Commemorate
| Game 141: September 6, 2007 | |||
 Red Sox |
7 | W: Clay Buchholz (3-0) S: Jonathan Papelbon (34) |
85-56, 1 game winning streak 29-12-5 series record Magic number: 16 |
| Orioles | 6 | L: Danys Baez (0-6) | 60-79, 2 game losing streak 17-26-2 series record |
| Highlights: The Red Sox reversed gears by gifting a late-inning loss to the home team; the team still has a losing record in one-run games, 19-21. The winning margin wouldn’t have been so thin had J.D. Drew not grounded into a double play to eradicate the one-out, bases loaded situation in the eighth. Also, two batters were out because they came into contact with their bunted balls when outside of the box: Melvin Mora in the fifth and Julio Lugo in the ninth. Dave Trembley had best get in touch with Jim Leyland for a thorough curriculum of pitcher fielding drills to present to Garrett Olson. | |||
Anything you can do I can do better
I can do anything better than you
No, you can’t
Yes, I can
– Irving Berlin, Annie Get Your Gun
Tim Wakefield wasn’t able to shake off the rust of 1o days rest and was chased from the game after three and two-third innings, two walks, six earned runs, and a bustle of hard-hit shots, including doubles by Nick Markakis and Aubrey Huff and a homer by Kevin Millar.
Those were the only runs the Orioles would muster, however, as Kyle Snyder, Clay Buchholz, and Jonathan Papelbon doused the sparking Baltimore hitters with a five and one-third inning deluge of puzzling pitches.
Buchholz provided further evidence that, while young and unseasoned, his no-hitter was not a fluke. The slight youth began the sixth shakily by giving up a leadoff walk. Tike Redman then singled and Markakis walked to load the bases. Mike Lowell dug his starter out of the jam with a reverse around-the-horn double play, 5-2-3. The greenhorn hurler responded by ending each of his innings with an exclamation point: all three batters struck out swinging.
Lowell has all but forsaken himself the Gold Glove award this season, but has flashed the leather here and there. His appearance belies his skill, as behind the grizzled beard stealthily lurks a still-shrewd mind. And sometimes, his body keeps up with his wits; in the second inning the third baseman stabbed backhanded at Jay Payton’s ground ball before it escaped into the outfield. He then coiled, building up power for his throw and aligning his body so that the resulting relay would be accurate.
Kevin Youkilis snapped the relay just before Payton’s cleat hit the sack for the second out.
The teams dueled in the first five innings with Black and Red coming up on top from moment to moment like bets on roulette. Coco Crisp brought his team within one run of the lead in the fourth with a three-run shot into left; I like to think Terry Francona lectured the team at length about bunting with men on, but if he did Julio Lugo didn’t take notes. David Ortiz tied the game in the next inning with a terrific blow to the standing room only area in right.
The visitors finally crested the local nine in the ninth. Crisp capped off his 3-for-4 showing with an infield single and then swiped second. Next Jason Varitek took the ball to the opposite field to plate what would be the winning run.
The Orioles didn’t do the 1932 Baltimore Black Sox proudly. With the vicissitudes of the Great Depression and the inability of the East-West League to remain solvent, these Black Sox did not have the opportunity to compete for a championship despite finishing the season in first place. The 1929 Black Sox featured the “Million Dollar Infield” of Jud “Boojum” Wilson (1B), Frank Warfield (2B), Oliver “Ghost” Marcelle (3B), and Sir Richard Lundy (SS), so-named because that is the price they would have commanded had they been white.
The Baltimore Black Sox logo courtesy of Baseball Reference Bullpen.
