Thursday June 23 at the Blue Jays

Opponent: Toronto Blue Jays
Outcome: L
Score: 2-5
Streak: L2
Record: 19-52
Rank: 7th
GB: 25

For the second night in a row the Orioles got most of their offense done early.  Unfortunately for them the Blue Jays got most of theirs late.

Also for the second night in a row the first batter for the Orioles homered.  This time it was Ken Gerhart doing the honors.  Fred Lynn followed with another home run - his eleventh of the season - and two batters into the game the Birds had a 2-0 lead.  Unfortunately they only got four hits and walk the entire rest of the game.

Toronto was slow in coming back.  They cut the lead in half when Tony Fernandez hit a triple to knock Manny Lee in in the bottom of the third.  They took the lead for good in the sixth.  Fernandez got on base on a error by Gerhart in left field and scored when Lloyd Moseby doubled.  Moseby moved to third on a flyball by Rance Mulliniks and scored on a sacrifice fly by George Bell.  The Jays were now up 3-2.

Toronto put up a couple insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth when Fernandez knocked in Ernie Whitt with a double and Moseby's sacrifice fly scored Lee.  Final score: 5-2.

In other baseball news, the Yankees fired Billy Martin today and replaced him with Lou Piniella.  It was the end of Martin's fifth and final stint as Yankees manager.  Martin had kept the Yankees in first for much of the season until they were swept by the Tigers in three games in Detroit the first part of this week.  The Yankees lost all three games in excruciating fashion - two of them they lost in ten innings and in the other one they blew a 6-1 lead in the bottom of the ninth - the big blow coming on a walk-off grand slam by Alan Trammell.  Martin had been involved in a bar fight in Dallas in early May and had been suspended for three games due to an altercation with an umpire at the end of the month so there were factors beyond the team's performance that played into the decision.  Martin would never manage another team - he died in a drunk driving related car accident a year and a half later on Christmas Day 1989 at the age of 61.

One interesting note on Martin's firing - it was predicted by Steve Wulf in Sports Illustrated's Baseball Preview issue in April.  Wulf had done a "20 Questions" article for baseball and question six was "Will Billy Martin last the season in his fifth stint as Yankee manager?"  Wulf answered "No. He will be fired on June 9 and replaced by general manager Lou Piniella. George Steinbrenner has become that predictable."  Wulf was only off by two weeks.