The Red Sox lost to the Orioles in 17 innings today. On Friday they lost in 13, and on Saturday, just nine. So on top of the fact that the O’s swept the Sox, and Baltimore now has a 1/2 game lead in the AL East, these other odd moments occurred:

* Neither starting pitcher went five full innings. Clay Buchholz (Boston) went 3 2/3 giving up 5 runs. Tommy Hunter of the Orioles went 4 1/3 giving up 5 as well.

* Every member of the Red Sox had at least one strikeout. (Baltimore pitchers struck out 18. Boston struck out 15 O’s.)

* Adrian Gonzalez went 0 for 8 with two strikeouts leaving eight men on base.

* Not to be outdone, Baltimore DH Chris Davis went 0 for 8, with five strikeouts leaving 5 men on base. Oh, and he also grounded into a double play. So 8 at-bats, 9 outs.

* No runs were scored by either team from the 9th through the 16th.

* The Orioles grounded into five double plays in extra innings.

* Chris “Platinum Sombrero” Davis would then pitch the bottom of the 16th. He struck out one and then nearly lost the game but Marlon Byrd was thrown out at the plate by J.J. Hardy. Whew.

* Darnell McDonald, who pinch ran for Big Papi in the 8th and scored the tying run, would be sent in to pitch the 17th inning. McDonald (who is listed in the box score with the never seen position listing of “PH-DH-P”) walked two and then gave up a 3-run homer to Adam Jones.

* In the bottom of the 17th, Davis came back to the mound and put two Sox on. After striking out Adrian Gonzalez, Davis then induced a double play. Who hit into the DP? Darnell McDonald, of course.

So your final results:

WP - Chris Davis, first win in his major league career (Who are we kidding? First pitching appearance in his career.)

LP - Darnell McDonald, first appearance, first loss

Time of Game: 6:07, not a typo

The Boston Globe published a list of every Red Sox alum in attendance at the 100th anniversary celebration for Fenway Park on April 20, 2012. (Here’s a clearer version.)

All the pagaentry aside, I assume they were most excited about the attempt by Welch’s Grape Juice to host the largest single event toast in history. No confirmation as to whether it was a world record. But I’m sure MLBOffseason.com will break it first if it was…because we care about our readers.

(h/t to Old Time Family Baseball - a great site)

Fenway Park - April 20, 1912

Fenway Park was supposed to open on April 18, 1912, a Thursday. The game was rained out. A doubleheader was scheduled for April 19, Patriots’ Day. Again the weather failed to cooperate. Finally, on Saturday April 20 at 3:00 pm the Boston Red Sox took the field against the New York Highlanders. (They wouldn’t be called the Yankees until the following season, and the heated rivalry was eight years - and an infamous trade - away.)

Anywhere from 24,000 to 27,000 fans were in attendance, enough that overflow was allowed to watch the game behind ropes in the outfield. (Not the outfield seats, the grass itself.) Seats were priced from 25¢ for the bleachers up to $1.50 for box seats. The crowd got its money’s worth.

The Highlanders jumped out to a 3-1 lead after the first inning. By the end of the 3rd it was 5-1. But in the bottom of the fourth, the Red Sox had three men cross the plate to bring the score to within one. Boston tied it up in the sixth, and both teams traded runs in the 8th.

The score was 6-6 after nine. In the bottom of the 11th the Sox scored again earning a 7-6 walk-off win in their brand-new park.  (No more details are known because there is no complete box score from the game.)

The Sox starter, Buck O’Brien, would earn the win and finish 20-13 that year. Ray Caldwell earned the loss, one of 16 against only 8 wins.

By October the Sox had run away with the AL pennant, with a final record of 105-47, fourteen games up on the 2nd place Washington Senators. (The Highlanders would finish last, 55 games behind Boston.) In the postseason, the Sox defeated the Giants five games to three (best of 9 back then), clinching it in their shiny new park on October 16, 1912. They would win three Series more by 1918…then a small championship drought you may be familiar with…before winning again in 2004 and 2007.

Favorite random fact: Fenway has been the home park for more football teams (5 - Boston Bulldogs, 1926; Boston Shamrocks, 1936-1937; Boston Redskins, 1933-1936, later moved to Washington; Boston Yanks, 1944-1948, the owner originally hoped to play in Yankee Stadium - awkward; and the Boston Patriots, 1963-1968) than baseball teams (2 - Sox and the Boston Braves for the 1914 World Series and 1915 season).

Sources: retrosheet.org, Boston’s SABR chapter (great stuff on 1912 there), and wikipedia.org

(Image of first ball thrown at Fenway on April 20, 1912 is courtesy of ESPN.com and copyright Stan Honda/AFP/Getty Images)

This is what men died for at Lexington and Concord.

Patriots’ Day 2012

(Image courtesy of @Wally97, official Twitter site of Wally, the Green Monster, “mascot for the Boston Red Sox - 2011 Mascot Home Run Derby Champion”…yes there is a mascot home run derby)

Not exactly the silver lining I’m looking for from the Boston bullpen after the opening series.

Here. We. Go.

Comerica Park, April 5 2012

Red Sox vs. Tigers

(@PeteAbe)

It’s not much, but for all those fans unable to get down to FL. or out to AZ. to see your team at Spring Training, here’s a little taste.

Just hearing the smack of the pitch into the catcher’s mitt should (hopefully)get you to Opening Day.

Jason Varitek

Drafted - 1st round, 1994, Seattle Mariners

Debut - Sept. 24, 1997

Final game - Sept. 25, 2011

Two World Series rings, one Gold Glove, one Silver Slugger, three-time All Star

Jorge Posada

Drafted - 24th round, 1990, New York Yankees

Debut - Sept. 4, 1995

Final game - Sept. 28, 2011

Five World Series rings, five Silver Sluggers, five-time All Star

(Image of Varitek courtesy of bleacherreport.com and copyright Jim Rogash/GettyImages. Image of Posada courtesy of nydailynews.com and copyright Franklin/AP)

A baseball player, the Captain, & a leader of men.

Farewell, ‘Tek

Red Sox Truck Day!

(Steve Silva / Globe Staff)

The Red Sox & A’s have completed a 5 player trade, with closer Andrew Bailey moving East, to anchor the Boston bullpen.

The full trade involves Bailey & OF Ryan Sweeney leaving Oakland, with OF Josh Reddick heading out in return, along with prospects IF Miles Head & Raul Alcantera, a pitcher.

Now, full disclosure, I’m a Sox fan. That said, I love this deal. Bailey had been a guy linked to Boston for a while now. With the departure of Jonathan Papelbon to the Phillies & the expected move of stretching out last year’s set up man, Daniel Bard, to compete for a spot in the starting rotation, the Red Sox have a huge void to fill in the back end of their ‘pen. What new G.M. Ben Cherington has been trying to do is collect quality pieces on the cheap —avoid big ticket purchases like Ryan Madson or making deals that ship out any of their top 10 prospects— to put together a staff with depth & flexibility. This deal does exactly that. While Bailey has injury concerns, Reddick, the headline piece Oakland is getting back, was considered more of a 4th outfielder type in the A.L. East.

Boston will now focus on getting another starter & maybe a veteran power arm to compete to be a part of the Sox 25-man Opening Day roster. I’ll write more later on just how the Red Sox staff shapes up now from top to bottom, providing a pretty good glimpse into what Boston has as it tries to rebound from the epic collapse that was September, 2011.

While Reddick was not considered a major piece of Boston’s future, he should offer Oakland a bat that has a ton of potential, as long as he can overcome his issues with plate discipline. The A’s are essentially hoping he becomes a major upgrade over Sweeney & that the prospects they are receiving are future pieces that can come up through their system and be on the big league roster in 2014. Where as Head projects as a MLB average 1B, Raul Alcantara may be the guy that Oakland looks to as the player we one day consider the best player in the trade. He’s raw, only 19, but has the ceiling of being either a middle of the rotation pitcher or a 30+ saves closer.

Overall the deal boils down to this: Boston dealt from areas where their organizational depth resides & the A’s are selling high on a closer. Both are savvy moves by these two front offices. This time next year we may see it from a different angle, but today this deal breaks as a win for Boston.

waxandmilk:

Nothing’s changed. Evan comes through in the clutch and Carl Crawford wins it for the Rays.