No history for Chris Davis. I’m going to go and pout now.

I’m also pouting because the Orioles had plenty of chances to win this game and they blew them, and in the end, they managed to blow a hold, as well. Normally Jim Johnson’s a solid fellow, but he’s allowed to lose once in a while. I’ve had an exhausting day, though, so I’m still a little sore about it because I could’ve used a win.

I think this game basically deserves the very first one of these of the year:

I really don’t have anything to say here except that this was the first time the Orioles lost a game in extra innings since April and that Raul Ibanez is a very dangerous man.

So here’s a Marina.

This was legitimately a game the Orioles would have won if Raul Ibanez wasn’t in it, plain and simple. He homered off of both Jim Johnson and the previously postseason-flawless Brian Matusz to score the second and third runs of the game, the last one coming in the 12th inning and putting the Yankees over the top.

I’m honestly having trouble coming up with much else to say – Miguel Gonzalez and Hiroki Kuroda were both incredible tonight, so there really wasn’t too much action on the basepaths to comment on. I guess we just have to wait and see what happens tomorrow night now – this has been a very pitching-heavy series, and I can only imagine those of us watching it can expect the same tomorrow evening.

I’m just going to hope for every Orioles fan watching that it’s not over yet after tomorrow night.

I really didn’t want to write this recap. I couldn’t even find the right words to describe what happened at first. Here’s my visual for this game before I came up with something to say:

Anyhow, I did eventually find some words of analysis, so here’s what I’ve come up with.

• The Orioles had plenty of chances to score in the later innings of this game and didn’t. It came back to bite them in the ninth inning, and here’s why…
• Closers and non-save situations just don’t mix. Jim Johnson is the closer. When you put a closer into a game that’s tied or one in which your team has a heavy lead, it messes with their closer mentality. They only know to protect leads, not keep games tied or pitch without intensity when they’ve got a five-run lead. Jim Johnson came into this game when it was tied – which naturally messed with his head on some level. It just doesn’t do a closer any good, especially when there’s a lot of tension already.

Some people deserve some credit tonight. Jason Hammel fought through six innings with his knee brace on, only giving up two runs. Darren O’Day came into a situation where the Yankees had runners on second and third with no outs and managed to get out of it without allowing a run. Brian Matusz pitched an extremely good eighth inning. There were some good takeaways here, at least.

Now we just have to win tomorrow. And you know what? Based on the way this team’s played all year, I think they actually can.

Drat. One game back with two games left to play. Not what anyone was hoping for, I’m sure.

The Orioles are actually only half a game back as I write this, but the Yankees are up 10-2 in the eighth inning and the odds of them managing to blow that are exponentially low. The team had some of that comeback fire we’ve gotten accustomed to in Baltimore, but in the end they fell short tonight. It was a bad night to fall short.

Just for that, Orioles, I give thee a Marina:

That aside, the Yankees game ended whilst I was writing this and it’s official – the Orioles are one game back. I really don’t know if I like the idea of the team having to take part in a one-game playoff, namely because baseball just doesn’t feel like a one-and-done sport to me. For the Orioles to have achieved this much over the course of just one season and to then suddenly be potentially eliminated in just one game doesn’t feel right.

This is why you should go and tell our Red Sox writers to go and yell at the Sox to win. (Ignore the part where I’m one of them and make occasional contributions to the site. You can tell me stuff here.) We need to make alliances of sorts at this time of the year as fanbases – there’s nothing that Sox fans and Orioles fans alike would love to see more now than the Yankees losing. Teams can’t make alliances in the same way since there are no guarantees in sports, but I’d love to see some shared spirit between the Orioles and the Red Sox for the remainder of the regular season. Fighting spirit, you know.

A girl can hope at this point, right? I’m just glad that this team earned a postseason spot yesterday. They deserve that, at least.

Blah.

I really don’t know what to say about this, to be honest. This was a team we could have beaten, and we flat-out didn’t win.

And now we’re farther back in the division, too. I’ve been sitting here for an hour trying to think about what to say about this game and I actually can’t think of anything no matter what. I even watched an episode of Downton Abbey, which you think would make me more creative, and nothing came up. Nothing.

I guess I should just go to sleep because there’s really nothing to talk about regarding this game.

This game was perfectly winnable until Jake Arrieta messed it up.

That’s really all there is to say about this game.

Just for you, Jake, there’s this:

So once upon a time we were leading this game 2-0. Then an inning happened where Zach Britton imploded and gave up five runs, and here we are. Now we’re back one game in the division again. We’re still firmly in the second Wild Card spot, but I just love the idea of winning the division, gah.

This is dedicated to you tonight, Zach:

Everyone go and sleep. We need it. At least we’re playing at 4:05 tomorrow, which isn’t too late…

I’m going to put the same amount of skill into writing this recap that the Orioles put into winning this game.

(A note: skill does not equate to effort, so no matter how hard the Orioles tried today, it didn’t seem to transfer into ability.)

I’ve been sitting here putting off writing a recap post thingy because I’m just not sure what to say. Watching Wei-Yin Chen struggle and give up seven runs tonight was rough, but to their credit, the Orioles did attempt to fight back all the way, with Manny Machado even homering in the ninth inning to bring things closer.

That being said, this was not a good time to lose a baseball game, so…

WE GAINED A GAME! WE’RE ONE GAME OUT!

The Yankees just lost to Tampa Bay…and we beat Toronto 4-0. This is the actual best. We’re only one game behind the Yankees for first place in the AL East. It’s September 3rd. SEPTEMBER. 3RD.

And who thought this would happen? Pretty much nobody. I think we should just go and celebrate all of these things:

• Joe Saunders pitched really, really well. We needed that today.
• ONE GAME BACK ASFRTRDYGSTRGSZF
• The Rays pulled it out for us in the bottom of the 8th. WHEEEEE!

Everyone go and enjoy your barbecues today! I’ll be off celebrating this win and drawing comics and watching Downton Abbey.

And doing junk like this. This, too: