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Riddles such as why do they play “Thank God I’m a Country Boy” in the seventh? To make a long story short, the general manager in the 1970s wanted to update the entertainment from golden oldies and organ music to popular music. John Denver’s song was a hit at the time but as other songs fell out of the rotation this one stayed. What was supposed to modernize games in Charm City became traditional, which isn’t that odd when one considers their park, something new that was made like a throwback to classic parks. Orioles fans would rather listen to anything than the “Orioles Magic” song released for the 1980 season. Puzzles such as the Tigers’ interest in Jeremy Guthrie. Not because his record is 4-13, as any pitcher can suffer from poor run support, but rather because his ERA+ is 89. He had just enough to hold the Red Sox to two runs, a particular feat after the visitors’ 15-run outburst in the series opener. The Yankees and Red Sox are both courting Ubaldo Jimenez, who isn’t pitching at a Cy Young caliber this season but maintains an ERA+ of 111. Since the Red Sox didn’t make much news...
Jon Lester continued to make Juan Samuel’s new job difficult, pitching 6⅓ innings with a line of 4 hits, 3 walks, and 4 strikeouts. The southpaw was on his way to pitching a complete game shutout as Clay Buchholz had before him, but couldn’t quite match Buchholz’s start. This quality start further cemented the dominant double-fisted combination of Buchholz and Lester. All three of Lester’s bases on balls came in the seventh inning against the bottom of Baltimore’s order. Lester was determined to work his way out of the seventh but was clearly gassed as he surrendered free passes to Adam Jones, Garrett Atkins, and Julio Lugo in succession after thoroughly baffling the Orioles for six innings. Terry Francona pulled the lefty with the bases loaded and one out. Lester was as angry as Adrian Beltre getting his head touched in the dugout, not at his manager but at his inability to finish the seventh. Lester looked on anxiously as Daniel Bard attempted to preserve the visitors’ one-run lead. Bard induced a fly ball out to shallow center off Luke Scott’s bat and a pop out to Kevin Youkilis at third from Corey Patterson for the third out. The Red...
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Photo courtesy of the Boston Public Library’s Sports Temples of Boston.