Gästebuch » BOSTON (AP) — The Red Sox were still shaking hands on

the field when the “106” went up in the win column of the AL East standings that are posted on the Green Monster.Scoreboards flashed “106 Wins.” Fans waved signs to celebrate breaking a record that has stood as long as Fenway Park itself.“You think about all the history of the game and the history of this franchise Juan Samuel Jersey ,” Boston manager Alex Cora said after the Red Sox beat the Baltimore Orioles 6-2 on Monday night to earn their record 106th victory and clinch home-field advantage through the postseason.“To be part of this, I can’t even explain it. We should call timeout and enjoy this one,” said Cora, who is in his first year as manager. “We know what we want to do in October, but this one … for us to do it is amazing.”Mookie Betts had a pair of hits to leave his major league-best batting average at .343, and Nathan Eovaldi struck out 10 hapless batters to assure the Red Sox of the best record in the major leagues this season and home-field advantage through the World Series, if they make it that far.For now, they know they will open the Division Series at Fenway Park on Oct. 5 against the winner of the AL wild-card game between the New York Yankees and (most likely) Oakland.“I know how it gets here in the playoffs,” said Cora, who played on the team from 2006-08 and was a bench coach with the Astros when they beat Boston in the divisional round last year. “It’s a special place, and it’s a tough place for the visitors in the postseason.”The 1912 Red Sox won 105 games in their first season at Fenway Park.PEP TALKSCora said he spoke to the team after the game, and so did injured second baseman Dustin Pedroia http://www.philliesfanproshop.com/authentic-pat-neshek-jersey , the longest-tenured member of the team.“Enjoy it,'” Betts recalled Cora saying. “We’ve got a great group of guys, a special group of guys. Finish out strong before the playoffs start.”LOSING SIDEThe Orioles (45-111) matched the franchise record for defeats set by the 1939 St. Louis Browns, who went 43-111. They became the sixth AL team and the first since the 2003 Tigers to lose 111 games, falling 60½ games behind Boston (106-51) in the division. It’s the first time since 1939 that teams separated by 60 wins in the standings have played each other.Renato Nunez had three hits for the Orioles, who fell to 2-15 against Boston and 18-61 on the road this season.HOW THEY SCOREDBoston scored four in the second inning, getting back-to-back doubles from Steve Pearce and Brock Holt, an RBI single from Christian Vazquez and Betts’ two-run homer over the Green Monster. It was the 32nd homer of the season for Betts, a new career high.Betts also singled and scored in Boston’s two-run fourth, moving him into the major-league lead with 125 runs. In his last three games, he is 10 for 16 with three homers and four doubles, and he leads teammate J.D. Martinez (.328) in the AL batting race.FOR STARTERSSix days after throwing six scoreless innings against the Yankees Robin Roberts Jersey , Eovaldi (6-7) allowed one run on four hits in five innings, walking none but throwing a pair of wild pitches.Baltimore starter Dylan Bundy (8-16) gave up four runs, five hits and three walks in three innings, striking out five.TRAINER’S ROOMOrioles: RHP Yefrey Ramirez is scheduled to start on Wednesday, but manager Buck Showalter said he wanted to give him an extra day or two. “I think Yefrey will pitch again, I just don’t know when,” Showalter said.Red Sox: SS Xander Bogaerts was back in the lineup after feeling soreness in his left shoulder during a swing and leaving Sunday night’s game. … INF Eduardo Nunez ran on Sunday to test his hamstring and was scheduled to run again on Monday with the goal of having him back in the lineup by Wednesday or Friday.UP NEXTLHP David Price (15-7) tries to bounce back from a rough start in Yankee Stadium in the second game of the series in what could be his last start of the regular season. RHP Jimmy Yacabonis (0-2) will start for Baltimore COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. (AP) — Lee Smith had seen the Hall of Fame several times. This visit was completely different.“I’m still in awe,” Smith said after the tour Tuesday, in preparation for his July induction. “Whenever I sign an autograph and someone says, ‘Hey, put Hall of Fame on it Tug McGraw Jersey ,’ I don’t know if the Hall of Fame goes first or the year goes first.”Smith, who emerged as an ace reliever with the Chicago Cubs in the 1980s, and former White Sox star Harold Baines were voted into the baseball shrine in December by a select committee. They will be inducted along with Mariano Rivera, the late Roy Halladay, Mike Mussina, and Edgar Martinez, who were elected last month by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.The 61-year-old Smith was at the 2009 Hall of Fame induction of Rickey Henderson, Jim Rice and Joe Gordon. But this time was overwhelming as the monumental aspect of his upcoming enshrinement was still sinking in.Smith appeared on the BBWAA ballot 15 times and never came close.“It was unbelievable just to get that call. You wait so many years,” Smith said. “When I first retired, people told me I was going to be a first-ballot Hall of Famer. I’ve got goosebumps. I’ve never been nervous before, but I’m nervous right now.“It’s been crazy,” he said. “There’s a lot of this stuff here I already knew Drew Hutchison Jersey , especially about the Negro League and guys I played with and against. But being here is like no game you’ve ever been in before.”With his menacing stare and hard fastball, Smith was of baseball’s premier closers in the 1980s and 1990s, an imposing 6-foot-5 atop a pitching mound. During an 18-year career, he pitched for eight teams, making his initial mark with the Cubs from 1980-87. He also pitched for the Red Sox (1988-90), Cardinals (1990-92), Yankees (1993), Orioles (1994), Angels (1995), Reds (1996) and Expos (1997), and was the all-time saves leader with 478 when he retired in 1997.A seven-time All-Star, Smith led his league in saves four times and topped the 30-save mark 11 times. Smith held the all-time saves record until Hall of Famer Trevor Hoffman eclipsed it in 2006 and now ranks third behind Rivera (652) and Trevor Hoffman (601).“Everybody recognizes me now because of the Hall of Fame Larry Bowa Jersey ,” said Smith, a minor league pitching coach with San Francisco. “Back in the day I had an identity crisis because in Chicago everybody wanted to throw me on the football field because I was such a big guy. I don’t have that problem anymore. Now they know who Lee Smith is. I’m proud of that.”Smith spent an inquisitive two hours touring the Hall of Fame. While viewing the “Pride and Passion” exhibit dedicated to the African-American baseball experience, Smith told a story from his high school days in Louisiana. Soon after it was desegregated, he said, an opposing team hung Smith in effigy when his school visited.With an early lead, Smith said he began hitting batter after batter. He didn’t even realize, he added, when the other team eventually took the offending image down from a tree.