When a 9-run lead just isn't enough.

Image by krakatoa via Flickr

Time to get out the barrel of cliches.

Seems the Boston Red Sox managed to blow a 10–1 lead and lose to their American League East rivals the Baltimore Orioles. The score was 9–1 after 7 innings. The game ended in 9 innings.

Don't count your chickens till they're hatched.

The Red Sox had beaten the Orioles five straight time in 2009 and eight overall, streatching to 2008. In this game, Boston had rapped out 13 hits en route to that staggering 10–1 lead. John Smoltz, usually reliable as a starter (as he had shown in 20 seasons with the Atlanta Braves), was cruising along in search of his 211th win, after enduring a hard-luck 2008 season full of injury and surgery. The Red Sox players were so confident, it appeared, that they even tried to end an inning early: The pitcher and infielders began walking off the field after the 6th inning even though only two outs had been recorded.

But Mother Nature had a thing or two to say about this one, and Red Sox fans can certainly identify with what happened next. A 71-minute rain delay chased Smoltz, leaving the 9-run lead in the hands of the bullpen, which had been capable of defending such advantages all year long. But not this time.

It ain't over till it's over.

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

In the 7th inning, the Orioles' bats came alive. Baltimore struck quickly and consistently, scoring 5 runs and cutting the deficit in half. The following inning, they followed with another 6 runs, recording 13 hits in those two innings and forging ahead for a wildly improbable 11–10 lead. The latest mound victim for the Red Sox was closer Jonathan Papelbon, who had blown just one save in 20 chances so far and had never surrendered a victory to the Orioles. But the runners had crossed plate and the runs were on the board. What had seemed like a laugher a couple hours earlier was turning into a creeping feeling of dread nightmare to Red Sox fans, many of whom were beginning to conjure demons from the past in order to place this impending loss into the pantheon of cases of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

The Red Sox surrendered in the 9th inning, and their fate was sealed. It was the biggest comeback victory ever for the Baltiimore Orioles, eclipsing an eight-run comeback in 1956. Orioles fans (those who stuck around) were ecstatic. As for Boston ...

"It just didn't end the way we wanted to," Red Sox manager Francona said.

That's why they play the games.