Red Sox Fall a Season-High 10 Games Under .500, Drop Into AL East Basement

Like a car crash or late night porn on HBO, I have to admit that I can't help but intently watch the Red Sox even when their season becomes more and more over by the day. This afternoon, Boston (39-49 overall, 21-24 home) lost 7-6 to Baltimore (48-40 overall, 25-19 away) in 12 innings (5 hours and 5 minutes!) at Fenway Park. The Orioles clinched the series and went up nine games on the Red Sox who also find themselves in last place in the AL East after Tampa Bay won at Detroit.

How can the defending World Series champs that didn't lose anyone of real importance besides Jacoby Ellsbury and Jarrod Saltalamacchia (and that's stretching it) get this bad seemingly overnight? The easiest explanation is that Boston's offense is terrible which is totally true. There are rare occasions like this though where they score enough runs but the pitching stinks. It sounds simple but they can never get those two facets going at the same time. Plus their defense is spotty and baserunning could be described as incredibly poor.

The O's built a 6-1 lead in the seventh inning before the Sox battled back to tie it in the home half of the frame. After four scoreless innings, J.J. Hardy (2 for 4, run, walk, 3 RBIs) knocked in David Lough-who had tripled-with the winning run. Brad Brach (4-0) cruised through three innings of relief to earn the win and closer Zach Britton worked around a single and struck out two for his 14th save of the season.

It's easy to dump on him since he's close to being washed up and had many clunkers this season but lately, Jake Peavy (6 innings, 6 hits, 2 runs, 1 earned, 2 walks, 3 strikeouts) has been the victim of virtually no help from his teammates. On a good team, he could have some value particularly in the JV NL so look for him to get traded before the deadline (July 31).

Orioles youngster Kevin Gausman (5.1 innings, 4 hits, 1 earned run, 2 walks, 7 strikeouts) is still very raw but with his stuff, he has the potential to be a top of the line starter which is what Baltimore still lacks. The O's led 2-0 after an error on Xander Bogaerts (2 for 5, run, RBI) in the fourth and sacrifice fly by Caleb Joseph in the sixth inning.

David Ortiz (4 for 5 with double, walk, 2 RBIs) cut it to 2-1 with an RBI single in the sixth. Baltimore put up four runs in the seventh as Nelson Cruz (3 for 6, 2 runs, double) had an RBI single, Hardy's single scored two and Ryan Flaherty's (2 for 4, walk) RBI single made it 6-1 Orioles. All-Star Adam Jones was 2 for 5 with a run and walk in the win for Baltimore.

Surprisingly enough, David Ross' solo homer (his 5th of the season) got the rally started for Boston then Bogaerts, Daniel Nava, Ortiz and Napoli kept the line moving with RBI singles of their own. Dustin Pedroia can't get extra base hits anymore but his batting average is rapidly climbing (3 for 6) with all those singles. Jackie Bradley Jr. (2 for 4 with run, walk) might have put together his best game of the season as he made a spectacular diving catch at the wall then also threw out Manny Machado at home on another play (he would have been credited with a second assist if Ross could have held onto a throw).

Losses like this are brutal for many reasons, foremost on the list is that Boston burned six relievers so you know a few of them won't be available tomorrow namely Koji Uehara (2 scoreless innings, 1 hit, 1 walk, 1 strikeout). Boston has two more series, seven games in total (4 at Fenway, 3 in Houston) before the All-Star break officially starts a week from tomorrow.

The White Sox (42-47, 4th in AL Central) visit with Clay Buchholz (3-4) facing rookie Scott Carroll (2-5) tomorrow night (7:10, NESN), Brandon Workman (1-2) gets John Danks (7-6) on Tuesday (7:10), most likely Rubby De La Rosa will be recalled to take on Chris Sale (8-1) Wednesday (7:10, NESN) then Jon Lester (9-7) meets Jose Quintana (5-7) on Thursday afternoon (4:05, NESN). Chicago is similarly blah but at least you can see Sale (who is up for the final AL All-Star spot) and slugger Jose Abreu who is tied for MLB lead with 27 home runs.

Tweet


Follow @RichSlate

Chris Tillman Threw A Gem & Ryan Flaherty Hit A Grand Slam As O's Crushed Red Sox 9-1

How do you know your season should have been over months ago? When luminaries like Chris Tillman and Ryan Flaherty are having career-nights against you.

Baltimore (90-67, 45-34) simply crushed Boston (69-88, 35-41 away) 9-1 at Camden Yards tonight in a series opener that didn't feel nearly that close. The Orioles remain one game back of the Yankees and comfortably sitting two games ahead of the Angels (one ahead of the A's) for the top AL wild card.

The only hit for the Red Sox in the entire game was a lead-off bunt by Scott Podsednik-the first batter of the game. Not getting no-hit allows them to shoot for something in their last five painful games.

Even if nobody has ever heard of him, Tillman (9-2) seems like a promising young pitcher (24) that is having a nice season. He went eight innings, struck out four and walked two.

This was over in a rapid 2:23, I guess Boston wanted to enjoy that legendary Baltimore nightlife, but the O's did most of their work in the first inning. Chris Davis hit a two-run homer (his 29th of the season) then Portland, Maine's Ryan Flaherty hit his first career grand slam (6th homer of the season) to make it 6-1.

In what could have been his last start in MLB, Aaron Cook (4-11) pitched like a guy that has nothing left and should hang it up immediately. He went 1+ innings and was charged with six earned runs. Alfredo Aceves was happy to add some gasoline to that fire as he gave up the other three runs on six hits.

Manny Machado (2 for 4, 2 runs) and Flaherty added RBI doubles in the fifth and Taylor Teagarden had an RBI single. Jim Thome was 3 for 4 with a run and Mark Reynolds had a double, two runs and a walk. Gee, do you think the Orioles are a team of destiny or what?

Boston's only run came courtesy of Dustin Pedroia (walk, stolen base) who drove in Podsednik with a sacrifice fly in the first. Yes, the Red Sox led 1-0 for the briefest of moments.

Felix Doubront (11-9) faces something called Steve Johnson (4-0) tomorrow night (7:05 p.m., NESN) who I'm sure will be lights out. Be sure to not watch a second of it.

Tweet


Follow @RichSlate

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.

Tweet


Follow @RichSlate