Red Sox Can't Clinch A Playoff Spot (again) but Indians lose, making Boston's Magic Number one

For the second night in a row, the Red Sox had a chance to clinch a playoff spot (somewhere they haven't been in the last four years) but they couldn't do it as the resilient Orioles (81-70 overall, 39-37 away) outscored Boston (92-61 overall, 50-27 home) 5-3 in 12 innings. Baltimore has won six of their last seven series at Fenway and they are 9-6 against the Red Sox this season, the only MLB team with a winning record against MLB's top squad. Boston lost consecutive games for the first time in over a month (August 15 & 16).

The Royals held up their end of the bargain as they beat the Indians 7-2. That leaves Cleveland half a game outside of the Wild Card race and Baltimore is only one game behind Texas (2nd Wild Card). Boston didn't deserve to win as they grounded into four double plays and left nine runners on base. Enough with this charade, I can't imagine how much champagne is sitting on ice in Boston's locker room.

The Red Sox handed Jake Peavy (7 IP, 3 ER, 6 hits, 8 Ks) a 2-0 lead in the first on David Ortiz's two-run homer, his 28th of the season, but he couldn't hold it. Matt Wieters (run, 2 doubles) and Brian Roberts (2 hits, walk run) each had RBI doubles in the fifth as the O's tied it at two. Wieters added a sacrifice fly in the sixth to give Baltimore a 3-2 lead. That turned out to be short-lived as Mr. September Mike Napoli crushed a solo homer to center, his 23rd of the season to knot it at three.

Baltimore used six pitchers because they need to win every game they can for the remainder of this season. Rookie Kevin Gausman (2 IP, 5 Ks) looks destined to be a star for the O's. Things got wacky (as they usually do) in extra innings: Boston put the lead runner on in the 10th and 11th but they couldn't score. Chris Davis came through with the game's biggest hit, a two-run single that squeaked through the middle of the infield in the twelfth.

Jim Johnson pitched for the second night in a row but that didn't seem to faze him as he had a scoreless 12th inning for his 47th save of the season. Will Middlebrooks was 3-for-6 with a walk, Shane Victorino was 3-for-5 with a run and Dustin Pedroia went 2 for 6 with a double.

The Orioles go for the sweep tomorrow night (7:10, NESN) with their ace Chris Tillman (16-6) opposing John Lackey (9-12).

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Nothing like a weekend sweep of the Orioles to make life feel good. After shutting out the Birds 4-0 on Saturday night, the Red Sox set a season-high in runs and hits as they destroyed Baltimore, 18-10 yesterday at Camden Yards.

Hitting in the No. 3 spot, new Sox (62-42) slugger Victor Martinez proved what a beast he is: the Ed Hardy t-shirt wearing, crying catcher, formerly of the Indians tied a career-high with five hits, four RBIs and a run.

The Red Sox had 23 hits and seven walks in this wacky game. Mike Lowell (3 hits, 3 RBIs, run), Kevin Youkilis (3 hits, 2 RBIs, 2 runs, 2 walks; in the series he reached base 12 straight times until striking out in the ninth yesterday), Dustin Pedroia (4 runs, 3 hits), Jacoby Ellsbury (4 runs, 2 hits, 2 walks) and rookie Josh Reddick (2 hits, 2 runs, 2 RBIs) were the most notable Boston hitters.

Its not often that you score 10 runs and collect 15 hits and six walks yet still lose by eight runs but the O's (44-60) found a way.

Adam Jones (3 hits, 3 runs, 3 RBIs), Ty Wigginton (3 hits, 2 RBIs, run) and Brian Roberts (3 hits, run, RBI) padded their fantasy stats as Scott Boras (who probably represents all three of them) made 50-page reports on why they're grossly underpaid.

Lost in the domination yesterday and throughout the weekend, was the fact that outside of Josh Beckett and Jon Lester, the No. 3-5 spots in the Red Sox' pitching rotation have become a blackhole.

PawSox legend Clay Buchholz continues to struggle at the big league level. Staked to a 7-0 lead in the third, he promptly gave up six in the third. Didn't really matter though as Boston responded with seven in the fourth and after that, the Orioles pretty much rolled over.

Buchholz couldn't even last long enough to get the win. He went four innings, allowing seven runs on nine hits with four walks and three strikeouts. He also surrendered two home runs.

After the Yankees lost three of four over the weekend to the White Sox, the Red Sox find themselves on this off-day, half a game behind New York for first place in the AL East. The schedule in August is particularly difficult and that's signified by this week: the Red Sox have two in Tampa, followed by four in Da Bronx.