Sox at Orioles

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The Valenti's met us for lunch at the ESPN zone in Baltimore before the game. more pictures below.		 We got up and went to mass in a beautiful church across the street from our hotel in Washington.  We were hurting a little from the night before but we had to get an early start because we were meeting some Valenti's for lunch.  Pete, Danny and his beautiful children, Avery and Luke.  We planned on meeting in Fuddruckers in the inner harbor area of Baltimore at noon.  Luckily Washington and Baltimore are as close as Staten Island and Yonkers.  We made it there right on time.  Unfortunately Fuddruckers had gone out of business so we met the Valenti's in the ESPN Zone, Baltimore, which is a half mile to the stadium.  Pete Dan and the  kids all looked great.  It was interesting to be reminded what it is like to have little ones out to a restaurant, but the kids were great, and Dan is a great father.  We ate and talked for over an hour and it was time well spent.

As you can see, we may have been in the upper deck, but we did have "front row"
Front row has its disadvantages, such as the railing
It was a overcast, light rain on and off kind of day at Camden Yards, which was actually a relief from the hot and humid weekend.  Our seats were in the front row behind home plate in the upper deck.  It really is a great place to watch the game from.  As usual the crowd was split 50-50 Sox fans to Orioles fans.  Fortunately for us sitting next to us was a 30 year old Oriole fan and his father.  The kid was a hard core fan, knowledgeable and loud, in a good way.  He offset the Sox fans in our section.  We were happy to have some passion about a game, the other games we didn't really care either way, but this was the hated Red Sox.  The soda guy ran down our aisle and dropped a bottle of soda over the railing to the lower deck below.  He yelled down "is everyone okay?"  After it was established I yelled down, "throw up the $6.50 for the soda!"
A railing can have advantages though as Trish figured out.

The Power Plant is a few blocks from Camden Yards and is home to the ESPN zone, Hard Rock, Barnes and Noble, Golds Gym, Chipolte, Houlihans and others.  Unfortunately the ESPN Zone closed a week after we had lunch there.
Brian and Trish walking through the streets of Baltimore, over the hood of this car.
The game moved along at a nice pace, tied up at two through seven when we decided it was time to head back to reality and our beautiful home and family in Rockaway.  We said goodbye to our new Baltimore friend, and headed out.  Brian used his phone as a GPS as seen in this picture on the right.  We headed home after a great three days of baseball, three stadiums, three cities, three days.  Three, the symmetry of baseball.


Orioles 4, Red Sox 3
Boston AB R H RBI BB SO LOB AVG
Scutaro, SS 5 0 1 0 1 0 2 .277
Pedroia, 2B 5 0 1 1 0 1 3 .261
Ortiz, D, DH 4 0 0 0 0 2 2 .252
Youkilis, 1B 3 1 1 0 1 0 4 .320
Martinez, V, C 3 1 2 2 1 1 1 .294
1-Reddick, PR 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .222
Varitek, C 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 .254
Beltre, 3B 4 0 1 0 1 1 3 .332
Hall, LF 4 0 0 0 0 2 4 .242
a-Drew, J, PH-RF 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 .269
Cameron, M, CF 3 1 1 0 2 2 0 .280
McDonald, Da, RF-LF 3 0 1 0 0 0 1 .277
Totals 36 3 8 3 6 9 22 .274
a-Flied out for Hall in the 10th. 
1-Ran for Martinez, V in the 8th.BATTING
HR: Martinez, V (8, 2nd inning off Matusz, 1 on, 0 out).
TB: Scutaro; Pedroia; Youkilis; Martinez, V 5; Beltre; Cameron, M; McDonald, Da.
RBI: Martinez, V 2 (29), Pedroia (28).
Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Hall 2; Youkilis 2; Ortiz, D; Pedroia.
S: McDonald, Da 2.
SF: Pedroia.
GIDP: Hall; Beltre.
Team RISP: 1-for-8.
Team LOB: 11.

BASERUNNING
SB: Pedroia (4, 2nd base off Matusz/Tatum).

FIELDING
E: Scutaro (8, throw), Pedroia (2, fielding).
DP: (Pedroia-Scutaro-Youkilis).

Baltimore AB R H RBI BB SO LOB AVG
Lugo, 2B 4 0 0 1 0 1 4 .211
Tejada, DH 5 0 1 0 1 0 3 .256
Markakis, RF 4 0 1 1 2 1 1 .288
Wigginton, 1B 4 0 0 0 1 0 4 .274
Scott, LF 3 1 2 0 1 0 0 .272
1-Montanez, L, PR-LF 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 .140
Jones, A, CF 5 1 1 0 0 1 3 .247
Moore, S, 3B 5 1 2 1 0 0 1 .227
Tatum, C 3 0 1 0 2 0 1 .212
Izturis, C, SS 4 1 1 1 1 0 3 .225
Totals 38 4 9 4 8 3 21 .243

1-Ran for Scott in the 8th.BATTING
2B: Tejada (11, Lackey), Scott (11, Lackey), Moore, S (1, Delcarmen).
TB: Tejada 2; Markakis; Scott 3; Jones, A; Moore, S 3; Tatum; Izturis, C.
RBI: Izturis, C (10), Lugo (4), Moore, S (3), Markakis (18).
Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Wigginton 2; Tejada; Lugo.
S: Lugo 2.
GIDP: Izturis, C.
Team RISP: 3-for-12.
Team LOB: 13.

BASERUNNING
SB: Moore, S (1, 2nd base off Lackey/Martinez, V).

FIELDING
DP: 2 (Izturis, C-Wigginton, Izturis, C-Lugo-Wigginton).

Boston IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA
Lackey 7.0 7 2 2 3 2 0 4.72
Delcarmen 0.1 1 1 1 2 0 0 2.67
Ramirez, R 0.2 0 0 0 0 0 0 5.82
Papelbon 1.0 0 0 0 1 1 0 3.00
Okajima(L, 2-2) 1.1 1 1 1 2 0 0 5.30
Totals 10.1 9 4 4 8 3 0 4.36
Baltimore IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA
Matusz 5.2 4 2 2 4 7 1 5.10
Albers 1.0 0 0 0 2 0 0 5.00
Hendrickson 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4.65
Berken 1.1 1 0 0 0 1 0 2.15
Ohman(BS, 1) 1.0 2 1 1 0 0 0 3.38
Hernandez, D(W, 2-5) 2.0 1 0 0 0 1 0 4.81
Totals 11.0 8 3 3 6 9 1 4.77
Hendrickson pitched to 1 batter in the 7th.

WP: Hernandez, D.
IBB: Tejada (by Okajima), Martinez, V (by Matusz).
HBP: Ortiz, D (by Hendrickson), Youkilis (by Hernandez, D).
Pitches-strikes: Lackey 124-70, Delcarmen 13-3, Ramirez, R 9-5, Papelbon 21-12, Okajima 23-11, Matusz 117-73, Albers 22-8, Hendrickson 3-1, Berken 11-8, Ohman 20-14, Hernandez, D 41-23.
Groundouts-flyouts: Lackey 12-7, Delcarmen 1-0, Ramirez, R 0-2, Papelbon 0-2, Okajima 1-3, Matusz 2-7, Albers 2-1, Hendrickson 0-0, Berken 2-1, Ohman 1-2, Hernandez, D 1-4.
Batters faced: Lackey 31, Delcarmen 4, Ramirez, R 2, Papelbon 4, Okajima 7, Matusz 24, Albers 5, Hendrickson 1, Berken 4, Ohman 5, Hernandez, D 8.
Inherited runners-scored: Ramirez, R 2-0, Albers 3-0, Hendrickson 2-0, Berken 3-0.
Umpires: HP: James Hoye. 1B: Wally Bell. 2B: Laz Diaz. 3B: Vic Carapazza.
Weather: 90 degrees, cloudy.
Wind: 8 mph, Out to RF.
T: 4:20.
Att: 27,774.

 

O's halt skid on walk-off, get Samuel first win

Markakis delivers RBI single in 11th inning to sink Red Sox

By Jeff Seidel / Special to MLB.com
BALTIMORE -- So much has gone bad for the Orioles throughout this season. Injuries, bad luck, strange breaks. If something could go wrong, well, it has done just that.

But the O's finally had a day when a bunch of things went right. Nick Markakis hit a walk-off RBI single in the bottom of the 11th inning to give the Orioles a come-from-behind, 4-3 victory over the Red Sox before 27,774 on Sunday at Camden Yards.

The victory in a game that lasted four hours, 20 minutes ended a frustrating season-long 10-game losing streak for Baltimore (16-41). In addition, it gave interim manager Juan Samuel his first victory. The game-winning hit also snapped an 0-for-14 skid for Markakis, who's one of the club's top hitters.

Samuel, who was given the game ball and lineup card from his first victory, showed a lot of pride in the way his team played. The Orioles rallied from an early 2-0 deficit to take the lead in the eighth. The Red Sox tied it in the ninth, but Baltimore kept fighting, something that clearly pleased Samuel.

"We easily could have taken it easy after we gave up the lead there," Samuel said. "But guys continued to fight, and that's all we can ask for."

The Orioles fell behind in the second when Victor Martinez hit a two-run homer off starter Brian Matusz. But the O's tied in the bottom half when Cesar Izturis got an RBI single and Julio Lugo reached on a force play to plate the tying run.

Matusz kept Boston (33-25) quiet after Martinez's blast. He gave up just two runs on four hits with seven strikeouts and four walks in 5 2/3 innings.

The rookie settled down and looked like the pitcher he'd been earlier this season and late last year. He couldn't end his personal six-game losing streak, but kept the Orioles in this game.

"That's a tough team; they'll make you pitch," Matusz said. "They're good hitters, one through nine. I thought today was one of the games where I've mixed it up better than any other. I kept them off balance."

As has been the case throughout the season, the Orioles missed on several scoring chances. They finished 3-for-12 with runners in scoring position and left 13 on base.

But they came through in the eighth against Manny Delcarmen, who replaced Boston starter John Lackey after his solid seven-inning effort. Adam Jones was on first with one out when Scott Moore lined a double down the right-field line. Boston right fielder Darnell McDonald had a little trouble coming up with the ball and Jones came around to score for a 3-2 lead.

Samuel said before the game that Will Ohman will be the closer for now, and the left-hander came on in the ninth. Mike Cameron singled and went to second on a McDonald sacrifice. Marco Scutaro moved Cameron to third with a sharp single to left.

Dustin Pedroia followed with a sacrifice fly to center to tie the game at 3, and it seemed like Baltimore had blown another one. The club has given up at least one run in the eighth inning or later in 32 of its 57 games.

But David Hernandez (2-5) came on in the 10th and threw two scoreless innings, setting the stage for the 11th. Izturis led off with a walk against Hideki Okajima (2-2) and moved to second on a Lugo sacrifice bunt. Boston intentionally walked Miguel Tejada, and Markakis singled to left field to win the game.

"Obviously we've had it rough the past couple, 10 games," Markakis said. "We've had some battles. We're in games and lost them. We didn't let this one get away. [We] come out and play a four-and-a-half-hour game and come out on top."

Samuel also got another small victory after the game that caused everyone to smile. After finishing his media conference, Jones was waiting to nail Samuel with the requisite shaving cream pie.

But Samuel somehow figured that Jones was coming through the sliding door to his left and avoided it -- laughing all the way.

The Orioles finally had a day where they could smile.

"It's good for Samuel, it's good for our team," Jones said. "We had it in the ninth, but I am glad we got it in the 11th."