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Orioles Win Sixth Straight As Pundits Must Be Puzzled

Orioles just won a Fenway Park classic 9-7, spoiling the Red Sox April 11 home opener.
Chris Davis's mammoth two-out three-run homer to dead center off Red Sox expensive new closer Craig Kimbrel provided winning margin in top of 9th.

Mookie Betts homered to lead off bottom of 9th off O's closer Zack Britton and Bosox got the tying runs on with none out. But a great 4-6-3 DP started by Jonathan Schoop and strikeout of Hanley Ramirez cemented the O's sixth win in a row to start season.
The pundits who saw the O's as a sub-.500 team must be at their computers now coming up with explanations for this aberration.

One doesn't win a pennant in April but you can dig yourself a big hole by losing in April. The Minnesota Twins are facing that climb. Amazing how streaks can start and end suddenly. Orioles lost 7 in a row to Minnesota last year who essentially knocked them out of pennant race in mid-August. This year the Birds swept them to begin the season.

American League East looks like another dogfight all season so nice to start building up a little lead. If Orioles starting pitching goes deeper into games (Yankees have the same need), they could have a lot of fun in 2016.

And let's hear it for backup catcher Caleb Joseph who started both big rallies today for Birds - the five-run third against another Red Sox big ticket acquisition David Price punctuated by a Mark Trumbo 3-run homer, and the ninth inning rally that ended with Davis's mammoth shot. Earl Weaver is smiling somewhere tonight in Baseball Heaven or more likely in a very liquid passionate Baseball Hades.

Caleb Joseph is what Oriole baseball is all about. He toiled in the minor leagues for almost 10 seasons, living in the clubhouse in double-A at times. Hard not to root for a guy like that.

FINAL NOTE: I hope you can see Part I of the Ken Burns Jackie Robinson documentary. It airs on PBS tonight Mon Apr 11 with Part II on Tues Apr 12. There are three cuts of me in Part I talking about Branch Rickey's role in Robinson's emergence.

Thanks for your time this time until next time, this is Lee Low' (aka Teny Ymota) reminding you to Take It Easy But Take It.

PS Teny Ymota stands for The Earl of NY Your Man On The Aisle.
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