'02-Red Sox sweep '65-Orioles

The 2002 Boston Red Sox are on a quest to prove that they should not be forgotten in the annals of their franchises history. The 1965 Orioles, on the other hand, find their season on the ropes. Manager Bob Kalec talked openly about rumblings about his immanent firing. We'll keep our eye on that situation as it develops.

GAME 1: Derek Lowe took on Milt Pappas. The Sawx scored 4 runs in the bottom of the and never looked back. Nomar's 3 runs shot was the difference. Lowe went 8 1/3 innings before yielding to Urbina, even though it was not a save situation. Pappas went the distance. Johnny Damon banged out 3 hits and also had 2 RBI's.

GAME 2: Boston again scored 5 in this contest as Pedro improved on his opening peformance by only yielding 2 runs in 8 innings of work. Urbina came on again to close it out, this time notching the save. Trot Nixon hit a 2 run shot in the 3rd to give the hometown team a 4-0 lead. Norm Siebern homered for Baltimore in a losing cause.

GAME 3: The Red Sox proved themselves to be inhospitable guest by blowing out the Orioles 6-1 at Memorial Stadium. Knuckleball king Tim Wakefield had catcher Doug Mirabelli diving all over the place, as well as the Oriole hitters. Wake struck out 5 in 7 1/3 innings of work, while his opponent Dave McNally gave up 6 in 7. Six different Boston players had RBI's and Shea Hillebrand had 3 hits.

GAME 4: The final score was 7-1 in favor of the Sox who wound up sweeping the series. Don't let the final score fool you into thinking this game was a blow out. In fact it was a 1-1 tie that had to go 11 innings to find a winner. The game lasted 4 hours and 6 minutes due to the slow pace, extra frames and a 20 minute rain delay in the 10th. Baltimore jumped out on top in the 3rd as Curt Blefary hit a low liner to right that was caught by Trot Nixon, who fell down and couldn't throw the speedy Aparicio out at the plate. Luis originally reached first on an error by Red Sox first baseman Brian Daubach. Darren Oliver started for the Bosox and gave up only 1 un-earned run in 8 full innings of work. O's starter Wally Bunker didn't last as long. With 1 out in the third he left the game with a slight shoulder strain and is expected to miss 1 start. Don Larsen came on in relief and "Mr. Perfect" tossed 5+ innings of no run ball...until the 9th when the Red Sox offense finally scored a run to tie the game. In the ninth Boston had 2 outs and a man on 3rd, when catcher Jason Varitek singled home Jose Offerman, who pinch ran for Trot Nixon. On to extra innings the game went. Neither team scored in the 10th, but in the 11th reliever Stu Miller ran out of gas and the floodgates began to open. Miller letup 6 runs before the Boston half inning was completed. Varitek struck again recording the GWRBI. Casey Fossum got the win with 3 perfect innings of relief.