Hey! Boston took 3 out of 4 from Los Angeles this week!

Alright fine. Even I would have taken 2 out of 3 from the Dodgers if it meant the Celtics would have beaten the Lakers.

But hey, the NBA season is over and if you hadn’t noticed yet, the Red Sox are on a roll.

Buchholz has thrown his hat into the Cy Young race (despite a shaky first few innings) and will head off to Colorado tied with the Yankees with the most wins in baseball.

It’s not a parade… but it isn’t bad.

Anyway, let’s update the tally.

DODGED A BULLET GAMES – 22

April 4 – 9-7 win against Yankees (On Opening Night, the Red Sox overcome a 5-1 Yankee lead with a game tying HR by Pedroia and a go ahead passed ball.)
April 10 – 8-3 win against Kansas City (Beckett out pitches Zack Greinke and nearly gets decapitated by a line drive.)
April 14 – 6-3 win in Minnesota. (Okajima gets Morneau to pop up with the bases loaded in the 7th and Papelbon wiggled out of a 9th inning jam.)
April 20 – 7-6 win against Texas. (Darnell McDonald introduces himself to Boston with an 8th inning game tying homer and a walk off hit in the 9th.)
April 21 – 8-7 win against Texas. (The Red Sox were down 4-0 early only to win it on Youk’s 2 out 11th inning double.)
April 23 – 4-3 win against Baltimore. (The Sox blow a 3-0 lead but win it on Adrian Beltre’s bases loaded walk.)

April 24 – 7-6 win against Baltimore. (The Red Sox score 6 in the 7th and hold off a late Baltimore comeback attempt.)
April 26 – 13-12 win at Toronto. (The Sox blow an early 5-0 lead but hang on for dear life in a slugfest.)
April 27 – 2-1 win at Toronto. (Buchholz holds the Jays down for 8 but it takes a bases loaded walk in the 8th to go ahead.)
April 28 – 2-0 win at Toronto. (Daniel Bard wiggles out of trouble in the 8th to help Lester shut down the Blue Jays and finish the sweep.)
May 4 – 5-1 win against the Angels. (Juan Rivera misplays Jeremy Hermedia’s 2 out flyball into a 3 run game winning double)
May 5 – 3-1 win against the Angels. (Papi and Beltre homer and the Sox hang on despite squandering many potential rallies.)
May 6 – 11-6 win against the Angels. (Dice-K puts the Red Sox in a 4-0 hole before they even bat. The Sox bats respond.)
May 10 – 7-6 win against the Blue Jays. (Sox blow an early 2-0 lead, take advantage of some errors and hang on.)
May 18 – 7-5 win in New York. (Sox climb back from a 5-1 hole. A day after hitting a walk off homer, Marcus Thames drops a fly ball to start the winning rally for the Sox.)
May 25 – 2-0 win in Tampa. (Big Papi supplies all the offense as Papelbon wiggles out of a 9th inning jam.)
May 29 – 1-0 win against Kansas City. (Zack Greinke holds the Sox to one run, but they make it stick)

June 1 – 9-4 win against Oakland. (Lackey puts the Sox in a 4-0 hole but Victor Martinez goes 5-5 and the Sox score 9 runs late.)
June 2 – 6-4 win against Oakland. (Dice-K puts the Sox in a 3-0 hole before they come to bat, but come back thanks to Papi’s homer.)

June 8 – 3-2 win at Cleveland. (With Papelbon unavailable, Okajima, Ramirez and Bard hang on to make a winner out of Wakefield.)

June 19 – 5-4 win against the Dodgers. (Sox make 4 errors, blow a late lead and let Manny homer, but they win it in the bottom of the 9th on a Pedroia single.)
June 20 – 2-0 win against the Dodgers. (Dodgers blow an early bases loaded scoring opportunity and allow Buchholz to settle down for the win.)

TEETH GRINDER GAMES – 19

April 6 – 6-4 loss against the Yankees. (Scutaro’s error leads to the winning run.)
April 7 – 3-1 loss against the Yankees. (Sox leave the winning run on in the 9th only to lose on Granderson’s 10th inning homer)
April 9 – 4-3 loss in Kansas City. (Bard coughs up the lead, denying Wakefield a win.)
April 17 – 3-1 loss to Tampa Bay. (The Sox can’t score with the bases loaded and nobody out in the 11th… lost it in the 12th.)
April 17 – 6-5 loss to Tampa Bay. (The Red Sox comeback falls a run short, leaving two on in the 8th)
April 25 – 7-6 loss to Baltimore. (The Sox blow a 4-1 lead, leave the winning run on second in the 9th, let up 3 in the 10th and could only score 2 in the bottom of the 10th)
April 30 – 5-4 loss in Baltimore. (Tejada ties the game with a 2 out 8th inning homer and wins it with a bloop in the 10th)
May 1 – 12-9 loss in Baltimore. (Dice-K and Wakes get pounded, wasting 2 homers from Ortiz and an early 4-1 lead.)
May 2 – 3-2 loss in Baltimore. (Varitek is thrown at home trying to score with 2 outs in the 8th. Sox get swept in the 10th.
May 12 – 3-2 loss against the Blue Jays. (The Sox rally in the 9th comes up a run short and Kevin Gregg gets an ugly save.)
May 15 – 7-6 loss in Detroit. (The Sox blow a 6-1 lead and lose it on a 2 out bases loaded walk in the 12th.)
May 17 – 11-9 loss in New York. (The Sox come all the way back from a 5-0 first inning hole to take a 9-7 lead in the 9th… but Papelbon lets up a 2 run game tying shot to A-Rod and a 2 run walk off shot to Marcus Thames.)
May 21 – 5-1 loss in Philadelphia. (Big Papi’s bid for a game tying 9th inning grand slam is caught at the warning track.)
May 27 – 4-3 loss to Kansas City. (Dice-K walks the go ahead run in and lets another score on a wild pitch as the Royals no name bullpen shut down the Hot Sox.)
May 28 – 12-5 loss to Kansas City. (Sox blow a 3-0 first inning lead to be blown out in Fenway.)
June 3 – 9-8 loss to Oakland. (Sox lose a slugfest where two Boston runners are thrown out at home.)

June 6 – 4-3 loss in Baltimore. (Sox rally to tie the game in the 9th only to lose it on a small ball rally in the 11th.)

June 10 – 8-7 loss in Cleveland. (Sox blow an early 5-0 lead and then after rallying in the 9th to take the lead coughed it up with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th)
June 13 – 5-3 loss to Philadelphia. (Sox 9th inning rally comes up short)

All the way up to +3.

Look, Game 7 of the 2010 NBA Finals is going to go down as one of those “haunt us for the rest of our lives” sporting events right there with the Aaron Boone homer and the Magic skyhook.

Accept that and cheer on the Sox who just might be on to something this year.

You want to know the problem with the Red Sox of the early 1980s was?

I mean besides the fact that Don Zimmer was the manager…

THESE were our future stars!
Not exactly a Cooperstown bound roll call here?

The immortal Joel Finch was featured on BOTH cards… which was ironic because he only pitched in one season in the bigs. 1979. He went 0-3 with a 4.87 ERA. He actually pitched well in a few games, but a few bad outings butchered his ERA. (Letting up 5 runs in 1/3 of an innings like he did on July 23rd will do that.)

Garry Hancock hit for decent power and a high average for Pawtucket in 1978 and 1979 and when Fred Lynn went down to inuries in 1980, Hancock became the starting center fielder. Maybe the front office thought he could replace Lynn when they dealt Freddie to the Angels before the 1981 season. It didn’t happen. Injuries and ineffectiveness limited him to 37 games and a .112 average for 1981 and 1982 combined before he was traded to Oakland.

Allen Ripley kept putting up double digit win totals with low ERAs in the minors and the Norwood, Massachusetts native looked like he would fill in perfectly for the departed Bill Lee, Luis Tiant and Fergie Jenkins. It never worked out and he was dealt to the Giants after the 1979 season.

Mike O’Berry is one of the most obscure potential Carlton Fisk replacements ever… and in a sea of Bob Montgomeries, Gary Allensons, Fred Kendalls and Dave Raders, that’s saying something! O’Berry was actually a lousy hitter in the minor leagues, hitting around .200 or worse at each level. He must have called a good game to be considered a future star. He hit .169 in 43 games for the Sox in 1979. The Future Star card came out in 1980. By the time I opened that pack, he was already sent packing to the Cubs. We wound up playing for 6 teams in 7 seasons.

Chuck Rainey looked pretty good in 1979 and the rotation needed some young blood. But injuries got the better of him and after the 1982 season he was dealt away to the Cubs. In my 83 Fleer Guy post, I pointed out that Chuck Rainey was rubbing a baseball on his crotch in his picture.

So there you have it! The Haywood Sullivan/Buddy LeRoux run farm system calls this a bumper crop.

Add that to the genius of Don Zimmer in the dugout and you have an idea how a team loaded with superstars and future Hall of Famers kept falling short.

You can’t blame EVERYTHING on Bucky Dent!