1988 Boston Red Sox season

1988 Boston Red Sox
1988 AL East Champions
Major League affiliations
American League (since 1901)
Eastern Division (since 1969)
Location
Fenway Park (since 1912)
Boston, Massachusetts (since 1901)
Other information
Owner(s)	Jean Yawkey, Haywood Sullivan
General manager(s)	Lou Gorman
Manager(s)	John McNamara (W-43; L-42) and Joe Morgan (W-46; L-31)
Local television	WSBK-TV, Ch. 38 (Sean McDonough, Bob Montgomery) NESN (Ned Martin, Jerry Remy)
Local radio	WPLM-FM 99.1 WPLM-AM 1390 (Ken Coleman, Joe Castiglione) WRCA (Bobby Serrano, Hector Martinez)
< Previous season     Next season  >

The 1988 Boston Red Sox season was a season in American baseball. It involved the Red Sox finishing first in the American League East with a record of 89 wins and 73 losses.

Offseason

• December 8, 1987: Lee Smith was traded by the Chicago Cubs to the Boston Red Sox for Al Nipper and Calvin Schiraldi.^[1]
• January 5, 1988: Dennis Lamp was signed as a Free Agent with the Boston Red Sox.^[2]

Regular season

Season standings

AL East	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Boston Red Sox	89	73	0.549	—	53–28	36–45
Detroit Tigers	88	74	0.543	1	50–31	38–43
Milwaukee Brewers	87	75	0.537	2	47–34	40–41
Toronto Blue Jays	87	75	0.537	2	45–36	42–39
New York Yankees	85	76	0.528	3½	46–34	39–42
Cleveland Indians	78	84	0.481	11	44–37	34–47
Baltimore Orioles	54	107	0.335	34½	34–46	20–61

Record vs. opponents

1988 American League Records Sources:
Team	BAL	BOS	CAL	CWS	CLE	DET	KC	MIL	MIN	NYY	OAK	SEA	TEX	TOR
Baltimore	—	4–9	5–7	4–7	4–9	5–8	0–12	4–9	3–9	3–10	4–8	7–5	6–6	5–8
Boston	9–4	—	8–4	7–5	8–5	6–7	6–6	10–3	7–5	9–4	3–9	6–6	8–4	2–11
California	7–5	4–8	—	9–4	8–4	5–7	5–8	3–9	4–9	6–6	4–9	6–7	8–5	6–6
Chicago	7–4	5–7	4–9	—	3–9	3–9	7–6	6–6	4–9	3–9	5–8	9–4	8–5	7–5
Cleveland	9–4	5–8	4–8	9–3	—	4–9	6–6	9–4	5–7	6–7	4–8	5–7	6–6	6–7
Detroit	8–5	7–6	7–5	9–3	9–4	—	8–4	5–8	1–11	8–5	4–8	9–3	8–4	5–8
Kansas City	12–0	6–6	8–5	6–7	6–6	4–8	—	3–9	7–6	6–6	8–5	7–5	7–6	4–8
Milwaukee	9–4	3–10	9–3	6–6	4–9	8–5	9–3	—	7–5	6–7	3–9	8–4	8–4	7–6
Minnesota	9–3	5–7	9–4	9–4	7–5	11–1	6–7	5–7	—	3–9	5–8	8–5	7–6	7–5
New York	10–3	4–9	6–6	9–3	7–6	5–8	6–6	7–6	9–3	—	6–6	5–7	5–6	6–7
Oakland	8–4	9–3	9–4	8–5	8–4	8–4	5–8	9–3	8–5	6–6	—	9–4	8–5	9–3
Seattle	5–7	6–6	7–6	4–9	7–5	3–9	5–7	4–8	5–8	7–5	4–9	—	6–7	5–7
Texas	6–6	4–8	5–8	5–8	6–6	4–8	6–7	4–8	6–7	6–5	5–8	7–6	—	6–6
Toronto	8–5	11–2	6–6	5–7	7–6	8–5	8–4	6–7	5–7	7–6	3–9	7–5	6–6	—

Notable Transactions

• April 15, 1988: Rick Cerone signed as a Free Agent with the Boston Red Sox.^[3]
• July 29, 1988: Curt Schilling was traded by the Boston Red Sox with Brady Anderson to the Baltimore Orioles for Mike Boddicker.

Opening Day Line Up

5	Brady Anderson	CF
17	Marty Barrett	2B
26	Wade Boggs	3B
14	Jim Rice	LF
39	Mike Greenwell	RF
24	Dwight Evans	1B
30	Sam Horn	DH
10	Rich Gedman	C
7	Spike Owen	SS
21	Roger Clemens	P

The Rough Beginning

The team that year was much better than their chaotic 1987 season as evident as the team went 14-6 in April, but the hitting went sour especially Jim Rice as he went from left field to designated hitter. Dwight Evans also had problems when he played first base and even Lee Smith had problems including one game in which he give up a game-winning home run against the Tigers on opening Day. The Red Sox would have an 11-16 record in May.

The team would have a so-so June with a 14-12 record, but lost Jeff Sellers when he was hit by a line drive in Cleveland and broke his hand. Wes Gardner was taken from the bullpen to become a starter, but the team and its fans were losing patience.

Morgan Magic

At the All-Star break the Red Sox were 43-42, 9 games behind the front running Detroit Tigers. But management had seen enough, and fired John McNamara and hired 58-year-old Joe Morgan as their manager. On July 15, the Red Sox and Roger Clemens beat Bret Saberhagen's Kansas City Royals 3-1 to begin a 12-game winning streak and launched them to first place over the slumping Yankees and Tigers. The Red Sox would later set an American League record of 24 straight home victories. 60 days after Morgan became Red Sox manager they were 81-63 and 4.5 games ahead of first.

Staggering But Still Won The East

After a bad road trip to Toronto, the Sox came to Yankee Stadium up by 4, and won 2 out of 3 to just about clinch the A.L. East flag. Unfortunately, the hitting slump the team had been in for a while reasserted itself, and the Sox lost 3 to Toronto in Boston, but they crushed the Indians on September 29 to clinch a tie for first. The Yanks and Milwaukee lost the next day, and the division title was Boston's. Their 2nd A.L. East title in 3 seasons.

Roster

1988 Boston Red Sox
Roster
Pitchers 52 Mike Boddicker 50 Tom Bolton 23 Oil Can Boyd 21 Roger Clemens 56 Zach Crouch 53 Steve Curry 28 Steve Ellsworth 44 Wes Gardner 47 Bruce Hurst 15 Dennis Lamp 54 Mike Rochford 19 Jeff Sellers 48 Lee Smith 41 Mike Smithson 46 Bob Stanley 42 John Trautwein 45 Rob Woodward		Catchers  6 Rick Cerone 10 Rich Gedman 20 John Marzano Infielders 17 Marty Barrett 38 Todd Benzinger 26 Wade Boggs 27 Pat Dodson  7 Spike Owen 25 Larry Parrish  3 Jody Reed 11 Ed Romero		Outfielders  5 Brady Anderson 12 Ellis Burks 24 Dwight Evans 39 Mike Greenwell 55 Randy Kutcher 18 Carlos Quintana 14 Jim Rice 16 Kevin Romine Other batters 30 Sam Horn		Manager  2 John McNamara 35 Joe Morgan Coaches 37 Al Bumbry (First Base) 34 Bill Fischer (Pitching) 33 Walt Hriniak (Hitting) 32 Jerry McNertney (Bullpen) 35 Joe Morgan (Third Base) 36 Rac Slider (Bullpen, Third Base)

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At Bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting Average; HR = Home Runs; RBI = Runs Batted In

Pos	Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
C	Rich Gedman	95	299	69	.231	9	39
1B	Todd Benzinger	120	405	103	.254	13	70
2B	Marty Barrett	150	612	173	.283	1	65
3B	Wade Boggs	155	584	214	.366	5	58
SS	Jody Reed	109	338	99	.293	1	28
LF	Mike Greenwell	158	590	192	.325	22	119
CF	Ellis Burks	144	540	159	.294	18	92
RF	Dwight Evans	149	559	164	.293	21	111
DH	Jim Rice	135	485	128	.264	15	72

Other batters

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Roger Clemens	35	264	18	12	2.93	291

Other pitchers

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO

Relief pitchers

Player	G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO

ALCS

Game 1

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Oakland	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	2	6	0
Boston	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	6	0
W: Rick Honeycutt (1-0)   L: Bruce Hurst (0-1)  S: Dennis Eckersley (1)
HR: OAK – José Canseco (1)

Game 2

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Oakland	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	1	4	10	1
Boston	0	0	0	0	0	2	1	0	0	3	4	1
W: Gene Nelson (1-0)   L: Lee Smith (0-1)  S: Dennis Eckersley (2)
HR: OAK – José Canseco (2)   BOS – Rich Gedman (1)

Game 3

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Boston	3	2	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	6	12	0
Oakland	0	4	2	0	1	0	1	2	X	10	15	1
W: Gene Nelson (2-0)   L: Mike Boddicker (0-1)  S: Dennis Eckersley (3)
HR: OAK – Mark McGwire (1)  Carney Lansford (1)  Ron Hassey (1)  Dave Henderson (1)  BOS – Mike Greenwell (1)

Game 4

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Boston	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	4	0
Oakland	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	2	X	4	10	1
W: Dave Stewart (1-0)   L: Bruce Hurst (0-2)  S: Dennis Eckersley (4)
HR: OAK – José Canseco (3)

Awards and honors

• Wade Boggs, American League Batting Champion, .366
• Wade Boggs, American League Leader, Runs (128)
• Wade Boggs, American League Leader, Doubles (45)
• Wade Boggs, American League Leader, Walks (125)
• Wade Boggs, Major League Baseball Leader, On-base percentage (.476)
• Roger Clemens, American League Leader, Complete Games (14)
• Roger Clemens, American League Leader, Shutouts (8)

All-Star Game

• Wade Boggs, Third Base, Starter
• Roger Clemens, Pitcher, Reserve
• Mike Greenwell, Outfield, Reserve

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Pawtucket Red Sox	International League	Ed Nottle
AA	New Britain Red Sox	Eastern League	Dave Holt
A	Lynchburg Red Sox	Carolina League	Dick Berardino
A	Winter Haven Red Sox	Florida State League	Doug Camilli
A-Short Season	Elmira Pioneers	New York–Penn League	Bill Limoncelli
Rookie	AZL Mariners/Red Sox	Arizona League	Mike Verdi and Myron Pines

AZL club affiliation shared with Seattle Mariners

References

1. Lee Smith Statistics - Baseball-Reference.com
2. Dennis Lamp Statistics and History - Baseball-Reference.com
3. Rick Cerone Statistics - Baseball-Reference.com

• 1988 Boston Red Sox team page at Baseball Reference
• 1988 Boston Red Sox season at baseball-almanac.com