Joe Dobson carried a no hitter into the 6th inning when Chone Figgins singled to center with one out. Figgins would not be able to score that inning, nor would any Angel score during this contest. Dobson exited the game with a 1 hit shutout going with 1 out in the 9th. A string of 3 Red Sox relievers managed to quell the Angel uprising in the 9th to preserve the shutout and clinch the victory. Frank Quinn fanned Juan Rivera for the final out. Boston took a quick 1-0 lead when the "Splendid Splinter" Ted Williams hit a solo shot off of Ervin Santana to open the 2nd. Dobson protected that 1 run lead until the Bosox added an insurance run in the bottom of the 8th when a string of Angel relievers decided to walk the world. Dobson moved his record to 4-2, while Santana fell to 0-1. GAME 2 (Fenway Park) '04-LAA 4, '49-BOS 3:
Boston needed to tap spot starter Walt Masterson and hope for the
best as the rest of the staff was pretty much worn out. Paul Byrd gave the Angels one of those dreaded "quality starts" (6 innings / 3 runs). Masterson posted a 7/4 performance, which turned out to be less quality than Byrd's. Boston started the scoring in the first with back to back lead off singles from Johnny Pesky and Billy Goodman. Dom DiMaggio's fielder's choice plated Pesky, but broke up the chance for the big inning. Al Zarilla's solo shot off of Byrd in the 2nd put Boston up two zip. Masterson was a victim of his control as the Angels scored their first run in the 3rd inning. Orlando Cabrera walked to lead off the frame and then proceeded to steal second and eventually scored on Figgins' sac fly to right. Bobby Doerr's lead off homer in the 4th moved Boston back up by 2, but that wasn't going to last. The Angels chipped away with a run in the 5th and took the lead for good with 2 in the 6th...all with 2 outs. Vlad Guerrero walked with 2 outs in a situation where Masterson was obviously pitching around him. BIG MISTAKE...Garrett Anderson doubled to put runners on 2nd and 3rd and Dallas McPherson singled them both home. Just like that Masterson's lead was gone and the momentum had turned. The Angel bullpen easily held the lead until the 9th when K-Rod came on board and treated the fans to his high wire act without a net. Rodriguez walked the dangerous Williams and Stephens. Boston had 2 on and nobody out and looked to be in a great position to at least tie the game. That was until Boston manager, Marc Weiss, made a very controversial decision. With future HOF'er Bobby Doerr up Weiss decided to play small ball and bunt the runner up. Angel manager Douglas Zaner had the correct answer as he pulled in the corners and when Darin Erstad pegged Williams at third he began to look like a genius. Boston still had 2 more shots to plate the tying run, but K-Rod was not going to give them additional opportunities. Pinch hitter Lou Stringer lined to Erstad at first and Birdie Tebbetts fanned to end it. GAME 3 (Angel Stadium) '49-BOS 13, LAA 6:
Don't let the final score deceive you. This game was one of those see-saw battles that make managers go gray until Boston broke it open in the 8th. Neither team seemed to be able to put the other away. The biggest shock had to be all the runs being scored with each team's ace on the hill. Bartolo Colon was chased from the hill after yielding 7 runs in 5 shoddy innings of work. His Boston counterpart, Mel Parnell, gutted it out for a complete game, but his 6 runs allowed were sub par at best. Parnell was the beneficiary of an offense that has finally hit it's stride. Boston hit 4 homers in this contest. Angel manager Zaner commented, "Boston had 7 homers in this series, while the Angels might have 7 in 27 games". The Red Sox offense, which started off slow has now shifted into full gear. For most of the season the recipe for defeating the Sawx was to walk or pitch around Williams and dare Vern Stephens and Bobby Doerr to beat you. Up until 3 weeks ago that worked fine. In this game alone Stephens made the Angels pay for that very strategy with two huge round trippers. Doerr did as well. Boston moved to 15-12 and is now in the heart of the AL East race.
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