JASON VARITEK

A POWERFUL CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM
The Sox come from behind again
and again to beat the Orioles

September 6, 2007 ... Tonight, the Orioles showed up for work wearing uniforms honoring a Negro League team from Baltimore known as the Black Sox, but the esteemed Thomas Boswell of the Washington Post suggests in the press box that they were too embarrassed to wear anything that identified them as Orioles. The disguises didn't help. The Sox, on home runs by Coco Crisp and David Ortiz, came from behind three times, then won, 7-6, in the ninth inning on Jason Varitek's pinch single, extending their lead in the American League East to 6 1/2 games over the Yankees, who were idle. The Sox have 21 games left, the Yankees 22.

Just when it looked like the Orioles finally caught a break because the Sox decided not to give Buchholz the chance to do a 21st-century Johnny Vander Meer and throw two no-hitters in a row, Baltimore watched the door to the visitors' bullpen open and out came Buchholz, entering in the sixth inning of a 6-all tie. The kid walked the first batter he faced, Brian Roberts, gave up a ground single to the next hitter, Tike Redman, and walked the third, Nick Markakis, to load the bases with no outs. But then the legend went super-sized again, as Buchholz induced Miguel Tejada to ground into a third-to-home-to-first double play, then struck out Kevin Millar to escape the jam.

When Boston's other rookie sensation, Jacoby Ellsbury, delivered a pinch single to load the bases in the eighth, Buchholz appeared in line for the win. But fortune momentarily smiled on the Orioles. Francona, who may just be heeding the wishes of the front office that signed J.D. Drew, started Drew last night even though he had four hits in his last 32 at-bats. Drew, who can do no right this season, hit the next pitch from Chad Bradford into an inning-ending double play, and Buchholz had to come out for a third inning, one in which he was spared some high anxiety when Crisp made a terrific over-the-head catch in center field. And sure enough, he wound up with the win.

The Orioles had made fast work of the Sox' starter, Tim Wakefield, who had missed his last start with a bad back and was knocked out in the fourth after a yield of six runs and nine hits. That included a two-run home run by Millar in the third. Under ordinary circumstances, the Orioles might have won in a walk, but their starting pitcher, Garrett Olson, was paralyzed into inaction by the simple act of fielding a ball hit right back to him.

The Sox scored two runs in the second, the second when Olson, with runners on first and second, failed to turn a double play on Dustin Pedroia's comebacker, opting to throw to first when a possible triple play wasn't out of the question. He then had pinch runner Royce Clayton trapped off third on Ortiz's comebacker, looked at him, then threw to first as Clayton slid home.

The Sox scored by more conventional means in the fourth, when Crisp followed two walks with a home run, his first in 54 games and 204 at-bats. The Orioles countered with two in their half of the fourth, on two-out hits by Redman (single), Markakis (double), and Tejada (single). By then, Olson was gone, having departed with a strained forearm, and Ortiz tied it with a home run off reliever Rocky Cherry, which sounds like something you'd order at Baskin-Robbins.

That's the way it stood until the ninth, when Crisp beat out a slow roller to second for an infield hit off Danys Baez and stole second on the second pitch to Varitek, pinch hitting for Kevin Cash, who had entered the game because Doug Mirabelli had strained a hamstring running out a single in the third. Varitek punched an opposite-field single to left, Crisp came flying around third, and Jonathan Papelbon retired the Orioles 1-2-3 in the ninth.

David Ortiz's home run in the fifth inning, which tied the score at 6, ensured that Tim Wakefield would not be the pitcher of record, ending his streak of 26 games with a decision. Wakefield was the team's first pitcher since Danny MacFayden in 1929 to have a decision in his first 26 starts. The home run was also the 200th for Ortiz since he joined the Sox.

Doug Mirabelli, who came off the disabled list last Saturday after missing two weeks with a strained right calf, may be headed for another unwanted vacation. Mirabelli pulled up lame while running out his third-inning single, and after taking second on Julio Lugo's hit, he was lifted for a pinch runner, Royce Clayton. Mirabelli is listed day to day with what Francona called a slight pull. It was Clayton's first appearance for the Sox since he signed a Triple A contract Aug. 23, following his release by the Blue Jays.

Kevin Youkilis set the American League single-season record for consecutive errorless games by a first baseman, 122, and last night tied Mike Hegan for the AL record for consecutive errorless games (178). Hegan, playing for Milwaukee and Oakland at the time, started just 52 games during his streak and handled 787 chances. Youkilis has handled 1,507 chances. The big league record for consecutive errorless games is 193, held by Steve Garvey when he was with the Padres (1983-85)