[Papi]

April 27,28 at Oakland Athletics (7-10)

April 27-Andre Dawson hit a grand slam in the top of the 10th inning, breaking a 1-1 tie and giving the Red Sox a 5-1 lead, only to see the A's score five times in their half of the inning, on bases clearing double from Brent Gates and a walkoff, two run homerun off the bat of Troy Neel off Jeff Russell. Roger Clemens picked up a hard luck no decision, going the first nine innings, giving up seven hits and one run, striking out seven. (11-9)
W-Dennis Eckersley (2-1) L-Jeff Russell (1-1) HR-BOS Andre Dawson (2), OAK Howard Johnson (2), Troy Neel (7)

April 28-Howard Johnson hit a grand slam and Bobby Witt held Boston to 11 hits, nine of them singles, and just one unearned run, without walking anyone and striking out four as the Athletics hammered Boston, 9-1. Mike Bordick added two hits and two RBI in the win for Oakland. (11-10)
W-Bobby Witt (2-2) L-Aaron Sele (2-3) HR-OAK Howard Johnson (3)

April 30, May 1,2 v California Angels (11-8)

April 30-The Red Sox offense exploded for three runs in the first and six runs in both the second and third innings, taking a 15-0 lead after three, en route to a 17-0 shellacking of the Angels. Scott Cooper lead the way, going 3-4 with a pair of homeruns and four RBI, while Tim Naehring homered, doubled and drove in four runs as well in the win. Frank Viola was on the way to his best start of the year, (4 1/3 IP 1 H 0 R 0 ER 2 BB 3 K) before leaving with tightness in his hip. (12-10)
W-Greg Harris (1-0) L-Phil Leftwich (4-1) HR-BOS Scott Cooper 2(3), Tim Naehring (2) John Valentin (1)

May 1-Eduardo Perez, 0-10 coming into the game, went 2-4 with a double and a homerun and Stan Javier added two hits and two RBI as the Angels beat the Red Sox, 5-2. Scott Fletcher kept Boston from being no hit as he accounted for all three Boston hits, going 3-5 with two RBI in the loss. (12-11)
W-Julio Valera (2-1) L-Danny Darwin (1-3) S-Joe Grahe (7) HR-CAL Eduardo Perez (1)

May 2-Roger Clemens pitched seven innings, giving up just five hits and one run, walking three and striking out seven, and Tim Naehring lead the offense, going 3-5 with a double and two RBI as Boston took two of three from California, beating the Angels, 5-2. (13-11)
W-Roger Clemens (2-2) L-Mark Langston (1-4) S-Jeff Russell (4)

News and Notes:

AL Batter of the Month: Troy Neel (Oakland) .403 (29-72) 7-28 .470 OBP
AL Pitcher of the Month: Randy Johnson (Seattle) 5-0 0.90 40 IP 43 K
AL Rookie of the Month: Phil Leftwich (California) 4-1 4.05 33 1/3 IP 18 K

NL Batter of the Month: Gary Sheffield (San Diego) .385 8-16 25 Runs
NL Pitcher of the Month: Darren Holmes (Colorado) 1-0 0.71 12 2/3 IP 12 K 9 SVS
NL Rookie of the Month: Jeromy Burnitz (New York) .344 (31-90) 7-24 20 Runs

Trade News:

-The Pittsburgh Pirates have traded C Mike LaValliere to the Cleveland Indians, in exchange for reliever Mike Plunk. LaValliere was hitting .333 (8-24) 0-2 for the Pirates this year, primarily as a backup. The 28 year old Plunk was 1-0 with a 3.97 ERA for the Indians. He had thrown 11 1/3 innings, striking out 10.

Mike LaValliere Batting
Career Batting Stats

Year/Team/League	Age	G	AB	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	R	BB	HP	SF	K	SB	CS	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS	VORP
1984 Philadelphia - ML	23	6	7	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	2	0	0	.000	.222	.000	.222	0.0
1985 St. Louis - ML	24	12	34	5	1	0	0	6	2	7	0	3	3	0	0	.147	.273	.176	.449	0.0
1986 St. Louis - ML	25	110	303	71	10	2	3	30	18	36	1	0	37	0	1	.234	.318	.310	.628	0.0
1987 Pittsburgh - ML	26	121	340	102	19	0	1	36	33	43	1	3	32	0	0	.300	.377	.365	.742	0.0
1988 Pittsburgh - ML	27	120	352	92	18	0	2	47	24	50	2	4	34	3	2	.261	.353	.330	.682	0.0
1989 Pittsburgh - ML	28	68	190	60	10	0	2	23	15	29	0	0	24	0	2	.316	.406	.400	.806	0.0
1990 Pittsburgh - ML	29	96	279	72	15	0	3	31	27	44	2	1	20	0	3	.258	.362	.344	.706	0.0
1991 Pittsburgh - ML	30	108	336	97	11	2	3	41	25	33	2	5	27	2	1	.289	.351	.360	.711	0.0
1992 Pittsburgh - ML	31	95	293	75	13	1	2	29	22	44	1	5	21	0	3	.256	.350	.328	.677	0.0
1993 Cleveland - ML	32	4	16	8	0	0	0	2	1	1	0	0	2	0	0	.500	.529	.500	1.029	2.9
1993 Pittsburgh - ML	32	8	24	8	1	1	0	2	6	1	0	0	2	1	0	.333	.360	.458	.818	2.0
1993 Total - ML	32	12	40	16	1	1	0	4	7	2	0	0	4	1	0	.400	.429	.475	.904	5.0
Total ML		748	2174	590	98	6	16	247	173	290	9	21	204	6	12	.271	.356	.344	.701	5.0

Eric Plunk Pitching
Career Pitching Stats

Year/Team/League	Age	G	GS	W	L	SV	ERA	IP	HA	R	ER	HR	BB	K	CG	SHO	WHIP	BABIP	VORP
1986 Oakland - ML	22	26	15	4	7	0	5.31	120.1	91	75	71	14	102	98	0	0	1.60	.244	0.0
1987 Oakland - ML	23	32	11	4	6	2	4.74	95.0	91	53	50	8	62	90	0	0	1.61	.311	0.0
1988 Oakland - ML	24	49	0	7	2	5	3.00	78.0	62	27	26	6	39	79	0	0	1.29	.277	0.0
1989 Oakland - ML	25	23	0	1	1	1	2.20	28.2	17	7	7	1	12	24	0	0	1.01	.213	0.0
1989 New York - ML	25	27	7	7	5	0	3.69	75.2	65	36	31	9	52	61	0	0	1.55	.269	0.0
1989 Total - ML	25	50	7	8	6	1	3.28	104.1	82	43	38	10	64	85	0	0	1.40	.254	0.0
1990 New York - ML	26	47	0	6	3	0	2.72	72.2	58	27	22	6	43	67	0	0	1.39	.277	0.0
1991 New York - ML	27	43	8	2	5	0	4.76	111.2	128	69	59	18	62	103	0	0	1.70	.327	0.0
1992 Cleveland - ML	28	58	0	9	6	4	3.64	71.2	61	31	29	5	38	50	0	0	1.38	.262	0.0
1993 Pittsburgh - ML	29	2	0	0	2	0	10.13	2.2	4	3	3	0	1	2	0	0	1.88	.364	-1.4
1993 Cleveland - ML	29	9	0	1	0	0	3.97	11.1	9	5	5	0	8	10	0	0	1.50	.281	1.8
1993 Total - ML	29	11	0	1	2	0	5.14	14.0	13	8	8	0	9	12	0	0	1.57	.302	0.4
Total ML		316	41	41	37	12	4.08	667.2	586	333	303	67	419	584	0	0	1.51	.281	0.4

Next up for the Sox are a pair of quick two game series, first against the Seattle Mariners, followed by us playing host to the Oakland Athletics for a pair.