Matthew Taylor: Memories made in Boston and beyond

The Orioles' final trip to Fenway Park is in the history books. Those history books already contain several big moments with ties to the current season that occurred on this day. Sept. 20, 2011: The 63-90 Orioles defeat the 88-67 Red Sox by a score of 7-5 as part of a four-game series at Fenway Park. Starter and former Oriole Erik Bedard goes 2 2/3 innings for Boston. Fellow former Oriole Matt Albers provides an inning of scoreless relief with two strikeouts. Robert Andino's eighth-inning, bases-loaded double off Jonathan Papelbon proves to be the difference in the game. Similar to this season, the O's visited Boston a week before returning home to close out the 2011 season against the Red Sox. The O's won three of four in Boston and two of three in Baltimore, including the season-ending "Curse of the Andino," to cement Boston's collapse. Sept. 20, 1996: Brady Anderson establishes a new Orioles record with his 86th extra-base hit of the season, a double versus the Toronto Blue Jays. Anderson finishes the season with 92 extra-base hits. After watching Chris Davis break his single-season home run record on Tuesday night, Anderson will likely see his mark for extra-base hits fall soon as well. Davis has already matched Anderson's total and will establish a new record with his next extra-base hit. Sept. 20, 1974: Home runs by Don Baylor and Boog Powell the 10th for each batter, spark the Orioles to a 2-1 victory over Boston at Fenway Park. It is the Orioles' fourth consecutive victory. Consider this: The O's entered that 1974 game with the same 81-70 record they carried into Thursday night's game. They ended the season with 91 wins on the strength of a nine-game win streak to conclude the '74 campaign. Dare to dream that history repeats itself. Sept. 20, 1958: Boston's John Lackey flirted with a no-hitter Thursday night. On this day in 1958, knuckleballer Hoyt Wilhelm tossed the first no-no in O's history in a 1-0 victory against the New York Yankees. Wilhelm struck out eight and walked two to out duel former Oriole Don Larsen, who tossed a perfect game in the World Series two years earlier. The Orioles' lone run came off the bat of Gus Triandos, who the O's acquired in the Larsen trade. Triandos' 425-foot homer in the seventh inning tied the American League record for home runs by a catcher. Of that home run, Triando explained years later, "Catching Hoyt was such a miserable experience, I just wanted to end the game." Matthew Taylor blogs about the Orioles at Roar from 34. His ruminations about the Birds appear as part of MASNsports.com's season-long initiative of welcoming guest bloggers to our site. All opinions expressed are those of the guest bloggers, who are not employed by MASNsports.com but are just as passionate about their baseball as our roster of writers.