Orioles Clinch 1st Playoff Spot Since '97; Red Sox Secure Worst Record Since '66

Two franchises in the AL East are heading in completely different directions. The Orioles (92-67, 47-34 home) clinched their first playoff spot since 1997 with a 6-3 win against the Red Sox (69-90, 35-43 away) this afternoon at Camden Yards and a win by the Rangers over the Angels tonight.

The loss means that Boston (losers of 5 straight and 16 of their last 22) has secured a Top-10 pick in the 2013 MLB Draft, they are also one game behind Toronto for last-place in the AL East with three games remaining.

Baltimore swept the three-game series penultimate series of the regular season and they are still tied atop the AL East with the Yankees. On the other side of the spectrum, Boston locked up its first 90-loss season since 1966, you know 44 years ago. Facts like that really reinforce how this truly has been the worst Red Sox season that many of us have ever witnessed.

Joe Saunders (3-3) went 7.1 innings for the win. He allowed three earned runs on eight hits with five strikeouts. Darren O'Day got the last two outs in the eighth and closer Jim Johnson had a 1-2-3 ninth on seven pitches (haha) for his MLB-leading 50th save of the season.

Zach Stewart's (1-4) second start for Boston was even more pathetic than the first. The guy that was traded for Kevin Youkilis clearly won't be back next season, or at least I hope not since he obviously blows. In 2.2 innings, he allowed five earned runs on seven hits.

Baltimore scored three runs in the first and two in the second to put it out of reach immediately. Nate McLouth (2 hits, stolen base) had a lead-off homer (his 7th of the season), a run scored on a double play and Jim Thome's RBI single.

J.J. Hardy (2 hits, 2 runs) hit a solo shot (his 22nd of the season) in the third and the ageless Thome added another RBI single.

Cody Ross had a solo homer of his own in the fifth (22nd of the season) and Daniel Nava added a two-run blast in the seventh (his 5th of the season). In between, Chris Davis (31st of the season) hit his third homer in as many days with a solo homer in the sixth.

Our long regional nightmare is almost over, the Red Sox are finally on death row with their execution scheduled for Wednesday night around 10:30 p.m. Before that, they head to the Bronx for three games with the Yankees (92-67, tied 1st place AL East) to close out 2012.

Ryan Lavarnway was 2 for 4 with a double and run while Pedro Ciriaco was 2 for 4 with a double in the loss.

Clay Buchholz (11-7) faces C.C. Sabathia (14-6) tomorrow night (7:05 p.m., NESN), Jon Lester (9-14) takes on Ivan Nova (12-8) on Tuesday night (7:05 p.m., NESN) then Daisuke Matsuzaka puts the finishing touches on Boston's masterpiece as he opposes Hiroki Kuroda (15-11) on Wednesday night (7:05 p.m., NESN).

The two things you can count on if you bother to watch one second of this series: 1) the Red Sox will lie down like the losers they are and 2) the Yankees will get the sweep they desperately want.

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Stop the presses: Angels win a game and stave off elimination

The Boston Red Sox had a perfect opportunity to put away the Anaheim Angels last night in game 3 of the ALCS but the Angels survived by winning 5-4 in 12 innings.

Big game ace Josh Beckett was not his usual dominant self as he labored through five innings of work. He gave up four runs (all earned) on nine hits with four walks and six strikeouts.

Out of all the Angels' bats, catcher Mike Napoli would never be considered the most feared Anaheim hitter. Yet last night he came through when his team needed it the most. He hit two homers off Beckett and added another hit, driving in three and scoring three runs on the night.

Anaheim led 1-0 in the first as Beckett walked Juan Rivera with the bases loaded.

Boston responded with three gift runs in the second as Erick Aybar and Torii Hunter let a Jacoby Ellsbury pop up fall between them, scoring three runs.

Angels starter Joe Saunders had bad numbers but it wasn't his fault since his team made that terrible mistake. He went 4.2 innings, giving up four runs on five hits with four walks and two strikeouts.

Napoli tied it at three in the third with a two-run homer then put Anaheim ahead in the fifth with a solo shot.

Kevin Youkilis' RBI double scored Ellsbury in the fifth before the bullpens surprisingly both pitched six shutout innings in a row.

I lost track of how many times the Sox relievers escaped trouble in the top of the inning, only to see the hitters fail to produce the walk-off hit that would clinch the series.

Aybar was the other unlikely hero in the win as he made his first hit of the series count. He knocked in Napoli with an RBI single of Javier Lopez.

Jered Weaver got the win as he pitched two scoreless frames.

The teams get back at it tonight in game 4 as Jon Lester faces John Lackey, a rematch of game 1. Boston faces pretty much a must-win as it can't go back to Anaheim after choking away two chances to end this against a clearly frazzled team.

Fitting time for a day off, hopefully it's filled with Thai hookers

Well this has gotten ugly fast, eh? The Boston Red Sox' 2008 season is going down faster than a line of coke at a party in Hollywood.

The Angels (67-40) embarrassed the Sox one last time at Fenway, 9-2 last night to sweep the series and take eight out of nine against Boston (61-48) this season.

Left-hander Joe Saunders (14-5) joined Cliff Lee, Brandon Webb and Aaron Cook as the only 14-game winners in MLB. Saunders went six innings, allowing two runs on five hits with three walks and two strikeouts.

Sox starter Josh Beckett (9-8) had a disastrous outing as he allowed eight runs (seven earned) on 11 hits in 5.1 innings with eight strikeouts and a walk.

Vlad Guerrero (2 hits, run, RBI) started it off with an RBI single in the fourth. Garret Anderson-who has absolutely killed the Sox this year-added a two-run single to make it 3-0 in the fourth. Anderson finished 4-for-5 with four RBIs.

Boston's only sign of life was provided by Coco Crisp as he knocked in Jason Varitek with a two-run homer over the monster in the fifth.

The Angels scored five runs in the sixth to knockout Beckett and the Sox. Anderson had a two-run bomb that just wrapped around Pesky's Pole. Jeff Mathis had an RBI double. Mathis scored on Jed Lowrie's error and Maicer Izturis knocked in Chone Figgins (3 hits, run, steal) with a sacrifice fly.

Torii Hunter (2 hits, 3 runs, RBI, walk) homered in the ninth off Justin Masterson.

Boston has today off and the Oakland A's come to town tomorrow night for a three-game set. Hopefully everyone can get away from Fenway for the day and try to regroup. The Red Sox are three games behind the Rays and only a game ahead of the Yankees.

Tampa Bay has yet to add a bat-which is imperative-but the Yankees have made two great trades in the last week. First they got Damaso Marte and Xavier Nady from the Pirates in exchange for four minor-leaguers and then yesterday they traded Kyle Farnsworth for Pudge Rodriguez. With those, they addressed a bunch of needs: lefty reliever, outfielder, catcher.

Today is baseball's trading deadline and the Manny Ramirez rumors have reached a fever pitch. Last night, there were reports that there was a three team deal that would send Manny to the Marlins and Pirates outfielder Jason Bay and reliever John Grabow to the Red Sox.

Despite Manny's latest verbal assaults yesterday, claiming that the Red Sox "don't deserve a player like me," I think they'll realize they can't get enough value in return and keep him around for the rest of the season. The question is if he's going to stay interested and not bail out on the team in the middle of a pennant race? In a perfect world, everything will work itself out and Manny will decide to play for Boston the rest of the season. Otherwise, pick up his option in the offseason and trade his ass.