Fenway Park

It's starting to look like there might be some Oriole Magic in the air. How else do you explain what happened Sunday at Fenway Park, which is celebrating its 100th Anniversary this year and seldom over the course of its century of existence has witnessed anything quite like this? How else do you explain the Orioles outlasting the Boston Red Sox in a six-hour marathon that would carry them into first place in the American League East and leave them with the best record (19-9)

The Orioles are going for their first sweep of the Red Sox in Fenway Park since June 10-12, 1994 in today's afternoon game against Boston (Read more on that, and the Orioles' loose clubhouse dynamic HERE ). Maine native Ryan Flaherty, who grew up a 1 1/2-hour drive away as a Red Sox fan, will make his first career start here Fenway Park, hitting leadoff and playing leftfield. Nick Johnson will make the start at first and the Chris Davis will be at DH.   Tommy Hunter will head to the mound today against Clay Buchholz.

Chris Davis hadn't thrown a pitch in nearly six years, dating to his days as a draft hopeful playing at a small junior college in Corsicana, Texas. But more than five hours - and 15 innings - into the Orioles' series finale with the Red Sox at Fenway Park on Sunday afternoon-turned-evening, manager Buck Showalter turned to Davis, the club's everyday first baseman, in the visiting dugout and directed him toward the bullpen to warm up. The Orioles had exhausted all other relief options - eight relievers combined to allowed one run over seven innings - in a game tied at 6. Davis shrugged.

The Orioles sent 10 batters to the plate in a seven-run third inning that has opened up Saturday afternoon's game against the Red Sox at Fenway Park. The Orioles lead the Red Sox 8-0 after an inning that was capped by third baseman Mark Reynolds' three-run homer over the Green Monster in left, his second in the last 24 hours after going homerless for 76 at bats. Center fielder Adam Jones also hit a two-run homer, a mammoth two-run blast that cleared the Green Monster and landed on Landsdowne Street.

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.

The Orioles keep dismissing the spoiler angle, stressing there is no burning desire to beat contenders down the stretch. Ultimately, in the final stanza of another disappointing season, these victory-starved Orioles simply want to win, no matter whom they play. It just so happens that their recent triumphs are coming against clubs fighting for the postseason, like Tuesday's 7-5 comeback against the Boston Red Sox. "Just the situation they are in and our situation, it's a little added bonus," said first baseman Mark Reynolds, who had two hits, including a two-run single, in his first game since getting plunked in the head Saturday.

The Orioles felt pretty good about themselves Monday afternoon. By Monday night, they just wanted to lick their wounds and duck out of Fenway Park for a few hours. Continuing their success against potential playoff teams, the Orioles beat the Boston Red Sox, 6-5, in the first game of a day-night doubleheader on Monday before dropping a dreadful 18-9 shootout in which the starting pitchers combined to surrender 14 runs and 17 hits. The nearly four-hour bashfest started ugly, with the Orioles scoring three runs against beleaguered Boston righty John Lackey, only to see shellshocked lefty Brian Matusz hand the lead back in the bottom of the first.

As a general rule, baseball players tend to fight about as well as hockey players knit. That's why bench-clearing brawls are usually pretty dull affairs. There's a lot of cussing and grunting and groaning. There's a lot of pushing and shoving. Maybe you'll see a haymaker or two whistle harmlessly through the air, but that's pretty much the extent of the action. On the other hand, the Orioles are in such a death spiral right now that another melee with the Boston Red Sox, who come into Camden Yards on Monday for a three-game series, might actually be the high point of the season for O's fans.