Joe Sheehan wrote one of his better “Prospectus Today” columns last week wherein he managed to articulate a great aspect of baseball’s allure.

To me, those three games indicate why I love baseball so much. You can never know for sure what kind of game you’re going to get on any given day, and the possibilities are virtually endless. Any game has the potential to be a taut pitchers’ duel or a 20-run slugfest. The same two teams can play completely different ballgames from one day to the next. The A’s and Angels played a series over the weekend with final scores of 6-1 (was 2-1 after eight innings), 1-0 and 7-6, each with its own kind of tension, each with its own standout performances.

If ever there were 2 games to illlustrate the unpredictability that baseball presents, it was last Wednesday’s and last night’s respective tilts between the Orioles and Red Sox. Last Wednesday night, Rodrigo Lopez and Matt Clement hooked up in a great pitcher’s duel, with Clement coming out on top 1-0 on the strength of the measley unearned run the Red Sox were able to scratch across. Last night the same 2 teams and the same 2 starting pitchers hooked up and the result was an 11-8 Orioles victory in a long, drawn-out, ugly game.

Neither Lopez nor Clement were able to find any sort of groove, and given the strength of each lineup, I don’t think there is any reason to go overboard critiquing either. I found last Wednesday’s pitching performances far more impressive than I found last night’s outings unimpressive. Those two will bounce back.

Doing the bulk of the Oriole offensive damage last night was the left side of their infield, quite possibly the best in baseball (and yes, I saw what A-Rod did last night). Melvin Mora and Miguel Tejada combined for an 8 for 11 evening with 2 doubles, a home run, a walk, 5 runs and 2 RBI. Sammy Sosa, Rafael Palmeiro and Javy Lopez all chipped in with productive evenings as well. For the Sox, it was Manny Ramirez that did the bulk of the damage. That is to say he paced their ferocious 4-inning attack with a home run and 5 RBI. Boston scored 8 times in the first 4 innings and went silent thereafter.

One would like to think, however, that after such a sterling start to an offensive evening that a lineup might be entitled to sitting back a bit. Not against these Orioles. Clement pitched fine through the first 3 innings but labored in the 4th and 5th, throwing virtual batting practice to a Baltimore club that looked far more prepared to swing the bats against the American League newcomer than they did last Wednesday. Still, when Clement left the game in the 5th, the Sox had an 8-5 lead with two men on and two outs. Alan Embree came on to close out the inning, but not before yielding a two-run double to Larry Bigbie. It was 8-7 after 5. Mike Timlin would do his job over the next 2 innings before handing the ball over to Keith Foulke, to whom Terry Francona turned to record the two-inning save. Foulke was awful. It’s funny, I have never fully understood why Foulke is so effective. He throws 87 miles per hour and features a devastating change up that he rarely throws for a called strike. Now it’s almost like the rest of the league has simultaneously woken up to the fact that Foulke is eminently hittable, if you can either guess right on the change up or discipline yourself to let it go by. This is especially true when he is missing spots as he was last night. Both Miguel Tejada and Javy Lopez hit 2-run home runs off of Foulke in the eighth inning last night, staking the Orioles to the 11-8 lead they would not relinquish.

Foulke’s performance record can tell you a whole lot more about what kind of pitcher he is than my naked eye. That’s for damn sure. But Foulke, because he does not throw hard, has a minimal margin for error. When he is not absolutely pinpoint with his fastball and controlling his change up as he would like, there is not just a bit of slippage in his performance but an absolute boulder-drop off of a table. As soon as he starts to regain control, however, he’ll start to be effective again.

On my walk to work this morning, I passed through Post Office Square. Pegged into the lawn on all sides is a sign that reads “Lawn closed for re-seeding, will re-open May 1″. The only living creature visible to me on the lawn was a gorgeous Oriole, strutting defiantly around the middle of it. I chuckled to myself and shook my head.

Wakefield and Cabrera in a matinee today. The Sox try to avoid the sweep while the O’s look to extend their division lead.