Things were bleak in Boston during the summer of 1988. Governor Dukakis was ineffectively running for president and the Sox got off to a 43-42 start. Wade Boggs was being sued for palimony and some of his teammates might be embarrassed if certain photos came to light. Going into the All-Star break the team had a five game set in Chicago; they lost the first, won the second, lost the third, won the forth, and lost the fifth. Manager Joe McNamara was fired and Joe Morgan (not that one) was made the interim manager.
And then something happened. The disappointing team won twelve straight after the All-Star break. They dropped one in Texas but then won seven more in a row. Between July 16 and August 3, they moved from fourth place up to first. They fell back to second place the next day and stayed there until September 4 when they beat the Angels. They didn't relinquish first for the rest of the season and finished with an 89-73 record, 1 game ahead of Detroit. They were swept out of the post season by the A's.
Morgan managed for three more seasons with okay results; the 1989 team went 83-79, the 1990 team went 88-74 (but were again swept out of the post season by Oakland), and the 1991 team went 84-78. But maybe because of the summer of 1988 or maybe just because he was a local guy, Joe Morgan was a legend.
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