Carl Crawford

In the Andy MacPhail era, which is marking its fourth offseason this winter, the Orioles have never been a major player in free agency, preferring to give shorter, more conservative contracts to role players and former stars looking for resurgence. The largest free-agent deal the Orioles have doled out since MacPhail took over as president of baseball operations in June 2007 was the two-year, $12 million contract signed by reliever Michael Gonzalez last winter. This offseason, that philosophy could change, albeit slightly, because MacPhail and the Orioles are searching for a legitimate power bat — and that could be pricey.

There were times earlier this season when the Orioles would have loved the mere thought of a .500 road trip. After all, they haven't had one in two years and they've won just 17 of their 60 games away from Camden Yards this season. It's that sort of mentality new manager Buck Showalter will ultimately try to break as he begins to mold the Orioles into what he hopes will be a team that can contend in the American League East. But Showalter knows that it, like his team, is a work in progress.

Second baseman Robert Andino and his band of upstart, red-hot, second-place Orioles swear they're facing just another tough divisional rival on the road this weekend. It's not a big deal, Andino says, that Friday will be the first time his club plays a regular-season game against the Boston Red Sox since Sept. 28, 2011 - when Andino's two-out, ninth-inning single at Camden Yards gave the Orioles an unforgettable comeback. No big deal, although that one hit - combined with a nearly simultaneous 12th-inning homer by the Tampa Bay Rays' Evan Longoria against the New York Yankees in Florida - capped a historic collapse by the Red Sox, extinguishing their playoff chances on the last day of the season while igniting a tumultuous offseason in Boston that resulted in the termination of their respected manager and the departure of their ballyhooed general manager.

If the suddenly stumbling and bumbling Boston Red Sox fail to make the playoffs, some credit must go to the perennial basement dwellers of the American League East. For the seventh time in nine games, the last-place Orioles inexplicably have beaten a playoff contender. On Wednesday night, before an increasingly nervous, sellout crowd of 38,004 at Fenway Park, Mark Reynolds hit two homers and the Orioles beat the AL wild-card-leading Red Sox, 6-4. "Our guys have had a good look on their face for about two weeks now," Orioles manager Buck Showalter said.

Raymond Carl Crawford, a retired postal worker and Roman Catholic deacon, died Dec. 23 at St. Agnes Hospital after suffering a heart attack. The Woodlawn-area resident was 77. Born in Baltimore and raised on Port Street, he attended the old St. Andrew's Parochial School and was a 1951 graduate of Mergenthaler Vocational-Technical School. He served in the Navy aboard the USS Cadmus in Korea. After his military service, he worked for a year at the old Western Maryland Dairy and then joined the U.S. Postal Service, working in the special-delivery mail service.

Who's hot Carl Crawford of the Devil Rays is 29-for-64 in his past 14 games, raising his batting aver age to .319. Who's not Roy Halladay of the Blue Jays has allowed 31 walks this sea son after giving up 32 last year. Line of the day David Bell, Phillies 3B AB ......... R ........ H ........ RBI ......... HR 4 ............. 2 ......... 4 ............ 6 .............. 1

How it happened: Clinging to a 3-2 lead, the Orioles brought in new closer Michael Gonzalez to ice the game. He did not, giving up a game-winning two-run double to Carl Crawford. He said it: "I felt the best I felt all spring. I just didn't get the job done, man. ... I am disgusted by the whole thing." -- Gonzalez on blowing a save opportunity in his first game with the Orioles You said it: "Just great...new season, same result. I had a feeling [ Adam Jones] and [Matt Wieters]

On July 2, 2007 SAMMIE E. SMITH (nee Crawford); loving wife of Wm. Walter Smith, Jr.; devoted mother of Juanita Crook and her husband Roy and the late Wm. Walter Smith III; dear sister of Lorena Boom, Selma Fortner, Virginia Johnson, Dorothy Thompson, Carl Crawford and the late Kathleen Crawford, Odell Crawford and Evelyn Underwood. Also survived by a number of nieces and nephews and great-nieces and nephews and grand dog Trooper "Hurricane". The family will receive friends in the Lemmon Funeral Home of Dulaney Valley, Inc., 10 W. Padonia Rodd, (at York Road)