Red Sox had dropped the first game, 5-2, to the Chicago White Sox.

The Red Sox on June 4 traded Tony Horton and Don Demeter to Cleveland to acquire Bell, a 10th-year veteran, who had started out with a 1-5 record. But Bell got a ton of offensive support in his Boston debut.

Carl Yastrzemski belted his 12th home run, a solo shot in the sixth inning, but it was a five-run second inning that erased an early 2-0 deficit and put the Red Sox on the path to victory. The damage all came off Chicago starter Bruce Howard (1-4), who gave up RBI singles to Russ Gibson, Bell and Yastrzemski, and a two-run double to Joe Foy.

In the first game, Joe Horlen pitched a complete-game six-hitter for the White Sox to run his record to 7-0. Yastrzemski touched him for an RBI double, and Foy added a solo home run, his fifth of the season.

Dennis Bennett took the loss for the Red Sox to fall to 4-2. Gerry McNertny hit a solo home run, his first of the season, off Bennett in the second to give the White Sox a 2-1 lead, and Ken Berry's third home run, a two-run shot in the seventh, made it 5-2.

The double-header split left the Red Sox at 25-24, five and a half games behind first-place Detroit. Game one box score, Game two box score

June 7: It didn't start out well for the Red Sox in Chicago, but then the rains came and gave the team a reprieve. The White Sox took a 2-0 lead against Jim Lonborg in the first inning, on singles by Don Buford and Ken Berry. But umpires called the game, and the second game of the scheduled double-header, after a 49-minute rain delay that began during the third inning.

June 6: Red Sox pitchers lost control of the situation in the seventh inning, surrenduring two runs on just one hit, as the White Sox won, 5-3, in front of 10,463 at Comiskey Park.

Boston scored three early runs off Chicago starter Jim O'Toole, but the Red Sox' Bucky Brandon (2-6) could not hold the lead. With the game tied at 3 entering the bottom of the seventh inning, Brandon walked J.C. Martin and hit Wayne Causey. Jose Santiago entered in relief and got two outs on a fielder's choice and a strikeout, but Tommie Agee made sure he didn't escape the inning; his two-run single ended up being the decisive blow.

Relief pitcher Hoyt Wilhelm (3-1) picked up the win for Chicago.

The loss dropped the Red Sox to 24-23, six games behind first-place Detroit. Box score

June 5: The Red Sox had the day off as they prepared to head to Chicago for a three-game series with the second-place White Sox.

June 4: Cleveland Indians starter Steve Hargan pitched a complete-game shutout, leading the Indians to a 3-0 win over the Red Sox in front of 27,395 at Cleveland Stadium.

Lee Stange, making his first start of the year for the Red Sox, gave up just two runs on seven hits over seven innings, but took the loss to go to 0-3. He gave up a solo home run to Leon Wagner in the fourth inning.

Carl Yastrzemski and George Scott each had two of the Red Sox' five hits off Hargan (7-4). The loss dropped the Red Sox to 24-22, four games behind first place Detroit. Box score

June 3: On the day that Tony Conigliaro returned to the Boston lineup, the Red Sox jumped out in front early and cruised to a 6-2 win over the Cleveland Indians in front of 5,816 at Cleveland Stadium.

Dennis Bennett (6-2) pitched six innings for the victory.

The Red Sox were led offensively by George Scott, who had two hits, two runs scored and two RBI. He got the Red Sox' scoring started with a solo home run in the second inning off Cleveland starter Gary Bell (1-5). The Red Sox added one more in the second and three in the third to take a 5-0 lead and chase Bell.

The win improved the Red Sox' record to 24-21, 3 1/2 games behind first-place Detroit. Box score

June 2: Jim Lonborg won his fifth straight start, pitching a complete game as the Red Sox beat the Cleveland Indians, 2-1, in front of 8,809 at Cleveland Stadium.

Lonborg (7-1) struck out seven, walked two and gave up three hits.

Meanwhile, the Red Sox got all the offense they would need in the sixth inning, on Carl Yastrzemski's two-run home run (his 11th) off hard-luck loser Sonny Siebert (4-4).

The win moved the Red Sox to 23-21, 4 1/2 games behind first-place Detroit. Box score

June 1: Pitcher Dean Chance shut out the Red Sox on five hits as the Minnesota Twins won, 4-0, in front of 12,233 at Fenway Park.

Chance, a right-hander in his first season with the Twins, struck out 10 batters in running his record to 9-2 on the season. He easily outpitched Red Sox rookie Bill Rohr (2-3), who gave up three runs in five innings. Rohr surrendered solo homers to Russ Nixon in the third and Bob Allison in the fourth.

The loss dropped the Red Sox to 22-21, four and a half games between the first-place White Sox and Tigers. Box score

May 31: Bucky Brandon gave up just two unearned runs in 7.1 innings, striking out nine, as the Red Sox defeated the Minnesota Twins, 3-2, in a thrilling game witnessed by 12,335 at Fenway Park.

The Red Sox took a 3-0 lead into the eighth inning, on solo home runs by Carl Yastrzemski in the fourth and sixth innings (his ninth and 10th of the season), both off Jim Perry (0-3), and a successful suicide squeeze by Mike Ryan to score George Scott in the sixth.

But Brandon (2-5), who allowed just two hits through the first seven innings, gave up back-to-back singles to open the inning. An error by shortstop Rico Petrocelli loaded the bases, and although Brandon struck out Rod Carew, he walked Zoilo Versalles to let in a run.

John Wyatt, sent in to replace Brandon, gave up a sacrifice fly to Harmon Killebrew, then made the play of the game by picking Cesar Tovar off second base.

The win improved the Red Sox' record to 22-20, four and a half games behind first-place Detroit. Box score

May 30: The Red Sox made a triumphant homecoming by sweeping the California Angels in a double-header, 5-4 and 6-1, in front of 32,012, the largest crowd at Fenway Park in five years.

The big crowd saw the Sox come back from a 4-0 deficit in the first game. Tony Horton's RBI double in the eighth inning finally put Boston ahead after the team had scored four runs to tie the game in the sixth. That sixth-inning rally was helped along by some sloppy play from the last-place Angels, including a bases-loaded walk by reliever Pete Cimino and a fielding error by another relief pitcher, Bill Kelso, which brought in two more runs.

Starter Jose Santiago struggled for Boston in the first game, but Don Osinski (2-0) picked up the win in relief by pitching two scoreless innings.

In the second game, left-hander Dennis Bennett (3-1) dominated the Angels, pitching a complete-game five-hitter. Rico Petrocelli led the Sox' offensive attack with three hits, all singles, two runs scored and two RBI.

The wins put the Sox back over .500 at 21-20, five and a half games behind the new American League leaders, the Detroit Tigers, who themselves swept the Chicago White Sox in a double-header. Game one box score, Game two box score

May 29: The Red Sox had a day off before returning home to play a double-header against the California Angels.

May 28: Jim Lonborg and Reggie Smith were the heroes as the Boston Red Sox beat the Baltimore Orioles for the first time in five tries. The final was 4-3, in front of 14,071 at Memorial Stadium.

Lonborg (6-1), who entered the game with a 17-inning scoreless streak, gave up two runs in the first inning, as Frank Robinson hit a two-run home run, his third blast of the series. But the Boston ace didn't give up anything else until the eighth, when he left with the bases loaded, two out and a 4-2 lead.

Reliever John Wyatt let one run in on a wild pitch, but got out of the jam by striking out Larry Haney.

Meanwhile, Smith scored three runs on three hits -- a double and two singles -- as the Red Sox plated a run in the the first, fourth, fifth and seventh innings. Rico Petrocelli hit his sixth home run of the season in the fourth.

With the win, the Red Sox improved to 19-20, six games behind the first-place White Sox. Box score

May 27: Frank Robinson hit a pair of two-run home runs as the Baltimore Orioles battered the error-prone Red Sox, 10-0, in front of 26,488 fans at Memorial Stadium.

Baltimore plated seven runs in the fifth inning, helped along by three Red Sox errors. Dick Williams used three pitchers in the inning -- starter Darrell Brandon (1-5) and relievers Hank Fischer and Bill Landis -- but no one could do much to stop the bleeding.

Rookie Tom Phoebus (3-1) pitched the complete-game shutout for the Orioles.

The loss left the Red Sox at 18-20, tied for sixth place and seven games behind the first-place Chicago White Sox. Box score

May 26: Seasons change, and yet the Boston Red Sox still can't beat the Baltimore Orioles. At least that's the way it must have felt on this day for Sox fans, as Boston fell, 4-3, in front of 13,786 fans at Memorial Stadium.

It was the Orioles' third win in three tries against the 1967 Red Sox. Dave Johnson hit a bases-loaded single to cap a decisive three-run fourth inning, which put Baltimore ahead 4-0. The Red Sox responded with three in the top of the fifth, chasing starter Dave McNally, but relief pitcher Moe Drabowsky (3-0) no-hit the Red Sox over 4.2 innings to pick up the victory.

Bill Rohr (2-2) gave up all four Oriole runs and failed to pitch out of the fourth inning.

The loss dropped the Red Sox back under .500, at 18-19. Box score

May 25: Jim Northup hit a grand-slam home run in the fifth inning to break open a close game, as the Detroit Tigers beat the Red Sox, 9-3, in front of 8,782 fans at Tiger Stadium.

All told, Detroit got six runs in the fifth off of starter Jose Santiago (2-2) and reliever Lee Stange. Former Red Sox Earl Wilson (6-3) pitched a complete game for Detroit.

The loss dropped the Sox back to .500, at 18-18, on the season, five and a half behind the first-place White Sox. The next stop for the Red Sox would be Baltimore. Box score

May 24: Jim Lonborg pitched a complete game, four-hit shutout and Dalton Jones' solo home run off Denny McLain (4-5) was all the offense he needed as the Red Sox beat the Tigers, 1-0, in front of 9,890 in Detroit.

The only thing that threatened Lonborg (5-1) on this day was his occasional (and recurring) control problems. In the seventh inning, he allowed Detroit to load the bases with one out on two walks and a hit batter, but he got out of the inning on a fielder's choice and a popup.

In the eighth, Al Kaline led off with a double and advanced to third on an infield out, but Lonborg rebounded to strike out Jim Northup and Norm Cash. In all, he had 11 strikeouts.

The win, Boston's fourth straight over Detroit, put the Red Sox over .500 at 18-17. It also moved them into third place, five games behind the first-place White Sox. Box score

May 23: Rico Petrocelli and Carl Yastrzemski both homered, leading the Red Sox to a 5-2 win in front of 7,570 fans at Tiger Stadium.

Starting pitcher Dennis Bennett (2-1) went 7.1 innings to get the win. He gave up both Detroit runs, one of them on an eighth-inning solo homer by Al Kaline. John Wyatt shut the Tigers out for the final inning and two thirds to pick up his second save.

The Red Sox broke a 1-1 tie in the fifth inning by scoring a pair of runs on a throwing error by starting pitcher Mickey Lolich (5-3) and an RBI single by Reggie Smith. Yaz's two-run shot in the eighth off George "Moose" Korince made it a 5-1 game.

The win improved Boston's record to an even 17-17, five games behind the first-place White Sox. Box score

May 22: The Red Sox had a day off before heading into Detroit for a series against the first-place Tigers. It would be Dennis Bennett (1-1) going for Boston in the series opener against Mickey Lolich (5-2).

May 21: Facing two tough starting pitchers, the Red Sox nevertheless swept a double-header from the Cleveland Indians, 4-3 and 6-2, in front of 24,976 at Fenway Park.

In the first game, Boston trailed 3-0 in the eighth inning, but they suddenly exploded off starter Sonny Siebert. Carl Yastrzemski hit a two-run triple into the triangle in center field to narrow the deficit to one run, then George Scott muscled a home run into the seats behind the Boston bullpen to give the Red Sox the lead. Red Sox rookie Bill Rohr improved after three rocky starts, giving up three runs (only one earned) in 7.1 innings. John Wyatt got the win in relief.

In the second game, the Red Sox beat hard-throwing Sam McDowell after stopping an early Indians rally. McDowell helped himself with a two-run home run to give the Indians a 2-1 lead in the third, and the Indians had a runner at second when Chuck Hinton singled off Bucky Brandon. But Yaz threw out Lee Maye at home plate with a terrific throw, thwarting the uprising.

Yaz was big at the plate, as well, collecting two hits, two RBIs and two runs scored. Brandon ended up pitching a complete game and getting his first win of the season, putting him at 1-4.

The two wins put Boston at 16-17 on the season, five and a half games behind Chicago and Detroit. Game one box score, Game two box score

May 20: Cleveland's Chuck Hinton hit a two-run home run onto Lansdowne Street in the 10th inning, sending the Red Sox to a 5-3 defeat in front of 8,994 fans at Fenway Park.

The Red Sox forced extra innings with a three-run rally in the seventh inning, the runs coming on a two-run double by Dalton Jones and an RBI single by Rico Petrocelli.

But the Red Sox were stifled from then on by relief pitcher Steve Bailey, and Don McMahon gave up the game-winner to Hinton in the 10th. Cleveland starter Luis Tiant struck out nine and walked eight in 6.1 innings.

The loss dropped the Red Sox to 14-17, seven games behind first-place Chicago. Box score

May 19: Pinch-hitter Tony Horton hit an RBI single in the ninth inning to lift the Red Sox to a 3-2 victory over the Cleveland Indians in front of 15,354 fans at Fenway Park.

Jim Lonborg pitched his third complete game of the season, striking out 12 batters and giving up just four hits, including a two-run home run to Cleveland's Leon Wagner.

The Sox trailed, 2-1, heading into the ninth, having scored only on Joe Foy's seventh-inning homer. Dick Williams, in his trademark way, shuffled the deck, putting in Jose Tartabull to pinch hit for catcher Mike Ryan to lead off the inning. Tartabull beat out an infield single, and advanced to second on Dalton Jones' sacrifice. Reggie Smith followed with a triple to center field, scoring Tartabull to tie the game.

Enter Horton, to hit for second baseman Mike Andrews. Cleveland, meanwhile, lifted starter Gary Bell in favor of reliever Orlando Pena. After his base hit, Horton was "pummeled by his elated teammates," reported Journal-Bulletin sports writer Harold Rich.

The win improved Boston's record to 14-16, seven games behind first-place Chicago. Box score

May 18: The Red Sox, losers of five of seven games so far on a lengthy early-season home stand, had the day off, as they prepared to host the Cleveland Indians for a four-game weekend series.

May 17: The Baltimore Orioles hit seven home runs, including four in the seventh inning, on the way to a 12-8 victory in front of 8,714 at Fenway Park.

The home run barrage left Baltimore one short of a 28-year-old major league record, set by the New York Yankees.

The Red Sox jumped all over Baltimore starter Jim Palmer, who was coming off a complete-game one-hitter, for three runs in the first inning, all of them coming on Don Demeter's home run. Palmer left after the first, relieved by rookie Bill Dillman, who was good enough over five innins to get the win.

Boston had a 6-3 lead entering the seventh, but then the Orioles' bats really got going. Andy Etchebarren hit a game-tying three-run homer off of reliever Galen Cisco, and pinch hitter Sam Bowens hit Cisco's very next pitch over the Green Monster. Cisco gave up a double to Mark Belanger before Dick Williams replaced him with rookie Bill Landis.

Landis got two outs before giving up a double to Frank Robinson, a walk to Brooks Robinson, and then a home run to Boog Powell. Dave Johnson wrapped up the pummeling by launching a Landis pitch out to center field; the ball bounced off the empty seats and back onto the field.

The Orioles picked up their first three home runs off Boston starter Dennis Bennett; they were hit by Paul Blair, Brooks Robinson and Frank Robinson.

The loss left Boston at 13-16, seven games behind first-place Chicago. Box score

May 16: Paul Blair's three-run, eighth-inning home run off reliever John Wyatt put the Baltimore Orioles ahead to stay, as the Orioles won, 8-5, in front of 9,510 fans at Fenway Park.

It was the second consecutive shaky outing for Wyatt, who did not give up a run in his first nine outings. On this night and in his previous appearance, he gave up a total of 10 runs in 4.2 innings.

Starter Bucky Brandon gave up four runs on just three hits over three innings, walking four along the way. George Scott hit two triples and Carl Yastrzemski added a solo home run to pace the Red Sox' offense. Yaz's homer, in the seventh inning, broke a 4-4 tie.

The loss dropped Boston's record to 13-15, six games behind first-place Chicago. Box score

May 15: The Red Sox were scheduled to open a series at home against the Baltimore Orioles, but the game was postponed by rain. It would be Tom Phoebus facing Bucky Brandon in the series opener.

May 14: Just when the Red Sox seemed in danger of falling into oblivion in the American League, they rose up to score 21 runs in sweeping a double header against the first-place Detroit Tigers at Fenway Park.

The two games broke a 62-year-old league record for extra-base hits in a double header. The teams combined for 28 of them, beginning with a leadoff home run in the first game by Detroit's Dick McAuliffe. That was one of 12 home runs on the day, six by each team.

Harold Rich, the Journal-Bulletin's baseball writer, said the games would "provide conversation pieces for years to come" for those 16,436 who came to Fenway.

George Scott was the hero of Boston's 8-5 win in the first game, breaking a 3-3 tie in the fifth inning with a bases-loaded triple off Denny McLain, then made a fine defensive play to produce a double play with the bases loaded.

In the second game, the Red Sox bombed Detroit starter Mickey Lolich, who failed to get out of the second inning. Rico Petrocelli led the attack with two home runs, his first two of the season. The final was 13-9, as Boston starter Jose Santiago hung around long enough (thanks to fine bases-loaded defensive play by Scott) to get the win.

The wins moved Boston from a last-place tie into a tie for third, with a 13-14 record, six games out of first. Detroit lost first place to the Chicago White Sox. Game one box score, Game two box score

May 13: The Detroit Tigers erupted for six runs in the top of the ninth inning, then held off a Boston rally in the bottom of the ninth to win, 10-8, at Fenway Park.

The Red Sox had a 5-4 lead entering the ninth inning, and their most dependable reliever, John Wyatt, on the mound. But Detroit took a 7-5 lead on Bill Freehan's three-run home run. Then, the previous day's starting pitcher, Earl Wilson, hit a two-run pinch home run to increase the lead to 9-5. The Tigers added an additional run when Al Kaline doubled home Dick McAuliffe.

The Red Sox tried to respond in the ninth. Tony Conigliaro hit a two-run triple to make it 10-7 with two out. Rico Petrocelli followed with a double to score Conigliaro. But Dave Wickersham finally got Don Demeter to ground out to end the game.

As Journal-Bulletin writer Harold Rich wrote the next day, some Red Sox fans were upset at manager Dick Williams' decision to leave Wyatt in for the entire ninth inning. "I have only once chance" to make the right decision, Williams responded. "And you have two."

The loss dropped the Red Sox to 11-14, tied for last place in the American League and six and a half behind Detroit. Box score

May 12: The Red Sox' ninth-inning rally fell short as Boston fell to the first-place Detroit Tigers, 5-4, at Fenway Park.

The Sox trailed, 5-2, heading into the ninth inning. After Tony Conigliaro hit an infield single and Rico Petrocelli walked, the Tigers pulled starter Earl Wilson, the former Boston right-hander, and inserted reliever Fred Gladding. He promptly walked Dalton Jones, who was pinch-hitting for Mike Andrews, to load the bases with nobody out. Tony Horton entered the game as another Boston pinch-hitter, for Bob Tillman, and he grounded into a fielder's choice, scoring Conigliaro and leaving runners at first and second.

Dick Williams used his third straight pinch-hitter, Don Demeter, to hit for pitcher John Wyatt. Demeter singled home Petrocelli, and Horton advanced to third. With the Red Sox within one run of tying the game, leadoff hitter Jose Tartabull lined out to shortstop. Gladding then got Joe Foy to ground out to end the game.

The loss dropped Boston to 11-13, five and a half games behind the first-place Tigers. Box score

May 11: Tony Conigliaro, the 22-year-old fourth-year right fielder, joined an Army active reserve unit under a Defense Department order. He was scheduled to go on active duty from May 19 until June 3, which would mean 15 games missed.

According to the AP, Conigliaro enlisted in the Army Reserve in 1965, and after six months' active duty was assigned to an inactive control group in St. Louis. When the Defense Department directed that all reservists join an active group or face active duty in the Army, Conigliaro found himself faced with an ultimatum to report to the 412th Engineer Co. in Lynn, Mass.

Conigliaro, who was batting .292 with two home runs, would be available for the coming home stretch against Detroit.

May 10: Rookie Rick Monday burned the Red Sox for three hits, including a home run, and three RBIs as the Athletics won, 7-4, in Kansas City.

Monday's two-run single in the fourth inning erased a 3-1 Boston lead, and his seventh-inning single began a Kansas City rally that wiped out a 4-3 Red Sox advantage. The 21-year-old center fielder then homered in the eighth inning as Kansas City iced the game with two runs.

Boston pitcher Billy Rohr had his third consecutive poor start, giving up three runs on four hits and a walk in 2 2/3 innings. But the loss went to Lee Stange, who gave up two runs, one unearned, in 3 2/3 innings of relief.

Kansas City reliever Paul Lindblad threw three no-hit innings to get the win.

The loss dropped Boston to 11-12, four and a half games behind first-place Detroit, as the Red Sox prepared to host the Tigers for four games at Fenway. Box score

May 9: Carl Yastrzemski came up big, hitting a three-run double with two out in the ninth inning to cap a five-run rally and lead Boston to a 5-2 victory over the Kansas City Athletics in the second game of a double-header in Kansas City. The A's won the first game, 4-3.

The Red Sox faced the possibility of a double-header sweep as they entered the ninth inning of the second game trailing 2-0. But the Red Sox tied it on Tony Conigliaro's walk, singles by Rico Petrocelli and Bob Tillman, and consecutive walks to Jose Tartabull and Joy Foy, which forced home the tying run. Relief pitcher Jack Aker was finally pulled from the game and replaced by Bob Duliba, who got the count to 2 and 2 before Yastrzemski's big hit.

In the first game, Boston fell behind 3-0 after a shaky start by Jim Lonborg. Conigliaro hit a three-run home run to tie the score at 3 in the seventh inning, but the A's picked up a run in the eighth off Boston reliever Don McMahon, who walked three straight batters and the go-ahead run.

The double-header split left Boston at 11-11 on the season, three and a half games behind first-place Detroit. Game 1 box score, game 2 box score.

May 8: The Sox had the day off, but they got bad news when they learned that outfielder George Thomas had a broken bone in his left hand, and would have to miss close to a month. The veteran Thomas had started only five games of the young season, serving mostly as a pinch-hitter. He was hurt while trying to make a diving catch on a ball hit to the outfield by Minnesota's Ron Clark. The Red Sox remained at 10-10, three games behind first-place Detroit, with a series coming up in Kansas City.

May 7: Rico Petrocelli went from goat to hero, singling in the go-ahead run in his fourth at-bat after striking out his first three plate appearances, and the Red Sox snapped their four-game skid with a 9-6 victory over Minnesota.

Dan Osinski, who relieved the ineffective Boston starter Dennis Bennett and gave up just a run in five innings, picked up the win. The Red Sox broke out of their offensive funk with a 14-hit attack, paced by Mike Andrews and Jose Tartabull, who had 3 hits each.

The win evened Boston's record at 10-10 and left them three games behind first-place Detroit. Box score

May 6: The Minnesota Twins sent the suddenly reeling Sox to their fourth straight loss, 4-2. Minnesota starter Dean Chance pitched a five-hitter for his fourth consecutive win.

Bucky Brandon took the loss for Boston to go to 0-3. The Red Sox saw their record drop to 9-10, three games behind Detroit and Chicago. Box score

May 5: Bill Rohr had a subpar outing again, lasting only two innings and giving up four runs on six hits, as the Red Sox fell to the Twins in Minnesota, 5-2.

Minnesota third baseman Ron Clark hit his first (of only five, as it turned out) major league home run, a two-run shot, and shortstop Zoilo Versalles was 4 for 4 for the Twins. The Red Sox managed only two runs in the ninth inning off of the Twins' Jim "Mudcat" Grant.

The loss dropped the Red Sox back to .500, 9-9 on the season and two games behind league leaders Detroit and Chicago. Box score

May 4: The Red Sox had the day off, as did the entire American League. The next stop for Boston was Minneapolis, for a three-game series against the Twins.

Journal-Bulletin baseball writer Harold Rich, reflecting on the state of the Sox' pitching staff, wrote an article for this day's paper under the headline "Sox pitchers have quit being cute." Rich wrote that, after early control problems, the Boston hurlers had begun challenging hitters, with impressive results. The team E.R.A. was 2.77 -- after being a league-worst 3.92 in 1966 -- and Red Sox pitchers had thrown 6 complete games through 17 contests.

Rich had particular praise for Dennis Bennett, who after three starts was 1-1 with 2 complete games and a 1.96 E.R.A.: "Bennett, especially, has been a boon to the Sox stafff. The left-hander, acquired from the Philadelphia Phillies in the Dick Stuart trade in November 1964, may this season justify the faith the Sox have had in him."

May 3: Jim Lonborg pitched eight innings of one-hit, shutout ball, but this day's game in California ended in disaster for the Red Sox. The Angels scored two runs in the bottom of the ninth inning, including the go-ahead run on a wild pitch with two out, and the Red Sox fell, 2-1.

The Red Sox took a 1-0 lead in the fifth inning on a home run by Mike Andrews off California starter Nick Willhite. But they didn't manage much more offense, failing to score insurance runs in the seventh inning despite putting their first two men on.

Lonborg, who did not give up a hit until Jim Fregosi singled in the seventh, brought a 17-inning scoreless streak into the ninth. He got the first out in the ninth, but then Fregosi singled again, and the Angels followed with consecutive singles by Jay Johnstone and Rick Reichardt.

With the score tied at 1 and Johnstone at third, Lonborg intentionally walked Jimmie Hall, then got Don Wallace to foul out. But with light-hitting catcher Buck Rodgers batting, Lonborg bounced a pitch off the plate. It got by Boston catcher Russ Gibson, and Johnstone came home with the game-winning run.

The loss dropped Boston to 9-8 on the season, a game behind Detroit and Chicago. Box score

May 2: The Red Sox managed only three hits against 23-year-old California Angels right-hander Jim McGlothlin as Boston fell, 3-2, in Anaheim.

McGlothin, who had won just 3 times in 17 prior starts, actually had a perfect game going until the seventh inning, when Mike Andrews walked with one out. Carl Yastrzemski followed with a double to break up the no-hit bid, and Tony Conigliaro's single to score Andrews prevented a shutout.

Boston starter Hank Fischer gave up all three California runs in five innings to fall to 1-2 on the season. He surrendered a solo home run to Jim Fregosi, an RBI double to Jimmy Hall and an RBI single by McGlothlin.

With the loss, the Red Sox fell to 9-7, a full game behind first-place Detroit. Box score

May 1: Dennis Bennett pitched a complete-game six-hitter for his first victory and hit a three-run home run to lead Boston to a 4-0 victory over the California Angels in Anaheim.

George Scott added a solo homer; all the Boston runs came in the fourth inning off Angels starter Jorge Rubio.

With the win, Boston improved to 9-6 on the season, a half-game behind first-place Detroit. Box score

April 30: Jim Nash pitched a complete-game, five-hit shutout as the Kansas City Athletics beat Bucky Brandon and the Red Sox, 1-0 at Fenway Park.

But the story in the Journal the following day was about the crowd at Fenway Park. Drawn partly by a "bat day" promotion, 31,450 poured into Fenway -- the largest crowd at the park in more than seven years. Until this Sunday, the Red Sox had been averaging 11,788 fans for the first seven home games. The big crowd saw Brandon pitch a gem, going eight innings and surrendering just five hits while striking out seven. Like Lonborg two days before, he did not surrender a walk, despite earlier control problems. The only dent on Brandon's day came in the second inning, when A's third baseman Don Cater hit a solo home run to left.

The loss dropped the Red Sox to 8-6, a game behind first-place Detroit. Box score

April 29: Jose Tartabull's pinch-hit, bases-loaded single in the 15th inning scored two runs and handed the Red Sox a wild 11-10 win over Kansas City at Fenway Park. It was the club's fourth straight win.

Bill Rohr, making his third start, was unspectacular this time, giving up five runs in three innings. All of them came in the third, when weak-hitting Kansas City second baseman Dick Green slugged a grand-slam home run. But the Red Sox responded with six runs in the bottom of the inning.

After Kansas City tied the game at 9 in the top of the seventh inning, the high-scoring offensive attacks petered out, and neither team scored for seven innings. In the top of the 15th, Kansas City rookie Rick Monday hit a solo home run off Don McMahon, which set the stage for Tartabull's heroics in the bottom of the inning.

With the win, the Red Sox moved to 8-5 on the season and tied with the Yankees for first in the American League. Box score

April 28: Jim Lonborg pitched his best game of the young season, striking out 13 and going the distance for a five-hit shutout as the Red Sox beat the Kansas City A's, 3-0, at Fenway Park.

Lonborg didn't walk a batter, correcting something he had struggled with earlier in April. Meanwhile, the Red Sox handed Kansas City starter -- and future Hall of Famer -- Jim Hunter his first loss of the season despite Hunter's striking out 10 over six innings.

The win moved the Red Sox to 7-5 on the season, a half-game behind first-place Baltimore. Box score

April 27: The Red Sox had the night off as they prepared to host the Kansas City A's for a series at Fenway Park. In the meantime, Journal-Bulletin baseball writer Harold Rich reported, pitching coach Sal Maglie was disappointed in the poor control shown by some of his starters.

Maglie singled out Jim Lonborg and Darrell Brandon, according to Rich. At this point in the season, Brandon had thrown four wild pitches while walking 13 in 16.2 innings pitched. Lonborg had not been quite as wild, having walked 9, also in 16.2 innings.

April 26: Rain wiped out most of the American League schedule, including the finale of the Red Sox' series in Washington.

April 25: Reggie Smith, Mike Andrews and Tony Conigliaro all homered as the Red Sox cruised to another victory over the Washington Senators, 9-3, at RFK Stadium.

Smith homered to lead off the game against Washington pitcher Pete Richert, and Andrews' second-inning shot was the first of his career.

Hank Fischer pitched a complete game to pick up his first victory for the Red Sox. He allowed three runs on five hits, three walks and five strikeouts.

The win moved the Red Sox to 6-5 on the season, a half-game out of first place, which was shared by New York, Baltimore and Detroit. Box score

April 24: A bases-loaded error by Washington Senators first-baseman Ken Harrelson proved the difference as the Red Sox won, 7-4, in front of 2,235 fans at RFK Stadium.

With the score tied at 4, the count full and two out, Boston's Mike Andrews grounded the ball to first base. It bounced off Harrelson's chest and continued down the right-field foul line. The Boston base runners -- Carl Yastrzemski, Rico Petrocelli and Jose Tartabull -- were running on the play and all came around to score.

Petrocelli went 2 for 3 with his second home run of the season, two RBI, and three runs scored, while also committing an error. At game's end, he was leading the American League with a .410 batting average. Relief pitcher John Wyatt pitched three scoreless innings to get the win while Washington's Dick Lines took the loss.

The Red Sox improved to 5-5 with the win, a game behind the first-place California Angels. Box score

April 23: Elston Howard ended New York's long misery, and helped prevent a sweep at Fenway Park. Howard's pinch-hit double in the fifth inning off Jose Santiago ended a streak of 68 innings without an extra-base hit by Yankee batters. It also highlighted a five-run inning that lifted the Yankees to a 7-5 win in front of 18,041.

The Red Sox jumped out to a 5-1 lead after three innings by beating up on Yankee starter Jim Bouton and reliever Fritz Peterson. Carl Yastrzemski continued to burn New York pitching by hitting his second home run of the season, a two-run shot, in the first inning off Bouton. But Al Downing got the win for the Yankees with six shutout innings, giving up just one hit and striking out seven. Santiago, pitching in relief of starter Darrell Brandon, took the loss to go to 1-1 on the year.

The loss dropped Boston to 4-5 on the season, a game and a half behind first-polace California. The Yankees, despite their offensive ineptitude, remained just a half-game out, at 5-4. Box score

April 22: Here's Harold Rich's lead in the April 23, 1967, Providence Journal: "BOSTON - A thorough search of Carl Yastrzemski's family tree has disclosed that the Boston Red Sox outfielder has no kin currently employed by the New York Yankees. There is growing evidence, though, that some genealogist has made an error of omission; that Carl does, indeed, have cousins on the Yankee pitching staff."

On Saturday, April 22, Yastrzemski went 3 for 3 with a home run and two singles to lead the Red Sox to a 5-4 victory over New York in front of just 8,189 fans at Fenway Park. The game raised Yastrzemski's batting average in five games against New York to .571 -- 12 for 21.

Jose Santiago picked up the win after pitching 2/3 of an inning in relief of starter Jim Lonborg. Boston pitching extended an embarrassing streak for the Yankees: by the end of the game, they had gone 63 innings without an extra-base hit.

The win evened the Red Sox' record at 4-4, one game out of first place behind Detroit and Chicago. Box score

April 21: Billy Rohr did it again.

O.K., Rohr's Fenway debut was not quite as impressive as his major league debut a week earlier at Yankee Stadium, but it was just as effective as far as wins and losses go. Rohr picthed a complete game, scattering eight hits and a walk while striking out six as the Red Sox beat the Yankees, 6-1, to end a three-game losing streak.

A "big" crowd of 25,603 was on hand at Fenway to watch as Rohr pushed his scoreless innings streak to 16.2 innings before the Yankees scored a meaningless run in the eighth.

New York pitcher Mel Stottlemyre, coming off consecutive shutouts, pushed his scoreless inning streak to 22 before the Red Sox broke through for 3 runs in the fifth, followed by three more in the seventh.

The fifth inning runs came via a single and three consecutive doubles -- from Carl Yastrzemski, George Thomas and Tony Horton. In the seventh, Dalton Jones hit a two-run home run into the right-field seats, and later Rico Petrocelli doubled home Horton.

Journal-Bulletin writer Harold Rich wrapped up his article with this paragraph on the benched Joe Foy: "Foy, who had been having trouble with his weight, had been ordered by (manager Dick) Williams to get down to 205 by yesterday or be fined ... Foy weighed in at 202 1/2, after having been at 207 last Wednesday ... Said one guy after last night's game: "Foy probably is down to 198 now after seeing Jones hit.

With the win, Boston improved to 3-4, two games behind first-place Detroit. Box score

April 20: Another day, another day off -- this one a scheduled off day. Thanks to the lousy early spring weather (sound familiar?), this was the third straight day without a game for the young Red Sox.

But there was excitement in the air in New England, because on April 21, rookie Bill Rohr was scheduled to make his first start since his near no-hitter in the Bronx. Again the opponent would be the New York Yankees, only this time, it would be at home, and against Mel Stottlemyre, who had started the 1967 season with consecutive shutouts against the Senators and the Red Sox.

Journal writer Harold Rich, writing in the next day's Journal, summed up the excitement: "Bill Rohr, the rookie who came 'this close' to baseball immortality the other day, will be working again tonight. There is no assurance, of course, that he'll be an artistic success again. But it's a good bet he'll make some money for his employer.

"The Boston Red Sox lefthander will be making his first competitive appearance at Fenway Park -- against the New York Yankees. Considering the recent one-hitter he pitched and the appeal of the Sox-Yankee rivalry, business at Fenway figures to be good tonight."

April 19: The Red Sox were scheduled to host the Washington Senators for a double-header, but both games were postponed by rain.

Meanwhile, with his team mired in a three-game losing streak, manager Dick Williams found a fall guy: third baseman Joe Foy. Williams sent Foy, who was hitting .083 and had committed three errors on the young season, to the bench, replacing him with Dalton Jones. Williams also decided to end the Reggie Smith experiment at second base, moving Smith to the outfield in place of struggling Jose Tartabull and inserting rookie Mike Andrews at second.

Williams' quotes in the next day's Providence Journal, as reported by baseball writer Harold Rich, didn't pull any punches: "I'm not panicking," said Williams, whose team was now 2-4 and tied for last place. "I'm going to run the club as I see fit. We've lost a few games because of Foy's play -- his offensive play and his defensive play.

April 18: The Chicago White Sox handed the visiting Red Sox their third consecutive loss, 5-2, in front of a paltry Comiskey Park crowd of 1,313.

Chicago starter Bruce Howard shut out the Red Sox for the first eight inning, and Boston continued to be shaky defensively, giving up two unearned runs when third baseman Joe Foy let a Duane Josephson grounder get by him with the bases loaded and two outs in the sixth inning.

Manager Dick Williams benched first baseman George Scott, who hit only .182 while striking out nine times during the first five games. His replacement, Tony Horton, drove in one of Boston's two runs with a ninth-inning single.

Darrell Brandon took the loss for the Red Sox, pitching seven innings and giving up five runs, three earned, on eight hits, four walks and a strikeout. The loss dropped the Red Sox to 2-4 on the season, two games behind first-place Baltimore and Chicago. Box score.

April 17: The Red Sox had an off day. The team stood at 2-3 on the season, tied for eighth place and a 1 1/2 games behind first-place Baltimore (4-2). Some things never change, by the way: The next day's Providence Journal, below the league standings, ran a New York Times story that described the challenge of popularizing soccer with the TV-viewing audience in the United States.

April 16: It took 5 hours and 50 minutes, but the New York Yankees sent the Red Sox out of the Bronx with a 7-6 loss, their second setback in the three-game series. Joe Pepitone won it in the 18th inning with a two-out, full-count single off right-hander Lee Stange, the seventh Red Sox pitcher to see action in the game.

The Red Sox picked up 20 hits -- including 5 apiece by Carl Yastrzemski and Tony Conigliaro -- but left 21 men on base. Yastrzemski gave the Red Sox a 3-0 lead early with consecutive triples off Yankee starter Fred Talbot, and Conigliaro hit an RBI double to tie the score at 6-6 in the ninth. Boston starter Jim Lonborg failed to hold the early lead, and relief pitcher Don McMahon allowed a run to score in the sixth inning when he dropped a double-play ball while covering first base. The loss dropped the Red Sox to 2-3 on the season. Box score

April 15: Yankees starter Mel Stottlemyre made sure the Red Sox didn't keep their momentum from Billy Rohr's remarkable debut. Stottlemyre, who was coming off a 20-loss season in 1966, pitched his second shutout of the young '67 season, and the Yankees needed the effort to squeak out a 1-0 win.

Boston starter Dennis Bennett went eight innings, giving up just five hits and four walks. He gave up his only run on Horace Clarke's fifth-inning single to score Ray Barker. The loss dropped Boston to 2-2 on the season. Box score

April 14: Billy Rohr, making his first ever major league start, pitches 8.2 hitless innings at Yankee Stadium -- aided by Carl Yastrzemski's unbelievable catch to rob Tom Tresh -- before Elston Howard's single spoils the party. But the Red Sox still win, 3-0. It's hard to sum up the game, so click here to read the original game story that ran the next day in The Providence Journal. Box score.

April 13: Maybe there was a little more excitement about this edition of the Red Sox, but that did not mean that an April night game at Fenway was a hot ticket. The Red Sox' second game of the season attracted a crowd of 3,607, and those who did turn out saw what looked suspiciously like the same old Sox.

The Red Sox took a 5-3 lead into the ninth inning against the Chicago White Sox. They had taken the lead by scoring three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning, on three hits and a Chicago error. Right-hander Hank Fischer, pitching in relief of starter Darrell Brandon, had gone three shutout innings and came out to close the game in the ninth.

Fischer would leave the game with his perfect E.R.A. still intact. However, the White Sox plated five unearned runs in the ninth on three Boston errors. First it was Tony Conigliaro, letting a Don Buford single elude him, allowing Buford to take second. Then third baseman Joe Foy booted a Tom Agee grounder. After Pete Ward struck out and Tom McCraw reached on an infield sigle to load the bases (second baseman Reggie Smith was injured on the play and had to leave the game), the disaster truly unfolded.

Bill Skowron hit a potential double play ball to Foy, who threw the ball into right field. One run scored to make it 5-4. The White Sox, given too many outs to work with, then bunched three straight hits to put the game away. Final score: 8-5. Next stop for the Red Sox was Opening Night and Yankee Stadium. Boston would send a rookie pitcher to the mound: Billy Rohr. Box score.

April 12: A day after their scheduled opener was postponed, the Boston Red Sox got their season off to a winning start with a 5-4 victory over the Chicago White Sox in front of a crowd of 8,324 shivering fans at Fenway Park.

Rico Petrocelli's three-run home run over the left-field wall in the third inning off Chicago White Sox starter John Buzhardt -- which came one batter after Chicago let Reggie Smith's routine foul pop drop to the ground (Smith went on to work a walk) -- put the Red Sox on top, 4-0.

Boston starter Jim Lonborg cruised through six innings giving up only one run until running into trouble in the seventh inning. With the Red Sox ahead, 5-1, Lonborg threw two wild pitches and right fielder Tony Conigliaro committed a fielding error, helping the White Sox plate three runs. Lonborg came out of the game with just one out, but right-hander John Wyatt ended the Chicago rally with the Red Sox still on top, 5-4. And that way it would stay. Wyatt pitched a scoreless eighth and Don McMahon added a perfect ninth to end it.

Harold Rich's lead in the next day's Providence Journal went like this: "The features of the new manager, Dick Williams, were wreathed in an I-told-you-so smile. His Boston Red Sox did, indeed, have a new look." Box score.

April 11: Opening Day. Only it wasn't. With 20,000 people expected at Fenway Park to see the Red Sox play the Chicago White Sox, temperatures plunged into the mid-30s and winds gusted up to 40 miles per hour, leading to the postponement of the game.

The April 12 Providence Journal, in a story without a byline, carried this lead: "The Boston Patriots, whose game is football, would have been in their element. It was that kind of weather. Baseball folk, though are more sensitive."

The opener was rescheduled for April 12, a Wednesday. It would still be Jim Lonborg for Boston, and right-hander John Buzhardt for Chicago.

April 10: The Red Sox were one day away from their first game of the season, at Fenway Park against the Chicago White Sox. Writing in the next day's Providence Journal, baseball writer Harold Rich summed up the spring: "In truth, there is a new look to the Red Sox, though most of the faces are the same. There is a togetherness that had been lacking in some Sox teams of the past. There also is a greater tendency toward sound baseball, the result of hour upon hour of attention to fundamentals during spring training."

Farther south, in Washington, the New York Yankees -- who were scheduled to open their home season later in the week against the Red Sox -- got off to a hot start, crushing the lowly Senators, 8-0, on the strength of Mel Stottlemyre's two-hitter. It was a game so lopsided, according to UPI, that "President Johnson left after five innings." But this wasn't to be the Bombers' year.

April 9: "Baseball: A New Season, New Champs?" was the headline in the Sunday morning Providence Journal. Baseball writers Joe McHenry and Harold Rich unveiled their predictions for the coming season, and they looked startlingly similar -- both saw Minnesota and Pittsburgh meeting in the World Series.

As for the Red Sox, McHenry was the more optimistic of the two, picking Boston to finish fifth in the American League. "Watching the Red Sox day in and day out in springtime, you saw a lot of good baseball and only a little bad," McHenry wrote. "Dick Williams, in his first year, has put the squad in a good frame of mind and in good condition. I'm not saying that others haven't done this or tried to do it, but this Boston club is definitely improved in attitude and skill.

Rich had the Red Sox finishing seventh, ahead of just the Yankees, the Royals and the Senators: "Pitching is a problem for the Red Sox ... However, the belief is the club will be better than last season and will move up a few notches from the ninth-place finish of last year."

Meanwhile, on the field, the Red Sox lost their final spring training game, 4-3, to the Detroit Tigers in Lakeland, Fla. Gates Brown ended it in the 10th inning by singling home Al Kaline. With the loss, the Red Sox finished at 14-13 for the preseason, their best exhibition record in 15 seasons.

April 8: The Red Sox continued their spring training dominance of the Detroit Tigers, winning 6-2 behind a 3-run home run by rookie catcher Russ Gibson.

April 7: It was an off day on the Grapefruit League schedule, but as Joe McHenry reported the next day for the Journal-Bulletin, the Red Sox played an intrasquad game and made busy working on the fundamentals under a hot sun for manager Dick Williams.

As McHenry reported, Williams had his eye on his converted second baseman, Reggie Smith: "The biggest surprise to me during our stay here has been Reggie. I was concerned about second base. I had never seen Reggie play there and after seeing him in the outfield so often, frankly I didn't know if he could do it. So far he has done very well. And he's worked hard both in the outfield and at second."

April 6: One week before his scheduled start at Yankee Stadium in New York's home opener, Red Sox pitcher Billy Rohr went six innings to lead Boston to a 4-1 spring training win over the Detroit Tigers in Lakeland, Fla.

It was the team's third victory in three spring training tries against Detroit, and Journal-Bulletin sports writer Joe McHenry was impressed: "The new breed of Red Sox -- Tony Conigliaro, George Scott and Billy Rohr -- paced the Boston club to its third straight victory over Detroit, 4-1, yesterday at Marchand Stadium.

"They say spring games are only for tuning up the athletes -- the bats, the arms and the fielders' gloves -- but one of the writers in the area has picked the Bengals for the American League pennant and today they are 0 and 3 against the Bosox."

April 5: Journal-Bulletin Sports Writer Harold Rich reported Dick Williams' prophetic prediction about the coming season: "I think we'll win more games than we lose." Still, Williams' expectations for his young club were relatively modest: "I think we're better than five clubs in the league." That would put Boston smack in the middle of the 10-team American League pack.

In a tune-up for the season opener, Jim Lonborg pitched well against the Washington Senators, but the Red Sox still lost, 5-1. Lonborg threw 93 pitches over seven innings, giving up five hits. "I was making them hit the ball," Lonborg said, "but I didn't have my sinker working just right until after two innings or so."

April 4: With the start of the season a week away, American League President and former Sox manager Joe Cronin told UPI that the Red Sox "looked like champions" during Grapefruit League play. Speaking of first-year manager Dick Williams, Cronin said: "He's a good task master. He's not going to stand for any fooling around," according to UPI.

Also, Journal-Bulletin sports writer Joe McHenry reported that the club had settled on Jim Lonborg as its starter for Opening Day at Fenway Park, against the Chicago White Sox. "I'm real pleased about this," Lonborg said, according to McHenry's article. "I've worked hard and it's been a good spring. I was throwing well the other day against the Yankees and if I can pitch like that more often, I'll be all right."

"We'll pitch Lonborg in the opener, then Darrell Brandon the second day, and come back on the following Friday with Billy Rohr against the Yankees," Williams said. "That's as far as we'll go for now."