Orioles hold off Rangers, 5-1, advance to ALDS

This season, the Baltimore Orioles went 74-0 in games they led after seven innings. Nothing lasts forever. But considering their history and their excellent relief pitchers, the Orioles had to figure if they could just take a lead, however small, into the eighth inning, they would be awfully hard to beat. Which they were. It wasn’t easy, though. At least not until the end.

There was a sense in some quarters that Ron Washington and the Rangers lost the game, but it’s probably more fair to say that Buck Showalter and the Orioles won it. Which is nothing new, in 2012.

“Nate McLouth led off for the Orioles in their first playoff game, and he had a great game, helping his team dispatch the defending A.L. Champion Rangers.”

“After the coup, President Stallone suspended the 2012 election, citing ‘national security issues.’”

I don’t know. Seems as good of a curse as any. But here are Darren O’Day’s three previous seasons:

Which one looks like the anomaly? It’s always tricky to say with relievers -- they’re always going to be at the mercy of sample size -- but it sure looked like O’Day was a quality reliever until 2011. He went down to Round Rock and did really well after getting blown up in the majors. And then, before the 2012 season, he was unceremoniously waived.

They’ve got a lead after seven innings. During their magical marvelous miraculous regular season, the Orioles owned the lead after seven innings in 74 of their games ... and won all 74 of them.

O’Day came out for the bottom of the seventh, and retired two Rangers on ground balls, and the next on a strikeout.

For a while, nothing was going on in the Wild Card contest between the Rangers and Orioles. A runner here, a runner there, the occasional double play, but nothing of note. This game needed some motivation! It needed to giddy up and git going!

There we go. And there the Orioles went, taking the lead in the sixth inning off Yu Darvish. J.J. Hardy led off the frame with a soft liner to right for a single, and Chris Davis hit a sharp grounder through the right side, sending Hardy to third. Adam Jones ripped a first-pitch slider to deep right field, and Hardy trotted home easily, putting the Orioles up 2-1.

But this is baseball, and Saunders does have five solid innings in the books despite giving up six hits, thanks to three double plays already. And he’s thrown only 72 pitches, which will make it awfully hard for Showalter to pull him now.

Which doesn’t matter a bit. This is baseball. All it takes is one bloop followed by a blast, and everything that came before will be forgotten, like tears in the rain.

After the Orioles scored a run in the top of the first, the Rangers opened the bottom of the first with a walk and a single against Joe Saunders. It wasn’t looking good. The Orioles’ bullpen got busy. A single bead of perspiration trickled down Saunders’ face. This was the beginning of the end ...

Then there was a run-scoring double play and ... nothin’ since. Saunders allowed a hit in the second, and he pitched around a hit and an error in the third.

So a third of the way in, it’s 1-1. If the Orioles can just get the lead ...

On the very first play of the very first Wild Card game in American League history, first baseman Michael Young made an error. Well, then. Nate McLouth was the runner, and he subsequently stole second, scoring on J.J. Hardy’s single. Rangers starter Yu Darvish got out of the inning with two strikeouts and a pop-up, with the Orioles leading 1-0.

You think that’d be enough for Joe Saunders, but no. Ian Kinsler walked to lead off the game for the Rangers, and he made it to third on an Elvis Andrus single. A bittersweet Josh Hamilton double play tied the game back up at one, but it also killed the rally. Adrian Beltre flew out to end the inning.

It’s not exactly a lefty- or switch-heavy lineup, but there are a few bumps in there for Darvish. Of course, Darvish doesn’t really have any platoon splits, so it’s not like it makes a difference.

Texas Rangers manager Ron Washington has posted his lineup for Friday night’s first-ever American League Wild Card game, with lefty “Bazooka Joe” Saunders starting for the Baltimore Orioles.

1. Ian Kinsler - 2B

2. Elvis Andrus - SS

3. Josh Hamilton* - LF

4. Adrian Beltre - 3B

5. Nelson Cruz - RF

6. Michael Young - 1B

7. Mike Napoli - DH

8. Geovany Soto - C

9. Craig Gentry - CF

Here they are. The Baseball Nation predictions.

All of these predictions were arrived at after hours of study and meditation, with careful analysis going into each pick. They certainly weren’t something that everyone spit out after five seconds of thinking in response to a “Hey, wait, we need to get some predictions up” e-mail.

If there’s ever been a better competition for Manager of the Year, I don’t want to know about it!

Actually, I do want to know about it. Because that would be really interesting!

Oh. Joe Saunders.

But I’m here to make you feel better, gentle Orioles partisan, so here are some reasons to not be that worried about Joe Saunders. Please don’t think that I came up with the premise for this article first and then scrambled to fill it with half-baked ideas. Because that is totally absurd. Ha ha ha. Ha ha. Ha. Ahem.

When and where to watch: Friday, Oct. 5 at 8:30 p.m. ET on TBS

The Rangers limped to the finish line, going just 3-7 in their final 10 games of the season. However, the real punch in the gut came when Oakland completed a three-game sweep over its division foe, finishing its 13-game comeback to steal the division title.

Their rise to contention this season, ending more than a decade of futility at Camden Yards, left many baseball observers puzzled. They are used to high-stakes gambles.

Saunders, the 31-year-old lefty, has a 3-3 record, with a 3.63 ERA and 23 strikeouts in seven appearances with Baltimore. Hardly show-stopping material, for sure.