O’Leary Is Power Source for Red Sox

There were many who were leery about the Boston Red Sox’s offensive potential a year ago. Such was the enormous shadow cast by Mo Vaughn.

Who would hit those mammoth home runs?

As left fielder Troy O’Leary’s towering eighth-inning drive disappeared into the left-field seats Sunday--his second home run in a 5-2 victory over the Angels--the plethora of Red Sox fans at Edison Field cheered.

Nothing to be leery about this season.

No one on the Red Sox blossomed more a year ago than O’Leary. His 28 home runs led the team. His 103 runs batted in were second.

After a slow first week, O’Leary seems to found that heavy-handed touch. He had a bases-empty homer run in the fourth, breaking a scoreless tie, and another in the eighth Sunday.

He also had a key single in the fifth that led to another Red Sox run.

“I needed to get locked in, like I was a year ago,” said O’Leary, who played at Cypress High.

O’Leary, who hit .280 in 1999, was two for 19 through the Boston’s first six games.

Not that anyone was concerned.

“I don’t consider six games a slump,” Red Sox Manager Jimy Williams said. “You want to see a slump, look up my numbers. I had a career slump.”

Williams, for the record, had three hits in 14 games lifetime. O’Leary had three Sunday.

“I’ve been hitting line drives that people were catching,” O’Leary said. “Sooner or later they were going to fall. You really don’t want to hear that. But you need to have patience. I’m not patient all the time.”

Neither are Red Sox fans, who haven’t had a World Series championship since 1918. When Vaughn bolted to the Angels, predictions were gloomy.

“During a meeting before last season, we said all of us had to do a little more and it would add up to Mo’s numbers,” O’Leary said.

It didn’t quite add up. The Red Sox hit 205 home runs in 1998 and 176 last season. Still, four players hit 20 or more, and the team reached the American League championship series.

In a way, O’Leary was Vaughn’s last gift. He studied under Vaughn for four seasons. O’Leary’s home run numbers went from 10 in 1995 to 23 in 1998.

Last season, he became the first player other than Vaughn to lead the Red Sox in home runs since Tom Brunansky in 1992.

“Mo is probably the reason I’m still playing,” O’Leary said. “I was a part-time player when I came here and Mo is really good at telling you things you need to know. Even if you don’t listen, Mo is very good at making you listen.”