1998 Division Series: Cleveland Indians versus Boston Red Sox by Baseball Almanac

1998 Division Series: Cleveland Indians versus Boston Red Sox

As in the previous year's contest, all teams participating in the American League Divisional Series were entering familiar territory. Manager Joe Torre's Yankees had remained the top story throughout 1998 after outplaying the infamous 1927 team and finishing the season with an astonishing one hundred fourteen (114) regular-season wins — and soon-to-be eleven (11) postseason victories. The Bombers win column had represented the most "Ws" by any team in one hundred twenty-three (123) years of Major League baseball and most felt that a trip to the Fall Classic, over the Texas Rangers, was a foregone conclusion. Their rivals, the Boston Red Sox were desperately trying to end a thirteen-game playoff-losing streak dating back to 1986, and were slated to go against the always-competitive Cleveland Indians.

As predicted, the Yankees did not disappoint their fans and continued a historic run at their 24th World Series title by sweeping the Texas Rangers three-games-to-none behind one of baseball's greatest pitching rotations: David Wells, Andy Pettitte, David Cone and closer Mariano Rivera. They would go on to complete their incredible season with a four-game sweep of the San Diego Padres and a final-season club a record of 125-50.

The Boston Red Sox were counting on their own rotation led by the newly acquired Pedro Martinez to take them the distance. Hitting however, proved their greatest asset in Game 1 as "lumberjack" Mo Vaughn homered twice and drove in seven runs himself. The result was an 11-3 road-win that finally ended their postseason misery (at least for the time being). Both teams continued to trade wins and Red Sox starter Pete Schourek seemed in total control for Game 4 after shutting out the Indians on two hits for 5 1/3 innings. Tom Gordon, who had set a major league record during the regular season with forty-three (43) consecutive saves, was brought in to finish the job, but stumbled after David Justice hit a two-run double in the eighth that resulted in a 2-1 victory and another shot at the American League title.

"Both the fans and the press alike were critical of Boston manager Jimy Williams for not starting his ace, Pedro Martinez, on three day's rest in Game 4." - Total Baseball VII (Thorn, Palmer, Gershen, 2001)

1998 Division Series 1998 Division Series Ticket Cleveland Indians (3) vs Boston Red Sox (1)
1998 Division Series Fast Facts
Game 1	Date / Box Score	09-29-1998
	Location	Jacobs Field
	Attendance	45,185
Game 2	Date / Box Score	09-30-1998
	Location	Jacobs Field
	Attendance	45,229
Game 3	Date / Box Score	10-02-1998
	Location	Fenway Park
	Attendance	33,114
Game 4	Date / Box Score	10-03-1998
	Location	Fenway Park
	Attendance	33,537
1998 Division Series Fast Facts

1998 Division Series Game 1 Line Score / Box Score
1998 Division Series Game 1 Capsule
Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Boston	3	0	0	0	3	2	0	3	0	11	12	0
Cleveland	0	0	0	0	0	2	1	0	0	3	7	0
Boston Pitcher(s)						Cleveland Pitcher(s)
Pedro Martinez (W) Jim Corsi (8^th) - - - -						Jaret Wright (L) Doug Jones (5^th) Steve Reed (8^th) Jim Poole (8^th) Paul Shuey (8^th) Paul Assenmacher (9^th)
Boston Home Runs						Cleveland Runs
Mo Vaughn (1^st) Nomar Garciaparra (5^th) Mo Vaughn (6^th)						Kenny Lofton (6^th) Jim Thome (7^th) -
1998 Division Series Game 1 Capsule

1998 Division Series Game 2 Line Score / Box Score
1998 Division Series Game 2 Capsule
Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Boston	2	0	1	0	0	2	0	0	0	5	10	0
Cleveland	1	5	1	0	0	1	0	1	x	9	9	1
Boston Pitcher(s)						Cleveland Pitcher(s)
Tim Wakefield (L) John Wasdin (2^nd) Derek Lowe (4^th) Greg Swindell (6^th) Tom Gordon (8^th)						Dwight Gooden Dave Burba (1^st, W) Paul Shuey (6^th) Paul Assenmacher (8^th) Mike Jackson (8^th, SV)
Boston Home Runs						Cleveland Home Runs
None						David Justice (2^nd)
1998 Division Series Game 2 Capsule

1998 Division Series Game 3 Line Score / Box Score
1998 Division Series Game 3 Capsule
Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Cleveland	0	0	0	0	1	1	1	0	1	4	5	0
Boston	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	2	3	6	0
Cleveland Pitcher(s)						Boston Pitcher(s)
Charles Nagy (W) Mike Jackson (9^th, SV ) -						Bret Saberhagen (L) Jim Corsi (8^th) Dennis Eckersley (9^th)
Cleveland Home Runs						Boston Home Runs
Jim Thome (5^th) Kenny Lofton (6^th) Manny Ramirez (7^th) Manny Ramirez (9^th)						Nomar Garciaparra (5^th) - - -
1998 Division Series Game 3 Capsule

1998 Division Series Game 4 Line Score / Box Score
1998 Division Series Game 4 Capsule
Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Cleveland	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	2	5	0
Boston	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	6	0
Cleveland Pitcher(s)						Boston Pitcher(s)
Bartolo Colon Jim Poole (6^th) Steve Reed (7^th, W) Paul Assenmacher (8^th) Paul Shuey (8^th) Mike Jackson (9^th, SV)						Pete Schourek Derek Lowe (6^th) Tom Gordon (8^th, L) - - -
Cleveland Home Runs						Boston Home Runs
None						Nomar Garciaparra (4^th)
1998 Division Series Game 4 Capsule

1998 Division Series Hitting Statistics
Name	Pos	G	AB	H	2B	3B	HR	R	RBI	Avg	BB	SO	SB
Sandy Alomar, Jr. Paul Assenmacher Dave Burba Bartolo Colon Joey Cora Travis Fryman Brian Giles Dwight Gooden Mike Jackson Doug Jones David Justice Kenny Lofton Charles Nagy Jim Poole Manny Ramirez Steve Reed Richie Sexson Paul Shuey Jim Thome Omar Vizquel Enrique Wilson Jaret Wright	c p p p ph-1, 2b-4 3b dh-1, lf-2 p p p lf-2, dh-2 cf p p rf p 1b p dh-1, 1b-3 ss 2b p	4 3 1 1 4 4 3 1 3 1 4 4 1 2 4 2 3 3 4 4 1 1	13 0 0 0 10 13 10 0 0 0 16 16 0 0 14 0 2 0 15 15 2 0	3 0 0 0 1 2 2 0 0 0 5 6 0 0 5 0 0 0 2 1 0 0	3 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 4 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0	0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0	0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 2 0 0 0 2 0 0 0	2 0 0 0 2 1 1 0 0 0 2 5 0 0 2 0 0 0 2 1 0 0	2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 4 0 0 3 0 0 0 2 0 0 0	.231 .000 .000 .000 .000 .154 .200 .000 .000 .000 .312 .375 .000 .000 .357 .000 .000 .000 .133 .067 .000 .000	1 0 0 0 3 3 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 2 0 2 1 0 0	4 0 0 0 2 4 4 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 4 0 1 0 5 0 0 0	0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Totals			126	26	12	0	7	18	17	.206	15	26	3
1998 Division Series Hitting Statistics
Name	Pos	G	AB	H	2B	3B	HR	R	RBI	Avg	BB	SO	SB
Mike Benjamin Darren Bragg Damon Buford Jim Corsi Midre Cummings Dennis Eckersley Nomar Garciaparra Tom Gordon Scott Hatteberg Darren Lewis Derek Lowe Pedro Martinez Trot Nixon Troy O'Leary Bret Saberhagen Donnie Sadler Pete Schourek Mike Stanley Greg Swindell John Valentin Jason Varitek Mo Vaughn Tim Wakefield John Wasdin	1b-1, 2b-3 rf pr-2, ph-1, cf-, dh-1 p ph p ss p c cf p p ph-1, rf-2 lf p pr-1, 1b-1, 2b-3 p dh p 3b c 1b p p	4 3 3 2 3 1 4 2 3 4 2 1 2 4 1 3 1 4 1 4 1 4 1 1	11 12 1 0 3 0 15 0 9 14 0 0 3 16 0 0 0 15 0 15 4 17 0 0	1 1 2 0 4 0 5 0 1 5 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 4 0 7 1 7 0 0	0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 0 0	0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0	0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0	1 0 2 0 3 0 4 0 0 4 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 5 0 3 0 0	0 0 0 0 0 0 11 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 7 0 0	.091 .083 .000 .000 .000 .000 .333 .000 .111 .357 .000 .000 .333 .062 .000 .000 .000 .267 .000 .467 .250 .412 .000 .000	1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 3 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 2 0 3 0 1 0 0	3 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 3 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 5 0 1 1 5 0 0	0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Totals			135	34	6	0	5	20	19	.252	14	28	1

1998 Division Series Pitching Statistics
Name	W	L	G	GS	CG	S	Sh	IP	ERA	H	SO	ER	BB
Paul Assenmacher Dave Burba Bartolo Colon Dwight Gooden Mike Jackson Doug Jones Charles Nagy Jim Poole Steve Reed Paul Shuey Jaret Wright	0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0	0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1	3 1 1 1 3 1 1 2 2 3 1	0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 1	0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0	0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0	0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0	1.0 5.1 5.2 0.1 4.0 2.2 8.0 1.0 0.2 3.0 4.3	0.00 5.06 1.59 54.00 4.50 6.75 1.12 0.00 40.50 0.00 12.46	2 4 5 1 3 3 4 1 1 3 7	2 4 3 1 1 1 3 2 1 4 6	0 3 1 2 2 2 1 0 3 0 2	0 2 3 2 1 1 0 1 1 1 6
Totals	3	0	19	4	0	3	0	36.0	5.00	34	28	20	14
1998 Division Series Pitching Statistics
Name	W	L	G	GS	CG	S	Sh	IP	ERA	H	SO	ER	BB
Jim Corsi Dennis Eckersley Tom Gordon Derek Lowe Pedro Martinez Bret Saberhagen Pete Schourek Greg Swindell Tim Wakefield John Wasdin	0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0	0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0	2 1 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1	0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 1 0	0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0	0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0	0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0	3.0 1.0 3.0 4.1 7.0 7.0 5.1 1.1 1.1 1.2	0.00 9.00 9.00 2.08 3.86 3.86 0.00 0.00 33.75 10.80	1 1 4 3 6 4 2 0 3 2	2 1 1 2 8 7 1 1 1 2	0 1 3 1 3 3 0 0 5 2	1 0 4 1 0 1 4 1 2 1
Totals	1	3	13	3	0	0	0	35.0	4.63	26	26	18	15

The quote at the top of the page about Boston Red Sox manager Jimy Williams not using his ace on three days rest — do you think it would have made a difference? Share your thoughts on Baseball Fever.

David Justice hit one double during Game 1, one double during Game 2 and two doubles during Game 4 setting a new American League record for doubles hit during a 4-game Division Series.

Did you know that when Dennis Eckersley took the mound during Game 3, he beame the oldest Division Series pitcher in history? The future hall of fame closer was forty-three years, eleven months and twenty-nine days "young".

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