Red Sox Will Have To Wait Another Night To Clinch A Playoff Spot, Oh Well

Tonight, the Red Sox had a chance to clinch their first playoff spot since 2009 but they couldn't do it. Boston (92-60 overall, 50-26 home) lost 3-2 to Baltimore (80-70 overall, 38-37 away) at Fenway Park. It also turned out that they needed an Indians loss as well but they won 5-3 at the Royals so I guess it wasn't meant to be after all.

The Red Sox led 2-0 following Dustin Pedroia's lead off homer in the first then a sacrifice fly by Xander Bogaerts in the fourth inning. Orioles starter Scott Feldman was wild (6 walks) but he only allowed the two runs in five innings before giving way to five relievers who combined to put up four shutout innings. Former scrub Tommy Hunter (6-4) got the last two outs in the eighth to earn the win. Baltimore closer Jim Johnson has been very shaky at times this season but he struck out Bogaerts to end it (for his 46th save), stranding pinch-runner Quintin Berry at second base.

I pray that these are the final days of Ryan Dempster in Boston's rotation in 2013 so enjoy the mediocrity while it lasts. He actually pitched well, going six innings and allowing two earned runs on three hits with five strikeouts and four walks. Brian Roberts' grounder scored former Red Sox great Danny Valencia (two walks) in the fifth and Chris Davis tied it with his 51st homer of the season (a new Orioles record), a solo shot to center in the sixth.

Craig Breslow did an incredible job to work out of a jam (runners on 2nd and 3rd with no outs) in the eighth without allowing a run. You knew Koji Uehara's (4-1) mind-boggling stretch would end at some point and I'm happy that it occurred in September rather than October. Valencia led off the ninth with a triple against Uehara to end his streak of 37 straight batters retired. Matt Wieters' sacrifice fly meant Uehara allowed his first run since July 7 (30 2/3 innings and 27 scoreless outings ago) and he was charged with his first loss of the season.

Jake Peavy (11-5) and Wei-Yin Chen (7-7) get to do the honors tomorrow night (7:10, NESN). With tonight's victory, Baltimore pulled to within two games of Texas and Tampa Bay for the AL Wild Cards. In other words, this series means plenty to both teams hence why it felt like a playoff game in the opener.

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David Price's Gem Leads The Rays To Their 6th Straight Win, 5-2 Over Red Sox

Like Keith Richards or Lindsey Lohan, the Rays are impossible to kill. They simply never go away no matter what the long odds they might face. When the Red Sox left Tampa Bay last week, it looked like they had barely a sliver of hope to make the playoffs.

They are still three games back of the A's for the second wild card spot but Tampa Bay (84-70, 40-36 away) is doing all they can to stay in the race. Tonight, behind David Price's (19-5) fourth career complete game, the Rays beat the Red Sox (69-86, 34-46 home) 5-2 at Fenway Park in the series opener for their sixth straight win.

It was Price's second complete game of the season and it couldn't come at a better time for him or his team. He has to be the front-runner for his first AL Cy Young award. He allowed two earned runs on seven hits but struck out a season-high 13 and didn't walk anybody in 112 masterful pitches.

Clay Buchholz (11-8) couldn't match Price's sheer dominance. In six innings, he allowed five runs (four earned) on eight hits with five strikeouts and two walks.

Jeff Keppinger (2 hits, 2 runs) had a three-run homer (his 8th of the season) in the second to stake Tampa Bay to a 3-0 lead. After Danny Valencia's RBI single in the home half of the second and a run scoring in the third on Price's balk, Boston was never heard from again. Jose Molina (2 hits) added a two-run single in the sixth to wrap it up for the offensively-challenged Rays.

Ben Zobrist (2 hits, double) and Evan Longoria (2 hits, run, walk) also had multiple hits in the win. Dustin Pedroia (2 hits, double) was the only Red Sox with more than one hit, not surprising since him and Cody Ross were the lone Opening Day starters left in the lineup. It was basically PawSox night at Fenway.

Tomorrow night (7:10 p.m., NESN) is the final game at Fenway this season. After that, we won't see the Red Sox in town until next April which is probably the most appealing sentence I've ever written on this blog. Jon Lester (9-13) gets to put the cherry on top of his dogshit sundae of a season when he faces Alex Cobb (9-9).

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Out Of Nowhere, The Orioles Are Having Some Kind Of Insane Regular Season

Nobody and I mean nobody expected the Orioles to be .500 in 2012, let alone jockeying with the Yankees for first-place in the AL East and in firm control of a wild card spot. Somehow devoid of a superstar (Adam Jones and Matt Wieters are very good players but not really at that level) or ace pitcher, Baltimore finds itself on the cusp of its first playoff bid since 1997.

Obviously with a team that comes out of nowhere like this, they will possess many insane statistics but my favorite is this: the Orioles (87-64, 45-32 away) won their 16th straight extra innings game this afternoon with a 9-6 win in 12 innings over the Red Sox (68-85, 33-45 home) at Fenway Park.

Boston fell to 0-7 in extra innings games this season at home and 2-9 overall. Baltimore led 6-3 but Boston scored twice in the seventh on a pair of RBI ground outs then tied it on Scott Podsednik's (double, run) RBI double in the eighth.

Once it got to extra innings, you knew the Orioles had this one wrapped up. The only question was who would the heroes be? If you said Jim Thome (RBI double), Endy Chavez (RBI single) and Manny Machado (RBI single; 3 for 6, run) you truly have a special gift.

Baltimore closer Jim Johnson extended his franchise record by tossing a scoreless 12th for his 47th save of the season.

Consider me shocked that Randy Wolf (5 innings, 3 earned runs, 7 hits, 2 strikeouts, 2 walks) and Aaron Cook (5.1 innings, 5 earned runs, 9 hits, 1 strikeout, 2 walks) didn't have the instant classic pitcher's duel that wasn't predicted by anybody in the world.

Adam Jones (2 hits, double, 2 runs, 2 RBIs) had an RBI ground out in first which gave the O's a 1-0 lead. Ryan Lavarnway (2 RBIs) tied it with an RBI single in the home half of the frame. Baltimore tacked on a run in the second on Machado's RBI single then all or nothing slugger Mark Reynolds connected for a solo homer (his 22nd of the season) as Baltimore opened up a 3-1 lead in the fourth.

Danny Valencia tied it with a two-run bomb (his 3rd of the season) in the fourth. Portland Maine's Ryan Flaherty (2 for 4, double, 2 RBIs, 2 walks) had a two-run triple in the sixth and Jones cranked a solo shot in the seventh (his 31st of the season).

Alfredo Aceves (2-10) was charged with all three runs in the 12th so he received yet another loss in what has been a nightmare second half for the mercurial pitcher. I wouldn't put it past him to intentionally tank just to spite Bobby V. He's that batshit crazy.

Baltimore will look for a three-game sweep tomorrow afternoon (1:35 p.m., NESN) as Chris Tillman (8-2) faces Felix Doubront (11-9). On an NFL Sunday aka Red Zone to the face time, it would take a large sum of money for me to watch that game let alone take time out of my precious day to attend it.

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Too Bad The Red Sox Only Have 1 Clay Buchholz, They Could Use A Few More

Clay Buchholz is pitching like a man on a mission, too bad the same cannot be said for the rest of the Red Sox rotation this season.

Buchholz (10-3) pitched his second complete game of the season and fifth of his career as Boston (56-58, 27-24 away) beat Cleveland (52-61, 29-28 home) 3-2 tonight at Progressive Field in the second game of the four-game set.

Buchholz only allowed two runs (one earned) on two hits with six strikeouts and no walks. Asdrubal Cabrera had a solo homer (13th of the season) in the first for the Indians and Ezequiel Carrera's sacrifice fly in the sixth provided the other run.

Dustin Pedroia (2 hits, walk, run, stolen base) had an RBI single in the fourth as he continues to heat up while Cody Ross had the big blow with a two-run blast (18th of the season) in the sixth.

Young journeyman (I realize that's an oxymoron) Chris Seddon (0-1) pitched well enough to win on most nights for Cleveland. In six innings, he allowed three runs (two earned) on five hits with three strikeouts and two walks.

Red Sox rookie third baseman Will Middlebrooks reportedly broke his wrist after getting hit by a pitch in the ninth inning. With only seven weeks left in the regular season, who knows when he would be able to return? I feel bad for him since he's having a very solid year and for fans, he is one of the only reasons to watch this team day in and day out. Boston will have to call up Danny Valencia from Pawtucket to take his place.

Franklin Morales (3-2) faces Zach McAllister (4-4) tomorrow night (6:05 p.m., NESN). Other than Buchholz, Morales has been the most trustworthy Red Sox starter in 2012 so I think he'll give them another good outing.

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Remind Me Again Why Franklin Morales Isn't In The Red Sox Rotation Full-Time?

Never fear folks, Franklin Morales (3-2) won't let the Red Sox get swept by the lowly Twins in the worst series so far of the neverending 2012 season.

He went six superb innings (1 run, 3 hits, 4 strikeouts, 3 walks) in his first start since July 13 as Boston (54-55, 28-32 home) held on for a 6-4 win vs. Minnesota (47-61, 24-29 away) this afternoon at Fenway Park. The Red Sox snapped a four-game losing streak overall and they had lost the first three games to the Twins.

Vicente Padilla did his best Alfredo Aceves impression from Saturday's night's debacle as he allowed a solo homer to Josh Willingham (28th of the season) and a two-run bomb to Ryan Doumit (11th of the season) in the ninth that made a 6-1 game 6-4 in the blink of an eye. Luckily, Aceves shook off his struggles to get a 1-2-3 ninth (on 9 pitches) for his 23rd save of the season. That ability to bounce back sums up his main talent-he's fearless and incredibly durable.

Birthday boy Carl Crawford (who turned 31 on Sunday) had a solid performance, going 3-for-5 with two runs, an RBI and a stolen base. Best of all for the impatient Crawford, he saw a team-high 22 pitches. Adrian Gonzalez (3 RBIs, run, walk), Cody Ross, Will Middlebrooks (stolen base) and Mike Aviles (run, walk) all had two hits in the win as Boston outhit Minnesota 14-6.

The Red Sox scored twice in the third on Crawford's groundout and Gonzalez's RBI single. Ben Revere (hit, stolen base, 19-game hitting streak, 1 incredible over-the-shoulder catch) got the Twins on the board with a sacrifice fly in the fifth, cutting it to 2-1.

Gonzalez hit a two-run homer (his 11th of the season) over the Monster in the fifth, Ross had a run-scoring single in the seventh and Jacoby Ellsbury tacked on a sacrifice fly in the eighth. Is it too soon to lock up Ross with a multi-year deal before he becomes a free agent this winter? He's earned that pay day.

Things are about to get real at Fenway as the American League's best team-tied with the Yankees-comes to town. The Texas Rangers (63-44, 1st in AL West) play the Red Sox three times to end Boston's longest homestand (10 games) of 2012. The Red Sox lost two of three in the Lonestar State two weeks ago and looking at the pitching matchups, I fully expect a sweep by the two-time defending AL champions.

Aaron Cook (2-5) faces Yu Darvish (11-7) tomorrow night (7:10 p.m., NESN), Jon Lester (5-9) gets new Ranger Ryan Dempster (5-5) on Tuesday night (7:10 p.m., NESN) then the Texas Toughguy (5-9) is scheduled to oppose Matt Harrison (13-6) on Wednesday afternoon (1:35 p.m., NESN) if his bad back and fat ass will allow it.

In other Twins-Red Sox news, the teams made a minor trade this afternoon as Minnesota dealt third baseman Danny Valencia to Boston for Single A outfielder Jeremias Pineda. Valencia had a promising rookie season in 2010 (7 homers, 40 RBIs, .311 batting average in 85 games) and reasonably productive 2011 (15 homers, 72 RBIs in 154 games) but he fell off the map this season (.198 in 34 games). He will report to Pawtucket and look for him to get called up September 1 when the rosters expand.

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Cowboy Joe West: ruining baseball one game at a time

The Boston Red Sox have enough problems on their own without worrying about the biggest clown umpire in MLB.

This does not excuse the fact that they would have lost anyway last night to the Twins but West had to be front and center as usual in Minnesota's (12-18) series-opening 9-2 beatdown of the Red Sox (14-18) at Fenway Park.

Boston manager Terry Francona got ejected in the second inning after arguing a balk call on starter Tim Wakefield (4.1 innings, 9 hits, 8 runs, 6 earned, 4 walks, 1 strikeout) by home plate umpire Angel Hernandez. Francona went to argue with Hernandez but West planted himself in between the two and even bumped him a few times. It was a strange scene especially considering Francona rarely gets thrown out. Tito was more heated than I think I've ever seen before.

After Wakefield (0-1) had pitched so well on Sunday against the Mariners (the game I was at), he predictably came down to earth in a big way against a Minnesota lineup that was more like a Triple A team.

Somebody named Trevor Plouffe led the Twins with three runs, two hits, an RBI and a walk. Another nobody called Danny Valenica had two runs, two hits and two RBIs while Denard Span (2 hits, 2 RBIs) and Michael Cuddyer (2 runs, 2 hits) also had good games.

Jacoby Ellsbury extended his hitting streak to 15 games but he was the only Red Sox with multiple hits (2).

Twins starter Scott Baker (2-2) went eight innings, allowing seven hits, two earned runs, one walk and eight strikeouts.

Plouffe got the party started for Minnesota with a solo homer off Wakefield in the top of the first. Span made it 3-0 with a two-run single in the second and then Ben Revere (haha really?) scored on Wakefield's disputed balk for a 4-0 Twins lead.

J.D. Drew got Boston on the board with a solo home run in the second and Adrian Gonzalez followed suit with a solo homer in the fourth which cut it to 4-2 Minnesota.

Valencia cranked a two-run double in the fifth and Drew Butera scored on Jed Lowrie's error. To end it, Plouffe scored on a balk by Red Sox reliever Alfredo Aceves (4.2 innings, 3 hits, 1 earned run, 1 walk, 2 strikeouts).

Brian Duensing faces Clay Buchholz this afternoon. Buchholz is due for a solid start since he's been so shaky so far this season