Reversal
| Game 77: June 30, 2009 | |||
| Red Sox | 10 | L: Takashi Saito (2-1) BS: Jonathan Papelbon (2) | 47-30, 1 game losing streak |
 Orioles | 11 | W: Mark Hendrickson (3-4) S: George Sherrill (17) | 35-42, 1 game winning streak |
| Highlights: John Smoltz started the game but did not factor into the decision because a 1 hour, 11-minute rain delay forced him to leave after just four innings. Smoltz was much sharper in his second start compared to his debut: 3 hits, 1 earned run, 1 walk, and 2 strikeouts. | |||
The score was 9-1 going into the rain delay and many of the Boston commentators bemoaned the fact that John Smoltz wasn’t going to get credited for his first win as a member of the Red Sox. A Red Sox win was fait accompli to everyone but the Orioles.
With just two out in the sixth Justin Masterson jogged back to his dugout and all the defenders followed him. It was this absentmindedness bordering on smugness that waylaid the visiting team from the task at hand. Echoes of this complacency played out at home plate in the top half of the eighth. George Kottaras limply slid into the dish, neither trying to knock the ball out of his counterpart’s mitt nor striving to position his body or hands away from the tag.
These Red Sox plays stood in stark contrast to Adam Jones sacrificing his body on the center field wall in a desperate attempt to rob Kevin Youkilis of another home run. Although Jones failed and the Red Sox bolted to a 2-0 lead, the local nine rebounded in the seventh and eighth innings.
Oddly enough, most of the remaining fans who witnessed the Orioles’ biggest comeback in franchise history were there for the visiting team. Baltimore overcame a nine-run deficit, one run more than their previous record that came against none other than the Red Sox. The game was played on September 2, 1956 in Fenway and the final score was also 11-10.
The Orioles starting right fielder 53 years ago? Tito Francona. He went 0-for-6 but reached on an error and scored a run.
Add another entry in the Ecktionary: “tired cheese” is a synonym for salad. Example: “Rich Hill had nothing but tired cheese, enabling Jacoby Ellsbury to hit a David Ortiz-like baboomba to lead off the fourth.”
