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It was pretty clear from the beginning that Clemens was amped up and overthrowing. I can’t blame him since it was his first ever postseason start, but after the first inning it was obvious he was just trying to blow guys away with his speed as he hardly mixed in any of his offspeed stuff. After the fourth inning, though, he settled down and threw much better. What follows is based on of the notes I took while re-watching all seven games.
For the first month of the season Henderson was the Royals' regular right fielder, however he only hit 9-for-47 (.191) with 2 home runs and 8 RBIs. Over the coming months he appeared more as DH and was not an everyday player. Through late July he was hitting .247 with 5 home runs at 31 RBIs, having appeared in only 56 of the team's 103 games. In 1989 Henderson was again the team's primary center fielder, playing 134 complete games, and appearing in a total of 152 games during the season. His hitting wasn't as good as the prior year, as he batted .250 (down from .304) and had 131 strikeouts . The Athletics had a 99–63 record to win the AL West again, finishing 7 games ahead of the Kansas City Royals.
Donnie Moore accepted the blame and took a lot of heat
There were a couple of interesting pregame things I didn’t know or remember as the series started which I was reminded of on the broadcast. The Red Sox had home field advantage in the series and hosted games 1, 2, 6, and 7 while the Angles hosted games 3, 4, and 5. The series started on October 7, 1986, a mere two days after the Red Sox final game of the regular season. The ALCS and NLCS, which had come into being in 1969 when Major League Baseball split the two leagues into two divisions each, had been a best-of-five series from 1969 to 1984.
Dave Henderson came to spring training in 1988 as a non-roster invitee. He won the center field job and quickly made himself valuable in ways that went beyond box scores. In Henderson’s first five years, the A entered the playoffs four times and made it to the World Series for three consecutive seasons in 1988–90, winning the 1989 title. He got a second straight fastball with a 1-0 count, took it to the center and extended his left arm in the direction of the Dodgers dugout in anticipation of a celebration. Steven Duggar raced toward the warning track, momentarily losing his footing as he suddenly began to overtake, then securing the catch on the edge of the dirt. It was his twenty-sixth season as a manager and he came one agonizing strike away from the World Series.
Dave Henderson, who hit famous playoff homer against Angels, dies at 57
Back home, in front of his young children, Moore put a gun to his head and killed himself. After his playing career ended, Henderson spent time as a broadcaster for the Mariners and ran fantasy camps for A’s and Mariners fans. He also raised funds to support research of Angelman Syndrome, a genetic disorder that affected his son Chase.
The Angels tied the game 6–6 in the bottom of the ninth, and the game went into extra innings. In the top of the 11th, the Red Sox loaded the bases with no outs, and Henderson hit a sacrifice fly that Baylor scored on, which put the Red Sox ahead 7–6 and proved to be the margin of victory. Still down 3 games to 2 in the series, the Red Sox returned home to Fenway Park for the final two games, where they defeated the Angels 10–4 and 8–1 to capture the AL pennant. Henderson played center field for both of those games – collecting a walk and a run in each game, but going hitless – as Armas' injury kept him from playing. For the ALCS, Henderson finished 1-for-9 at the plate, with his only hit being the season-saving home run in Game 5. Before the start of the 1994 season, Henderson was signed as a free agent by the Kansas City Royals, as the club intended to platoon him with Bob Hamelin.
Dave Henderson, ’86 Red Sox Hero With a Fateful Home Run, Dies at 57
In the next inning, Spike Owen made a throwing error with two on which allowed another run to score. With his first pitch, Lucas hit Gedman on the shoulder which put him on base. At this point you could hear the crowd get a little antsy; not necessarily nervous, but in a “come on, can’t we just finish this now?
Like Roger Clemens in Game Four, Hurst would be starting on three days’ rest. The Red Sox faced Mike Witt, who had gone the distance in California’s Game One win. Henderson is best remembered for the two-out, two-strike home run he hit in the top of the ninth inning in Game 5 of the 1986 ALCS. At the time, the California Angels were playing at home and had a 3-1 series lead. They had a 5-2 lead going into the ninth and were three outs away from their first-ever trip to the World Series, but Boston closed the gap to 5-4 on a two-run home run by former Angel Don Baylor. Henderson played in 575 regular-season games during that span, hitting .275 with 84 homers, 123 doubles and 322 RBIs.
Barrett continued his torrid series by going 3-for-4 with an RBI, Rich Gedman was 2-for-4 with an RBI, Spike Owen was 4-for-4 with two RBI, and Bill Buckner was 2-for-4 with an RBI. This was also the first game of the series where Buckner was hobbling so badly that it was painful to watch. His mobility had been limited all season and in the earlier games of this series, but it was so bad in this one that he could barely run to first or walk back to the dugout. Owen hit a two-RBI triple in the bottom of the seventh and the Red Sox won easily by a final score of 10-4. Interestingly, in this game it was the Red Sox contact hitters who did the most damage. Boyd did a lot of fist pumping, talking to himself, and walking around in circles on the mound and I remember as a kid that Red Sox fans liked it while other teams thought he was showing them up.
Henderson died early Sunday morning at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, according to a statement from the Mariners, one of five teams Henderson played for in his career. Henderson debuted with the Mariners in 1981 and played in the big leagues through 1994. He was a key member of the A's when the team made three straight World Series appearances from 1988 to 1990, winning it all in the earthquake series of 1989.
I always thought he was just trying to fire himself up more than anything else. The Red Sox struck first when Rich Gedman drove in a run in the second inning, but the Sox could’ve had more if they had paid attention to details a bit more. Overall, it was pretty sloppy in the field , exacerbated by the setting afternoon sun, but Hurst pitched great and the Red Sox evened up the series at a game apiece. Apart from Rice and Evans, none of the other Red Sox were on the team in 1978 and most had never been in the postseason before.
At the end of May he was hitting .240, then he struggled during June, dropping to a .206 average. The 1990 season again found Oakland winning the AL West, this year with a 103–59 record, finishing ahead of the Chicago White Sox by 9 games. Henderson batted .271 with 20 home runs and 63 RBIs, while appearing in 127 games, including 100 complete games in center field.
He made his debut in 1981 and was traded to Boston during the 1986 season. He later played for the San Francisco Giants and the Kansas City Royals. In 14 seasons in the majors, Henderson was a reliable contributor to four teams that reached the World Series.
He struggled at the plate throughout the season; at the end of April, he was batting .135, which improved only slightly to .172 at the end of May. After then going 1-for-10 at the start of June, he was sent back down to Spokane in Class AAA. Henderson hit 4-for-13 (.308) with two home runs and four RBIs during the series. For the 1989 postseason his batting average was .281 (9-for-32) with three home runs and nine RBIs, and he played center field throughout. Henderson joined the 1986 Red Sox on August 19, and appeared in 36 games over the remainder of the regular season, with just 7 complete games . Most of his appearances were as a late-game defensive replacement in center field, or as a pinch hitter – he had only 51 at bats, collecting 10 hits (.196 average) with one home run and three RBIs.
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