Sunday, May 06, 2012

The Best Record in Baseball

The 2012 Orioles won their 19th baseball game today against the Red Sox and have the best record in baseball at 19-9.

Number 19 is a symbolic number for Baltimoreans. John Unitas wore it. Dave McNally hurled fastballs with it on his back, and today Chris Davis, number nineteen, the Oriole first baseman found himself on the mound pitching the 16 and 17th innings.

After striking out 5 times and hitting into a double play, he won the 19th game of the year as a pitcher.

It was a strange game. With a 5-0 lead, you might have thought you could have turned it off. But 14 years of losing are still on the tongue and you know that Tommy Hunter in a shoebox like Fenway is one pitch away from giving up four runs or more. He pitches to contact and the park's small dimensions make it more challenging to keep the ball in the park.

It was 5-5 and then stayed 6-6 for a long time, from the 8th inning until the 17th. With Davis on the mound, the Red Sox had a chance to win it in the sixteenth but an Adam Jones relay throw to J.J. Hardy to Wieters cut down Marlon Byrd trying to score.

The Sox sent in outfielder Darnell McDonald to pitch. It was the first time since 1925 that two position players were pressed into service as pitchers.

It was Jones again who clubbed a batting practice pitch over the green monster. He did something similar on Saturday off of Aaron Cook. It went all the way out of Fenway. Frank Robinson hit a ball out of Memorial Stadium the day my brother was baptized, May 8th, 1966. On Saturday, my daughter received her first holy communion.

The most impressive thing to me is that neither team wanted to lose the game and ended up playing twelve extra innings in the series.

Adam Jones looks like a young Frank Robinson, J..J. Hardy, a young Davey Johnson, and Buck Showalter--Earl Weaver.

Fear the cartoon Bird.



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