New York 3, Boston 2: and in the amount of time it takes to say "Joe Dimaggio," the Fenway fans' visions of dancing in the streets that night had been abruptly subdued.
Zimmer yanked Torrez--two batters too late--after the big hurler walked Mickey Rivers, and then reliever Bob Stanley came in with stuff not respectable enough for batting practice.
Munson, given a third chance to knock Rivers in from second (Mickey had stolen easily), ripped a double into left-center on the second pitch offered by Stanley. Lou Pinella lined out to end the inning, but the damage had been done. New York led by two, with two-and-a-half innings to go.
Boston did nothing in the bottom of the seventh (righty Bob Bailey, inexplicably pinch-hitting for lefty Jack Brohamer, struck out looking against Gossage), setting the stage for the eventual game-winning run.
Pressure-pumped Reggie Jackson supplied it, and why not? On Stanley's fourth pitch to Jackson--and the seventh and last of his brief relief stint--the Yankee slugger took a fastball out over the plate and sent it air-mail express to the centerfield bleachers--5-2 now, and climbing.
But lyric Fenway came abuzz in the bottom of the eighth, as Remy ripped a double off "The Goose"; and then Yaz singled; and then Carlton Fisk singled; and then Fred Lynn did too. The gap had closed to 5-4 with just one out, and it seemed as though there might, indeed, be some joy in Mudville tonight.
Butch Hobson and George Scott killed the rally with a pop-up and a swinging third strike, though; and the whole mad season came down to Gossage versus the heart of the Red Sox lineup in the bottom of the ninth.
Burleson and Remy bunched together a one-out walk and a single to put men on first and second, setting the stage for James Edward Rice to stride to the plate.
Gossage held the mighty slugger at bay with his carbon-copy fast balls, forcing a sacrifice fly to right for the second out.
And so it came down to a perfectly written finish, like something out of a Thomas Hardy novel.
The heart and soul of the Boston Red Sox, Carl Yastrzemski, strode into the batter's box against the Yankees' best relief pitcher, Rich Gossage. It was strength against strength, class against class; and the big New Yorker won.
Yastrzemski chose to swing at the Goose's second offering, a tailing, low inside fastball, and the result was a fluffernut popup that fell easily in Graig Nettles' glove for the final out.
After the initial celebration, the Yanks were subdued, almost fatigued, it seemed, in the clubhouse. A few players downed beers as reporters crowded around, but there was no sign of champagne or wild carousing anywhere.
"It feels good to be done," Nettles said between sips of a Budweiser. "It's gotta be easier after this, it's just gotta be."
The Yankees take on the Kansas City Royals in the first of five games for the A.L. pennant tonight. The Red Sox will watch on T.V., having missed the trip to Kansas City by 90 feet.