Red Sox 3, Orioles 5: From Good To Bad In The Blink Of An Eye

For five innings, this was a pretty good game.

Aaron Cook started out dominant. Not dominant dominant, but Aaron Cook dominant. Ground ball after ground ball kept the Orioles out of not just the run column, but the hit column as well. He'd been granted a reprieve when Laz Diaz called an infield single an out at first, keeping a run off the board, but in general this is what you ask for from Aaron Cook.

The Sox, meanwhile, had struggled early, showing signs of repeating their struggles from game one by leaving two on in the first. But they managed some loud outs in the third, and then broke through in the fifth thanks to setup singles by none other than Scott Podsednik and Nick Punto, with Jacoby Ellsbury and Carl Crawford providing the hard hit balls they needed to get home.

Then came the sixth. A one-out walk, a single to left breaking up the no-no, another single, and then a comebacker to Cook. It could have ended the inning, instead it went into center field. The errant throw cost Cook at least one out, probably two, and with it, the tying run.

Which is not to mention the three that followed in short succession.

In the blink of an eye, the Red Sox went from no-no hopefuls to 5-2 dogs, and it just never got much better from there.

Red Sox baseball in a nutshell.