Rob Long: Good Weekend In Baltimore Sports
Baltimore's sports teams battled with the teams from New England over the weekend. The Baltimore Orioles continued their race to the MLB post-season by taking two out of three in Boston from the Red Sox.
If you're a believer in karma, or just paranoid like me, you were probably concerned about playing the Red Sox. Afterall, the O's did end the Sox 2011 season with a walk-off hit. Extra motivation by the Red Sox was a concern, but in this series, that did not matter.
The O's have a four-game series with the Toronto Blue Jays beginning Monday with a traditional double-header starting at 4:05. The Birds send Steve Johnson to the mound in game one to take on the Jays' Henderson Alverez while Wei-Yin Chen battles Ricky Romero in the second game.
Meanwhile the Baltimore Ravens engaged in an offensive slugfest against the New England Patriots on Sunday Night Football.
The Pats took an early 13-0 lead in the first quarter as the Ravens offense struggled. Joe Flacco and the offense got it cranked up in the second quarter, putting 14-points on the board and taking a one point lead with 1:47 left in the half.
Tom Brady exploited the Ravens suspect defense as he marched right down the field on a nine play, 81-yard drive in just 1:45 to take a 20-14 lead into halftime.
The two teams continued to go back and forth as the Ravens opened up the second half with an eight play drive themselves and took a 21-20 lead. This game gave everyone watching the impression that the team that gets a late stop could put themselves in position to win.
The Ravens did exactly that. The defense stopped the Pats on their final two possessions of the fourth quarter and put the offense in position to win. The Ravens scored on both of those possessions. First, an eight play, 92-yard drive and then a game winning eight play, 70-yard drive that ended with a 27-yard Justin Tucker field goal that added even more drama.
So, the O's are 87-65, one game back of the New York Yankees in the American League East and one game up on the Oakland A's for the top Wild Card spot. The Ravens are 2-1 with two wins against AFC opponents, including 1-0 against the AFC North.
Rob Long
