Mike Torrez Won't Let Bucky Dent's Homer Ruin the Big Picture.(Interview)

MIKE TORREZ WON 16 GAMES IN 1978 AND POSTED A 3.96 ERA for the Boston Red Sox, and was 60-54 from 1978-82. He never has been invited back.

"Not even for an Old-Timers Day," Torrez said. "But I have nothing to be ashamed of."

Nor should he. In the realm of clutch performances, in playing well in a career-making or breaking situation, Torrez came through. At the time, it was probably the biggest game in the Red Sox's previous 32 seasons outside of the 1967 and '75 World Series.

It was October 2, 1978. Red Sox vs. New York Yankees. One-game playoff. The victor wins the American League East.

With the entire season hanging on his every pitch, Torrez pitched Boston to a 2-0 lead into the seventh inning. "I had butterflies," Torrez said from his home in White Plains, N.Y. "We win, we go on. We lose, we go home. I knew the circumstances. That's why I'm saying I pitched a great game." He pitched a great game except for one pitch. With two out and two on, shortstop Bucky Dent, who hit all of four homers all season, popped an inside fastball toward left. It looked like a lazy flyball.

"The balls hit earlier weren't going anywhere," Torrez said. "When he hit it, I was walking toward the dugout. Yaz (left fielder Carl Yastrzemski) was pounding his glove. But the ball kept carrying. It was weird."

Torrez remembers the flags hanging still all game. Before the inning, he happened to look out and see the flags blowing out a bit toward the Green Monster in left, only 310 feet from home plate. The ball carried over the 37-foot fence fence to give the Yankees a 3-2 lead, and they went on to win 5-4.