Empyreal Environs

Game 146: September 18, 2009
Red Sox	3	W: Clay Buchholz (6-3) H: Daniel Bard (12) H: Hideki Okajima (23) S: Jonathan Papelbon (37)	87-59, 1 game winning streak
Orioles	1	L: Jeremy Guthrie (10-15)	60-87, 2 game losing streak
Highlights: Pay no attention to those rookies behind the curtain. They cut Dusty Brown a break and didn’t squeeze him into a skimpy costume designed for the female form. That’s the least they could do for the eight-year member of the Red Sox organization. What a missed opportunity that the Wizard of Oz came two years too late for Dustin Pedroia.

How appropriate that the Food Network show “Ace of Cakes” is set in Baltimore as the baseball club from that city is a piece of cake to beat. Just as C.C. Sabathia and Mark Teixeira went to play for the team that would give them the most iron, Food Network stars Chef Duff and Geof had no qualms about making a cake for the Yankees. You can bet if a Red Sox fan were on staff at Charm City Cakes there would be a David Ortiz jersey baked into it.

It being Baltimore, I wasn’t sure if the sirens that sounded in the bottom of the second were sounded due to a crime in progress or they were meant to accompany Luke Scott’s game-tying home run.

Jason Bay hammered the go-ahead four-bagger to lead off the fourth. In his at bat Bay had fouled the ball off his leg with tremendous force and appeared to grimace as he ran the bases. Josh Reddick replaced Bay in left in the bottom of the fifth, but the audience was assured that Bay left because of flu-like symptoms, not because of any injury.

Victor Martinez extended his hitting streak to 17 games in the third with a double off the center field wall. The switch-hitter would have had his 68th RBI had Dustin Pedroia not paused at second in his attempt to score from first.

Not that Clay Buchholz and the relief crew needed more run support. Last night Buchholz notched his fifth quality start in a row despite the skimpy strikeout total of one. The firm of Bard, Okajima, and Papelbon made a compelling argument that they are part of the best bullpen in baseball with three no-hit innings of relief.