This Week in Red Sox

On Friday, August 23, the Red Sox made a statement. It made all teams in major league baseball take notice-they would be a tough team to contend with in the postseason. More on that later. Tom Seaver was proving far more valuable than even the Sox front office had hoped for. He began the week by putting down the Twins 3-1. The future Hall of Famer hurled 8 2/3 innings, surrendered only 3 hits and fanned 7 before giving way to Bob Stanley for the final out. Rich Gedman broke a 1-1 tie in the top of the ninth with his 12th homer, a two-run job off future Soxer Frank Viola. Viola went all the way in a losing effort, surrendering 8 hits and fanning 7 Minnesota rallied the next night with a 5-1 win over the fading Al Nipper, who saw his record fall to 8-8 with a 4.95 ERA. The Twins power told the story, as tremendous homers by Kirby Puckett, and Kent Hrbek and another by Gary Gaetti made a winner out of Mark Portugal, who went in with a 3-8 record. Boston had 9 hits, including 3 by Dwigh...