September 21, 2011

G156: Orioles 6, Red Sox 4

Orioles   - 010 001 220 - 6 10  0
Red Sox   - 001 210 000 - 4  9  1
Beckett was solid through five innings and the Red Sox had a 4-1 lead. Then, Beckett became John Lackey.

Two singles and a stolen base gave Baltimore a run in the sixth. Mark Reynolds's second home run of the night, a two-run job in the seventh, tied the game. And then Beckett left runners on second and third in the eighth for Alfredo Aceves. Vlad Guerrero's single scored them both to complete Beckett's line: 7.1-7-6-1-8, 109.

Carl Crawford tripled and scored in the third, doubled in two runs in the fourth, and singled in the sixth. In his final at-bat, leading off the ninth, he grounded out to second.

Jacoby Ellsbury's single in the third extended his hitting streak against the Orioles to 33 games.

Mike Aviles followed that single by hitting into an inning-ending 1-6-3 double play, but replays showed he easily beat the relay (his foot is on the bag in the shot below) and should have been called safe. Mike Winters's blown call cost the Red Sox a run, as Marco Scutaro was coming home from third on the play. ... Viva la human factor!


Example
Tommy Hunter / Josh Beckett
Ellsbury, CF
Aviles, 3B
Gonzalez, 1B
Ortiz, DH
Pedroia, 2B
Reddick, RF
Crawford, LF
Scutaro, SS
Varitek, C
With the Yankees beating the Rays 4-2 this afternoon, the Red Sox are one step closer to a playoff spot. Their Wild Card magic number is now 6.

Game thread.

Rays/Yankees at 1 PM and 7 PM.

6 comments:

FenFan said...

My loyalty is unquestionable but my sanity is waning...

johngoldfine said...

This month has just been too painful for me to listen to on the radio, much less gamethread. I check here in the morning for a summary I intentionally read so quickly I can't quite recall the details of later.

Was it Carlton Fisk who, very mordantly, said one dreadful September something like, 'Is it possible for a team to be mathematically eliminated while still in first place?'

johngoldfine said...

This is like a rotten love affair--good love done gone wrong. The pain and the love become indistinguishable.

laura k said...

My loyalty is unquestionable but my sanity is waning...

I was listening to Elvis Costello in the car on the way home last night, and I thought these lyrics were about trolls, and txt msgs from my NYY-loving sister, and my Sox loyalty.

And if they had a king of fools
Then I would wear that crown
And you can all die laughing
Because I'll wear it proudly
I'll wear it proudly...

Jim said...

"Viva la human factor!"

Yeah, and don't forget how "these things all even up eventually". Viva la Even-Up Faerie!

Lazy, lazy thinking to paper over umpire incompetence or in some cases too quick for a human to process accurately.

And there is no arguing with these folk.

allan said...

It will likely take the Yankees getting robbed of a pennant or championship to make a change.