1961 Random Debut

[Moriarty9]

With a new laptop, I decided not to bring my old leagues over. Instead, I opted to start anew with a random debut database starting in 1961.

I will take the helm of the Boston Red Sox as the General Manager, but will report on the league as a whole as we go along.

There will be an inaugural draft to start things off, and it looks like the Red Sox will pick ninth in the first round of the serpentine draft. The first round's draft order:

1. Kansas City Athletics
2. Los Angeles Angels
3. Detroit Tigers
4. Washington Senators
5. Cincinnati Reds
6. San Francisco Giants
7. Cleveland Indians
8. Chicago White Sox
9. Boston Red Sox
10. Pittsburgh Pirates
11. Milwaukee Braves
12. Minnesota Twins
13. New York Yankees
14. Baltimore Orioles
15. Philadelphia Phillies
16. St. Louis Cardinals
17. Chicago Cubs
18. Los Angeles Dodgers

[Moriarty9]

With the first pick of the 1961 inaugural draft, the Philadelphia Athletics selected Happy Jack Chesbro, a 26-year-old right-hander from Massachusetts. Other notable selections by the A's were 25-year-old secondbaseman Ron Hunt; centerfielder Daryl Boston, aged 23; and 34-year-old firstbaseman Mike Stanley.

The Los Angeles Angels took 21-year-old shortstop Ross Barnes with the second overall pick, followed by 27-year-old hurler Doug Drabek and 22-year-old firstbaseman Billy Butler. Other notable selections include Silent John Titus, aged 36; and outfielder Hugh Duffy, aged 32.

Rube Waddell, a 25-year-old southpaw, was the first pick for the Detroit Tigers, who was subsequently followed by 28-year-old outfielder Doug Glanville. Detroit also nabbed 37-year-old right-hander Bobo Newsom and 33-year-old firstbaseman High Pockets Kelly.

The Washington Senators had the fourth overall pick of the draft, which they used to grab Deacon White, a 27-year-old catcher. Other notable picks by the Senators included 24-year-old shortstop Swede Risberg, 29-year-old outfielder Milt Thompson, and 22-year-old right-hander Schoolboy Rowe.

Jack Lynch, a 26-year-old right-hander, was the first pick for the Cincinnati Reds, anchoring a pitching staff that also includes 29-year-old John Clarkson. The Cincinnati lineup will feature 29-year-old outfielder Juan Samuel, 31-year-old secondbaseman Jose Offerman, 29-year-old outfielder Tommy Holmes, 38-year-old Johnny Mize, and 32-year-old shortstop Lou Boudreau.

The San Francisco Giants took 28-year-old outfielder Minnie Minoso with the sixth overall draft pick, later joined by 37-year-old thirdbaseman Jimmy Dykes and 37-year-old outfielder Dave Parker. Vic Willis, a 29-year-old right-hander, leads the pitching staff, supported in part by 28-year-old lefty Nick Altrock, 38-year-old Johnny Murphy, and 30-year-old southpaw Jesse Orosco.

Al Kaline, a 27-year-old outfielder, was the first pick for the Boston Red Sox. Joining him at Fenway Park will be 27-year-old shortstop David Eckstein and 32-year-old outfielder Johnny Moore. Boston's pitchers will be led by right-handers 30-year-old Stan Coveleski, 25-year-old Howie Camnitz, and 25-year-old Doug Fister.

The Pittsburgh Pirates came up with 28-year-old shortstop Paul Radford in the first round of the draft, soon followed by 27-year-old outfielder Tito Francona and 28-year-old outfielder Cesar Geronimo. Most notable on the pitching staff is 25-year-old Japanese import Yu Darvish.

The Milwaukee Braves went with pitching to start their draft, taking 26-year-old lefty Cliff Lee, and later 24-year-old right-hander Ray Collins. Offensively, 23-year-old shortstop Tony Lazzeri appears to be the top man for the Braves.

The Minnesota Twins took a talented 26-year-old right-hander in Addie Joss in the first round, also bringing in 38-year-old southpaw Warren Spahn as a mentor. The Twins picked a few left-handed bats to lead their lineup, with 30-year-old outfielder Andre Ethier, 29-year-old firstbaseman Kent Hrbek, and 35-year-old Kirk Gibson.

Stephen Strasburg, aged 25, will don the pinstripes as the ace of the New York Yankees after being taken with the club's first draft pick. He's joined by big 27-year-old right-hander Chris Young, 30-year-old right-hander Ervin Santana, and 31-year-old lefty Mike Flanagan. The Bronx Bombers lineup will include 25-year-old secondbaseman Bill Sweeney and 31-year-old outfielder Ron Leflore.

With the 14th pick of the inaugural draft, the Baltimore Orioles took 25-year-old southpaw Max Lanier. He heads a pitching staff that includes 35-year-old lefty Wally Hebert and 25-year-old right-hander Matt Clement. The O's took legendary outfielder Ty Cobb, now plugging away at age 39.

Jim O'Toole, a 22-year-old lefty, was the first pick of the Philadelphia Phillies. Other notable Phillies include 22-year-old southpaw Jim O'Toole, middle infielders Todd Walker (27) and Mariano Duncan (28), and 24-year-old outfielder Danny Green.

The St. Louis Cardinals tabbed 27-year-old right-hander Jim Hughes to lead its pitching staff with their first pick of the draft, later adding 31-year-old Todd Stottlemyre and 23-year-old Foster "Eddie" Edwards. The Cardinals lineup includes left-handed hitting firstbaseman Alvin Davis (24) and outfielder Jacque Jones (23).

The Chicago Cubs chose 28-year-old lefty Wilbur Cooper with their top pick, adding in 26-year-old Tom "Flash" Gordon and 26-year-old Wade Davis. In the field and in the lineup at Wrigley Field will be 36-year-old secondbaseman Tony Fernandez, 30-year-old firstbaseman Ryan Zimmerman, and 34-year-old outfielder Arky Vaughan.

Wrapping up the first round with the 18th pick were the Los Angeles Dodgers, who selected 24-year-old pitcher Bert Blyleven. Jim "Catfish" Hunter, 31, joins Blyleven on the pitching staff, while 25-year-old outfielder Rick Monday and 23-year-old firstbaseman Justin Morneau.

[Moriarty9]

Though the roster will surely change before the season begins, Boston Red Sox manager Pinky Higgins has begun scratching together likely lineups and pitching rotations.

It appears the pitching rotation will run from Stan Coveleski (30), to Howie Camnitz (25), Doug Fister (25), Sean Bergman (24), and lefty Nick Bierboldt (22). The bullpen will be anchored by Chad Green (24) and Wiley Dunham (24), with lefties Carlton Molesworth (18), Cody Reed (22), and Tom Burgmeier (30).

Fran Healy (28) will be the club's primary catcher, backed up by Floyd Ritter (19). Healy will likely be toward the bottom of Boston's batting order.

Dode Criss (25) is the front-runner for playing time at first base, though he will be challenged by Joe Lafata (27) and Chris Valaika (28).

Dustin Ackley (23) will be the secondbaseman with David Eckstein (27) at shortstop, and at third base will be Shane Andrews (24). The backup infielders will include Valaika and Billy Hitchcock (32).

The outfield, left-to-right, will feature Johnny Moore (32), Emilio Bonifacio (26), and Al Kaline (27). Fred Brickell (22) is likely the fourth outfielder, looking for playing time along with Riggs Stephenson (32) and Oscar Taveras (21).

[Moriarty9]

The Los Angeles Angels suffered a blow on March 16, losing shortstop Ross Barnes with a torn meniscus. The knee injury will likely keep the 21-year-old out of the lineup for four months.

The Milwaukee Braves lost 32-year-old infielder Alex Arias for the season with a broken elbow. Fortunately, Arias was not a key to Milwaukee's plan for the 1961 season. The team later lost 22-year-old right-hander Willie Jensen for the season with an elbow injury.

The Detroit Tigers are scrambling for a new leftfielder after losing 23-year-old Larry Twitchell for the year due to a torn ACL.

Freddie Toliver, 23, is out for the year with an abdominal issue, according to reports out of the Washington Senators clubhouse.

The San Francisco Giants hope 30-year-old southpaw Jesse Orosco will recover from bone chips in his elbow, though officials indicate he will likely miss at least six months.

Minnie Minoso will start the season on the disabled list, but hopes to rejoin the Giants in early May after breaking a bone in his wrist on March 29.

The Giants lost 24-year-old pitching prospect George "Deacon" Darby to a torn rotator cuff. Darby is expected to hang up his cleats rather than treat, rehab, and endeavor a return.

Shane Bowers suffered an oblique strain on April 2, meaning the Boston Red Sox reliever will miss the first few weeks of the season.

[Moriarty9]

10 April 1961

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Schoolboy Rowe was at the head of the class as he shutout the Chicago White Sox at Griffith Stadium this afternoon.

Rowe struck out eight as the Washington Senators blanked Chicago, 5-0, to open Major League Baseball's 1961 season. The White Sox mustered just four hits against Rowe, with Johnny Neun's two-out double in the eighth inning being the only extra-base hit for the visiting nine.

"That's one thing that has never changed in this game — pitching can control hitting," Senators manager Mickey Vernon told reporters after the game. "Schoolboy knows exactly what he's doing. He's not going to throw you a good pitch until you make him throw you one."

Rowe was helped out by battery mate Deacon White, who went 4-for-5 with two doubles and a home run. Bill Ramsey added a solo home run of his own for Washington, one of his three hits in the game.

Jacob deGrom struggled with his control and seemed nervous on the mound. The 26-year-old right-hander yielded six walks and gave up nine hits, resulting in five runs over seven innings. Reliever Kirby Yates worked a scoreless eighth inning, though he did issue a walk and give up a White double in the frame.

Chicago catcher Bill Merritt was ejected in the fifth inning after striking out for the second time.

President John F. Kennedy and Vice President Lyndon Johnson were on hand for the season opener, with the President throwing out the ceremonial first pitch. Kennedy and Johnson were among the 17,403 fans on hand for the ballgame.

[Moriarty9]

After several months on the job as General Manager, tomorrow is when we begin to see the results of the work. It's Opening Day and we're home at Fenway Park against the Kansas City Athletics.

I've got my dad coming to the field tomorrow. He was always a fan of the A's, back to their days in Philadelphia under Connie Mack.

I sat down this afternoon with our manager, Mike "Pinky" Higgins, and the guys on his coaching staff: Jake Boots, Ray Katz, and Bill Escobedo. Ron Hunt, our scouting director, was also on hand for much of the meeting.

We discussed ownership's goals for us, which include winning the pennant this year and winning a World Series in the next four years. These are obviously big goals, and we think we've got a damn good team, so now the real work on the field begins to make it happen.

Pinky has decided to give Howie "Red" Camnitz the nod for the Opening Day start. Camnitz is a 25-year-old right-hander from Kentucky who outperformed Stan Coveleski in camp. Coveleski, 30, was the guy we more or less expected to be the ace when we headed south for spring training, but Camnitz just outworked and outdid the rest of the pitching staff. We'll go with Doug Fister for the third game, with Sean Bergman and Nick Bierbrodt following after.

We're up against Happy Jack Chesbro tomorrow, which is a tall feat. He may just be 26-years-old, but he's one of the absolutely most talented guys in the league — though I guess being picked one overall in the draft is evidence of that.

All the same, I like our chances. The plan is to lead off with Emilio Bonifacio in centerfield, Johnny Moore in left, Al Kaline in right, Shane Andrews at third base, Dustin Ackley at second, David Eckstein at shortstop, Dode Criss at first base, and Fran Healy behind the plate.

I'd really like to find someone a little better than Dode Criss to play first base for us. We could really use a guy with a better stick in that spot, but it's a pretty tough market out there. We're technically over our budget right now too, so that doesn't make it much easier to upgrade anywhere. We'll see what we can work out though as the season goes along.

Big day tomorrow, so I better head to bed. Nerves are already kicking in though, so we'll see how much sleep I can actually get.

[Moriarty9]

Looks like Pinky Higgins knew what he was talking about because Howie Camnitz pitched a hell of a ballgame today.

Howie scattered nine hits, allowed no walks, and struck out seven as we shut out the Kansas City Athletics in a 5-0 game at Fenway Park to open the season. The kid did a great job getting out of a few jams and just grinding all the way through.

We got to Jack Chesbro right away, hitting a home run and three doubles against him in the first inning alone! Al Kaline swatted a line drive home run around Pesky Pole in right field, though I don't know if it would've gotten up and out of any other park in the league; maybe Yankee Stadium. Maybe. After a Dustin Ackley walk and a David Eckstein double, Dode Criss came up big with a two-run double to make it a four-run first inning. Dode scored the fifth run on an eighth inning single by Emilio Bonifacio.

All in all, a pretty good day at the office. The box score for this one, my first game as a General Manager of a big league team, is definitely getting put in the scrapbook.

With the way this early season schedule works out, no game tomorrow, but back at it against the A's on Thursday. Then we've got Friday off, with the Los Angeles Angels coming in on Saturday, then a double header on Sunday. We'll be sending Stan Coveleski to the mound on Thursday, while the A's are expected to start Bill Stearns, a 21-year-old kid that our scouts like.

[Moriarty9]

14 April 1961


CHICAGO — The Milwaukee Braves were just hoping for a solid outing from Pete Meegan. Instead, they got something special.

The 22-year-old hurler tossed a no-hitter against the Chicago Cubs, helping the Braves take a 10-1 win at Wrigley Field.

"I felt good throughout the game," said Steady Pete. "As I was going into the ninth inning, I wasn't nervous. I knew I had a chance to do something special."

Meegan was the beneficiary of 10 runs on 18 hits from his teammates. He got off to a rocky start, issuing a few first inning walks, which resulted in a run scoring right away. He quickly settled down, however, allowing just one run on no hits and four walks over the nine innings. Meegan struck out five in the ballgame.

[Moriarty9]

After our first week of play, we're sitting at 3-2, just one game behind the Detroit Tigers in the very early pennant race.

Johnny Moore was named the American League's Player of the Week, and I'd say he's pretty damn well deserving of it. He hit .765 this week! .765! That's 13-for-17 right out of the gates!

It's obviously pretty early to make any sweeping judgments, but I'm pretty pleased with what I've seen on the field. Maybe a little more successful pitching would be pretty helpful, but a good effort so far by our guys.

Emilio Bonifacio is off to a good start as our leadoff guy, hitting .292 so far. Moore has been fantastic with that .765 average, plus he's already hit a pair of home runs. Al Kaline is hitting just .211, but he's also got a couple of homers in these first five games, and we know he's going to hit a whole lot better than .211 in the end. Shane Andrews as our cleanup guy is also hitting .211, with one home run and just two RBI, but he's had some good at bats and he'll come around. Dustin Ackley has been solid with a .353 batting average and five runs in the first five games. David Eckstein has played well at shortstop and is hitting .300 with four runs so far. Dode Criss has played better than I had expected, hitting .455 with five RBI in four games played. Hopefully he can keep that up a bit. Lastly, our catchers have been hit and miss. Fran Healy got the Opening Day start and is the main catcher for us right now, he's really good defensively and calling the game. Fran has struggled offensively so far, however, going 1-for-11. His back-up backstop, however, has been good in his limited playing time. Floyd Ritter, just 19-years-old, has gone 3-for-8 so far at the plate.

[Moriarty9]

BOSTON — Down by two and down to their last out the Red Sox mounted a ninth inning rally to beat the Minnesota Twins, 5-4 at Fenway Park. David Eckstein hit a leadoff double to begin the inning, but veteran southpaw Warren Spahn quickly retired Fran Healy and pinch-hitter Johnny Moore.

After pinch-hitter Oscar Taveras drew a walk, Emilio Bonifacio snuck a groundball through the left side of the infield to load the bases. Twins manager Cookie Lavagetto decided his 38-year-old hurler had had enough, bringing in right-hander Claude Raymond to snuff out the rally. Shane Andrews greeted Raymond with a game-tying two-run single, followed by a walk-off single by Al Kaline past the dive of Minnesota secondbaseman Roy Hartsfield.


CLEVELAND — Ken Holtzman was in mid-season form as the Indians lefty fanned five in a five-hit shutout of the visiting Detroit Tigers, 2-0 at Cleveland Stadium. Indians thirdbaseman Jason Hardtke hit a solo home run off Detroit's Bobo Newsom while rightfielder Mike Lum drove in the game's only other run with a RBI single.


THE BRONX — The New York Yankees pasted the Los Angeles Angels in a 13-1 blowout at Yankee Stadium today. The Angels mustered just four hits, including a home run by Hugh Duffy, against Chris Young and the Yanks. New York secondbaseman Bill Sweeney went 3-for-3 with two doubles, a home run, two walks, and seven RBI in the game.


CHICAGO — The Washington Senators cruised to a 15-5 win over the White Sox at Comiskey Park, but they lost young shortstop Swede Risberg in the process. Risberg, 24, ruptured his MCL while running the bases, and will miss the rest of the season as a result. He had hit .400 with three RBI through his seven games.


PITTSBURGH — The Pirates mounted a late rally, scoring three runs in the eighth to secure a 3-1 victory over the visiting Chicago Cubs at Forbes Field. Chicago's only hit in the game was a fourth inning home run by centerfielder John McMullin, his third of the season. Pirates secondbaseman Dib Williams swatted the decisive three-run home run off Cubs hurler Tom Gordon. It was the third home run of the year for Williams.


LOS ANGELES — Dodgers rightfielder Paul Meloan belted a grand slam, but it wasn't enough as the home team fell 7-6 to the St. Louis Cardinals in the first game of a double-header at the Coliseum. The Cards won the second game as well, pounding out a 10-3 victory over Dodgers right-hander Joe Decker.


PHILADELPHIA — After giving up the lead in the eighth inning, the Milwaukee Braves bounced back with a four-run ninth inning to beat the Phillies 5-3 at Connie Mack Stadium today.

[Moriarty9]

After a ninth inning walk-off yesterday, today was pretty exciting with another walk-off win, this time in the 12th inning.

The Twins had walked Al Kaline and later Billy Hitchcock when Emilio Bonifacio came up with one out. He took a 2-0 pitch and laced it into left-center field, allowing Kaline to score from second base with the winning run.

I thought we had the game won in the tenth inning, even after a Johnny Moore leadoff single was erased by a Hitchcock double play ball. Bonifacio had singled there and Oscar Taveras drew a walk to set up Floyd Ritter, who has hit pretty well so far, but the kid grounded out to end the inning.

We picked up 15 hits in the ballgame today, with Ritter, Dustin Ackley, and David Eckstein each putting three in the hit column. Only two of those hits were extra base hits, both doubles, which shows why it took 15 hits to get those four runs.

Nick Bierbrodt did alright in his first start of the season. He struck out five and gave up three runs on five hits and three walks in 7 1/3 innings. He wasn't great by any means, but he did what was needed to keep us in the game. The bullpen was great. They didn't let a Minnesota player reach base through their 4 2/3 innings of work.

We've now won four straight, putting us at 5-2, and tying us with the Kansas City Athletics for first place in the American League. It's still awful early, but I'm liking what I'm seeing so far.

No game tomorrow as we're traveling to Chicago for our first road trip of the season. We'll be at Comiskey Park for four games against the White Sox, but then we come back home for a quick two-game set against the Washington Senators before heading back on the road for a couple weeks.

[Moriarty9]

The Boston Globe profiled Boston Red Sox 1B Dode Criss in an article published on Sunday, April 30, 1961.

Three firstbasemen. That is what the Boston Red Sox opened the season with, unsure who would be holding the job as the season drew to a close. While the 1961 campaign is still in its infancy after just 16 games, it certainly looks as if Dode Criss will have a stranglehold on the position.

Criss, 26, is a left-handed hitting and right-handed fielding firstbaseman from Sherman, Texas, a small town near the Oklahoma border and about 70 miles north of Dallas. He is backed up by Joe Lafata and Chris Valaika, both of whom were expected to get noticeable playing time in a battle for the starting firstbaseman's job. Criss has swung the bat well enough that Red Sox manager Pinky Higgins hasn't given much thought to working Lafata and Valaika in for significant playing time.

Criss has started 12 of the team's first 16 games, hitting .342 with four doubles, a home run, 10 RBI, and eight runs scored. This puts him on pace to collect 132 hits in 385 at bats with 41 doubles, 10 home runs, 101 RBI, 81 runs scored, and 111 walks.

"The kid has been good," said Higgins. "He's been really good. He's not out there hitting home runs, but we don't need him to do that anyway. We just want him to drive the ball, get on base, move the runners along and across home plate."

In yesterday's game, Criss was bumped up to the cleanup spot in the Red Sox lineup, and he responded by going 3-for-5 with three RBI and a run scored.

[Moriarty9]

Well, the first month of the season is over, and we've done pretty well for ourselves. Best record in baseball at 12-5, but we're only one game ahead of the Kansas City Athletics. We need to keep it up on our end.

The Detroit Tigers are right behind us as well, 2 1/2 games back, but they just suffered a blow when ace Rube Waddell suffered a forearm injury. Reports out of Detroit are that he'll miss 5-6 weeks.

As a team, we've hit the ball really well, batting .297 as a club. The league average is .261, and the Tigers are closest to us at .280. We've been middle of the road with 18 home runs, but our 95 runs is second to only the Minnesota Twins (97).

The pitching has been pretty good too, posting a 3.13 ERA. Only the New York Yankees have a better team ERA (3.11), and we're well ahead of the league average at 4.09. Helping out the pitching staff has been the defense, which has posted a .980 fielding percentage, good for second in the American League and third in all of baseball.

Everyone expected Al Kaline to be a leader, and he's been one. He's hitting .384 and is on pace to collect 267 hits, club 38 home runs, drive in 152 runs, and score 133 times. Leftfielder Johnny Moore has been extremely impressive, going 29-for-62 in this first month for a .468 average! He's on pace for 276 hits, 38 home runs, 76 RBI, and 143 runs.

Then there's Dode Criss, who won out the starting job at firstbase this spring, but left me wondering who would be in that spot by the All Star Game, nevermind the end of the season. Dode has been so far above and beyond my wildest expectations. He's hitting .357 and is on pace to draw 105 walks and knock in 114 runs.

Howie Camnitz has been our best starting pitcher so far, going 2-2 with a 2.97 ERA in his first four starts. He's been followed by Stan Coveleski (2-1, 3.38 ERA), Doug Fister (1-1, 3.52 ERA), Sean Bergman (2-1, 4.58 ERA), and southpaw Nick Bierbrodt (1-0, 4.50 ERA).

The real strength, and the reason our team ERA is so low, has been the bullpen. Left-hander Carlton Molesworth has had some difficulty, posting a 5.79 ERA in 4 2/3 innings, and we're keeping an eye on him. We think he's a valuable piece to this team, but he's not meeting expectations in his limited time so far. The rest of the bullpen hasn't given up a single run, earned or otherwise! Wiley Dunham has 8 1/3 scoreless, Chad Green has 8 scoreless innings, Tom Burgmeier has blanked them for 7 2/3 innings, and then lefty Cody Reed has 2 1/3 scoreless innings.

We're off today, en route to Kansas City from Cleveland. We've got two games with the Athletics, hopefully staying ahead of them in the standings. Tomorrow should be a good one with Camnitz up against Jack Chesbro (1-1, 3.07 ERA). They've got Bill Stearns (1-1, 2.20 ERA) on Wednesday, so we'll need Fister on top of his game there.

[Moriarty9]

What determination and fight!

After dropping two to the Minnesota Twins, who started this series with a 9-12 record, we were heading to the ninth inning down 6-3, facing a three-game sweep at Metropolitan Stadium.

Then the bats started crushing it. Johnny Moore led off the inning against Addie Joss, sneaking a single through the left side of the infield. Al Kaline followed with a first pitch blast, hitting a wicked line drive into the left field seats to make it a one-run game. Joss struck out Shane Andrews and appeared to be in good shape when Dustin Ackley hit a weak groundball to second base, but Dilson Herrera muffed it and Ackley reached. Herrera was only in the game because their regular secondbaseman, Roy Hartsfield, came up lame earlier in the game while running the bases.

With the tying run on and one out, David Eckstein hit a liner up the middle to put it in scoring position with the go-ahead run now also on base. Dode Criss came up clutch once again, hitting a little seeing-eye single through the right side of the infield, scoring Ackley to tie the game and chase Joss from the mound. Doc Leitner, a young right-hander, came on and fell behind 3-1 to Fran Healy, who eventually dropped a bloop single to left field to load the bases in a tied game. Pinky Higgins sent Oscar Taveras up to pinch-hit for Tom Burgmeier, but the kid struck out for the second out of the game. Emilio Bonifacio wasn't going to go down quietly, however, as he laced a bases-clearing double to left, giving us a three-run lead!

On the very next pitch, Johnny Moore singled past secondbase to score Bonifacio, and then Kaline whacked his second two-run shot of the inning to make it 12-6.

Cody Reed came on to work the bottom of the ninth inning, needing only 10 pitches to send down Herrera, Andre Ethier, and Kent Hrbek in order.

One hell of a ballgame and comeback!

[Moriarty9]

What will happen to David Eckstein and his 20-game hitting streak?

The Boston Red Sox shortstop tweaked his back in the field earlier today, leaving the game in the eighth inning. Fortunately for Eckstein, aged 28, he had already gone 2-for-3 in the game, extending his streak of consecutive games with a basehit to 20 games.

Whether that streak will continue is now in question. Locker room sources indicate Eckstein will be evaluated on a daily basis to see how his tight back is responding to treatment in the trainer's room, but the hard-nosed and scrappy infielder surely will be pushing to be back on the field tomorrow as the Red Sox play the middle game of a three-game set in Los Angeles against the Angels at Wrigley Field.

Will the back keep Eckstein out of the lineup for a few days, perhaps cooling off his red hot bat? Will the tightness hamper his swing, leading to an 0-fer at the plate? Or will he persevere and keep on racking up the hits, back pain or no back pain?

[Moriarty9]

Eckstein went 2-for-3 with a double on May 9, but went 0-for-4 on May 10, snapping his hit streak at 21 games.

Originally Posted by Moriarty9

What will happen to David Eckstein and his 20-game hitting streak?

The Boston Red Sox shortstop tweaked his back in the field earlier today, leaving the game in the eighth inning. Fortunately for Eckstein, aged 28, he had already gone 2-for-3 in the game, extending his streak of consecutive games with a basehit to 20 games.

Whether that streak will continue is now in question. Locker room sources indicate Eckstein will be evaluated on a daily basis to see how his tight back is responding to treatment in the trainer's room, but the hard-nosed and scrappy infielder surely will be pushing to be back on the field tomorrow as the Red Sox play the middle game of a three-game set in Los Angeles against the Angels at Wrigley Field.

Will the back keep Eckstein out of the lineup for a few days, perhaps cooling off his red hot bat? Will the tightness hamper his swing, leading to an 0-fer at the plate? Or will he persevere and keep on racking up the hits, back pain or no back pain?

[Moriarty9]

Boy, this team is on a roll!

We've won six straight games, pushing our record to a MLB-best 20-7. We're 4 1/2 games ahead of the Kansas City Athletics, who are 15-11. The Washington Senators are right behind them at 17-15, 5 1/2 games back.

Al Kaline hit his eighth home run of the season in a 5-3 win over the Senators at Griffith Stadium earlier today, and we've got them for a double-header tomorrow. Taking any double-header is tough, so we'll see if we're able to turn that six-game streak and extend it.

Pinky Higgins plans to send Sean Bergman (2-2, 4.56 ERA) to the mound in the first game, opposed by Washington's Brian Holman (2-1, 2.10 ERA). In the second game, we've got Nick Bierbrodt (1-0, 5.33 ERA) up against Larry Cheney (4-1, 3.61 ERA).

[Moriarty9]

Howie Camnitz was on top of his game today, leading the Boston Red Sox in a 6-0 win over the visiting Cleveland Indians.

Camnitz held Cleveland to two hits and two walks in the shutout, striking out six. With the pitching gem, he improved to 5-2 with a 2.14 ERA on the season. The 25-year-old right-hander needed just 104 pitches to get through the nine scoreless innings, throwing 73 strikes.

Emilio Bonifacio helped lead the Boston lineup, going 2-for-3 with a walk, a triple, and three RBI out of the leadoff spot.

The Red Sox improved to 23-8 with the victory, putting the Boston nine 3 1/2 games ahead of the second place Kansas City Athletics.

[Moriarty9]

The pitching staff took a blow today when we learned Wiley Dunham was done for the year.

We knew he was probably going to be out, but the doctors wanted to give it a couple days to let swelling subside before confirming he tore his labrum the other day.

Wiley is only 25, so he's a strong, young kid who has plenty of time to recover and bounce back. We'll miss him though. In 12 innings out of the bullpen, the kid has struck out 12 while only giving up seven hits and three walks. He's 2-0 with a 0.75 ERA in nine appearances.

I'm calling up Shane Bowers to take his place. Bowers, 25, was pitching pretty well in AAA, and should do a fine job in the bullpen.