The Boston Red Sox re-signed reliever Matt
Albers to a one-year contract on Monday.

Albers, 28, went 4-4 with a 4.73 earned-run average over 56 relief appearances
last season, his first in Boston.

The right-hander is 19-29 with a 5.04 ERA in 237 career appearances — 23
starts — with the Astros (2006-07), Orioles (2008-10) and Red Sox (2011).

Boston also announced it will not tender a contract to left-handed reliever
Rich Hill, who underwent Tommy John surgery in June. Hill is now a free agent.

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The demise of the Boston Red Sox had a very familiar ending Wednesday.

When the Red Sox lose, they don’t do it the conventional way. They do it in style. They make it excruciatingly painful for their ardent fans to digest.

In the aftermath, the players have to learn to make themselves accountable for the team’s hardships.

Multi-million dollar slugger Adrian Gonzalez reportedly stated the team’s late season woes were the result of a string of critical injuries.

For Gonzalez to make such a statement, even in the wake of a gut-wrenching loss, is an absolute disgrace.

Every team has injuries. It’s part of the game. Gonzalez needs to look at himself in the mirror. Sure, his numbers look extraordinary, but he repeatedly came up small in the clutch.

Simply put, the Red Sox choked, and Gonzalez needs to be man enough to step up and admit it.

I’ve been a die-hard Red Sox fan since 1968. I’ve seen all the failures unfold from one season to the next.

I remember the Sox losing the American League East Division title to the Tigers in the strike-abbreviated 1972 season.

I remember the sad and sorrowful fall of the 1974 team, which led the Orioles by eight games in late August before folding. 

And I won’t even get into what went down in 1978, 1986 and 2003.

Wednesday’s loss hurt me just as much as all the rest, but in a different kind of way. It wasn’t about me feeling sorry for myself. This team has broken my heart so many times that my body is immune to it.

It was about my 10-year old nephew, Zachary, a hard-core Red Sox fan who lives and dies with every pitch from April till October.

It ‘s painful for me to think of the wide range of emotions he went through Wednesday night. One minute  he was jumping  for joy with the Red Sox clinging to a 3-2 lead and Tampa Bay losing 7-0 to the Yankees in the eighth inning.

A short while later he was crying his eyes out when a night with so much promise had such a horrific ending.

I got a guilty conscience when I realized I’m responsible for funneling Zachary into Red Sox Nation, thus subjecting him to a lifetime of heartache and misery.

Why? Because being a Red Sox fan is like smoking cigarettes — once you’re addicted it’s hard  to quit.

The Red Sox have self-destructed many times, but  this one takes the cake.

Finally, the 1951 Brooklyn Dodgers and 1964 Philadelphia Phillies can rest easy.

The 2011 Red Sox just pulled off baseball’s biggest collapse — EVER!  

In the first game, the Orioles secured their 63rd victory of 2011 — meaning they could lose the next nine and still avoid the ignominy of 100 losses.

Baltimore has lost 100 or more twice in their modern-day history: the inaugural 1954 season and in 1988, when they began 0-21.

“It’s important, but we never thought about it,” said Orioles starter Jeremy Guthrie said of avoiding 100 losses. “It’s been more written about. There’s not been a single person in here that’s thought about it or asked about it or talked about it, player-wise and coaching-wise, so it’s out of our thoughts.”

In the second game, the nearly four-hour bashfest started ugly, with the Orioles scoring three runs against beleaguered Boston right-hander John Lackey only to see shell-shocked lefty Brian Matusz hand it back in the bottom of the first.

The night didn’t get much better for either starter or, really, either pitching staff. The offenses, though, loved it.

The Red Sox (88-66) tied a season high in runs and hits (20), while the Orioles, who had surrendered 17 runs two other times this year, set their season mark for runs allowed. The Orioles (63-90) scored nine times on 13 hits and somehow lost by nine runs.

Boston third baseman Jed Lowrie had the big blow early, a three-run homer in the first to give Boston a lead it never relinquished — though it really tried.

Lackey was roughed up for eight runs in 4¹/
₃ innings, serving up 11 hits and two walks and throwing 105 pitches. And he nearly got the win.

Partially because Matusz (1-8) was kicked around again, the third time in 11 starts this season that he hasn’t escaped the second inning. He hadn’t pitched since Sept. 5 – when he gave up five runs in 1¹/
₃ versus the New York Yankees — and the result was similar. He recorded just five outs and was charged with six earned runs on six hits and two walks, his first career loss in four games at Fenway Park.

Once considered potentially a future ace, Matusz’s ERA now sits at 10.68 and he likely won’t start again in 2011. Matusz, who has lost eight straight and hasn’t allowed fewer than five earned runs in his last seven starts, was relieved in the second by Chris Jakubauskas.

Jakubauskas didn’t fare much better, giving up five runs in one inning. The Orioles trailed 11-5 after three, but battled back, scoring runs in five of their first six innings and closing within two, 11-9.

But the Red Sox broke it open in a seven-run seventh, which included a grand slam by Conor Jackson and the first career inside-the-park homer by Jacoby Ellsbury on a drive to center that bounced away from Matt Angle. It was the second inside-the-parker allowed by the Orioles – and Accardo – this year. Tampa Bay’s Evan Longoria did it at Camden Yards in June.

BOSTON – This time, Josh Hamilton and the Texas Rangers put up the big numbers in a strange season series of blowout games against the Boston Red Sox.

Hamilton capped Texas? seven-run sixth inning with a bases-loaded triple and Matt Harrison had a solid start, carrying the Rangers to an 11-4 win over the Red Sox on Sunday.

Ian Kinsler homered, drove in three runs and made a stellar defensive play for the AL West-leading Rangers, who took two of three in a weekend series that continued the trend of lopsided scores between the teams.

?You?ve got two teams that are potent offensively,? Rangers manager Ron Washington said. ?But, once again, it?s about pitching. You go against teams like the Rangers, Red Sox and Yankees and you better bring your pitching – or it can happen like it did today.?

The Rangers took the season series 6-4, outscoring the Red Sox 51-15 in games they won. Boston had a 42-14 edge in its victories.

There wasn?t a game decided by less than four runs between the teams, and six times the winning team posted double figures in runs.

?It seems like one of us is whooping each other?s butts from one night to the next,? Hamilton said. ?No close games. They have a good offense and we have a good offense.?

Boston went 4-5 on its nine-game homestand and fell to 1 1/2 games behind AL East-leading New York, which beat Toronto 9-3 on Sunday.

Marco Scutaro had a two-run single for the Red Sox.

YANKEES 9, BLUE JAYS 3: Derek Jeter tied a career high with five RBI and CC Sabathia earned his 19th win as New York polished off a three-game home sweep of Toronto.

Jeter, Alex Rodriguez and Nick Swisher all homered for the AL East leaders, while Sabathia (19-7) struck out 10 in 7 1/3 innings to win his seventh consecutive start against Toronto.

ANGELS 4, TWINS 1: In Anaheim, Calif., Joel Pineiro posted his first victory in almost two months and Bobby Abreu homered for Los Angeles. Pineiro (6-6) gave up a run and five hits over seven innings.

The Angels remain 3 1/2 games out of first place in the AL West behind Texas.

RAYS 8, ORIOLES 1: In St. Petersburg, Fla., Jeremy Hellickson threw a four-hitter and Reid Brignac had three RBI as Tampa Bay beat Baltimore. Hellickson (12-10) has two complete games this season, both against the Orioles.

Adam Jones hit his 23rd homer of the season for the Orioles. Jeremy Guthrie (6-17) gave up seven runs – three earned – and seven hits over five innings en route to his major league-leading 17th loss.

ATHLETICS 8, MARINERS 3: David DeJesus and Ryan Sweeney each drove in two runs and Hideki Matsui doubled three times as Oakland completed a three-game home sweep of Seattle. Kurt Suzuki, Brandon Allen and Josh Willingham also drove in runs for the A?s, who won their third straight.

The Boston Red Sox and New York
Yankees remain one game apart for the American League East
title after both were crushed last night by teams near the
bottom of the league’s rankings. The Red Sox fell 15-4 to the
Oakland Athletics while the Baltimore Orioles spanked the
Yankees 12-5.

Hurricane Irene, which is battering the East Coast as it
moves through the mid-Atlantic today and into New England
tonight, forced the Yankees to cancel today’s doubleheader
against the Orioles. One game will be played tomorrow in a
doubleheader at Camden Yards, while the second is scheduled for
Sept. 8.

The Boston Red Sox canceled tomorrow’s home game, and will
instead play a doubleheader today.

At Fenway Park in Boston, Scott Sizemore drilled a two-run
homer and Josh Willingham added a second in Oakland’s six-run
fourth inning as the Athletics took an 8-1 lead last night at
Fenway Park in Boston. Five Athletics blasted doubles.

Dustin Pedroia and David Ortiz hit back-to-back home runs
in the bottom of the fourth for Boston (80-51).

At Camden Yards in Baltimore, A.J. Burnett (9-11) gave up
nine hits and nine runs in five innings to the Orioles, who are
at the bottom of the five-team AL East division.

Mark Reynolds, J.J. Hardy and Matt Wieters hit home runs
for the Orioles, who had a 7-0 lead by the fourth inning.

Jorge Posada put the Yankees’ first run on the board with a
home run in the fifth, followed by homers by Alex Rodriguez and
Nick Swisher in the seventh.

Robinson Cano extended his hitting streak to 17 games with
a single in the seventh inning.

The Yankees (78-51) trail the Red Sox by a game, with the
Orioles (52-77) 27 games off the lead. Oakland (60-71) is three
games ahead of cellar-dwelling Seattle in the four-team American
League West.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Nancy Kercheval in Washington at
nkercheval@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Michael Sillup at
msillup@bloomberg.net

Boston Red Sox’s Adrian Gonzalez follows through on a solo home run off a pitch from Texas Rangers starting pitcher Alexi Ogando as Rangers catcher Yorvit Torrealba and home plate umpire Kerwin Danley, rear, look on during Thursday’s win for the Red Sox. (Tony Gutierrez/Associated Press)

Red Sox 6, Rangers 0

ARLINGTON — Adrian Gonzalez homered twice to give him five in four games, Andrew Miller pitched three-hit ball in a spot start and the Boston Red Sox won their third straight over the Texas Rangers with a 6-0 victory Thursday night.

Gonzalez hit a solo shot in the first inning and a two-run drive in the third off Alexi Ogando (12-6), giving him homers on three consecutive swings — including one in the eighth inning of Boston’s 13-2 victory Wednesday night.

Gonzalez, who had his 13th career multi-homer game, had gone 84 at-bats without a long ball before homering in the first inning of Tuesday night’s 11-5 win. The Red Sox took the final three games in a four-game series between AL division leaders.

Tigers 2, Rays 0

ST. PETERSBURG — Doug Fister allowed five hits over seven scoreless innings, Austin Jackson homered and the AL Central-leading Detroit Tigers beat the Tampa Bay Rays 2-0 Thursday.

Fister (6-13) struck out five. The right-hander, acquired in a six-player trade with Seattle on July 30, is 3-1 in five starts with the Tigers.

Jackson hit a first-inning leadoff homer and made it 2-0 with a sacrifice fly in the fifth.

The Tigers took three of four from Tampa Bay and have won 16 of their last 25 road games.

Jeremy Hellickson (11-9) gave up two runs and six hits in seven innings. He had seven strikeouts and one walk.

Orioles 6, Twins 1

MINNEAPOLIS — Mark Reynolds hit a three-run homer and Jo Jo Reyes went six strong innings to lead the Orioles to a 6-1 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Thursday for Baltimore’s first four-game winning streak since early June.

Reyes (7-10) allowed one run on five hits with four walks and three strikeouts. Craig Tatum added a two-run double for the AL-worst Orioles, who haven’t had a winning streak this long since June 6-10.

Anthony Swarzak (3-4) gave up five runs on eight hits in 3 1-3 innings after left-hander Francisco Liriano left with a strained shoulder after two innings.

Joe Mauer also missed his second straight game for the injury-ravaged Twins, with a stiff neck keeping him out.