Wednesday August 31 at the Angels

Opponent: California Angels
Outcome: L
Score: 5-7
Streak: L1
Record: 46-86
Rank: 7th
GB: 29

The Orioles made a trade before the game today, sending veteran outfielder Fred Lynn to the Tigers in exchange for three players to be named later.  Lynn had joined the Orioles as a free agent prior to the 1985 season after 10 years playing with the Red Sox and Angels.  He played OK for the Birds but he was frequently injured during his almost four seasons with the team.  The most games he ever played in a season for Baltimore was 124 in 1985.  He had been one of my favorite players when he was with the Red Sox - the first year I followed baseball was 1975, the season in which he became the first player to ever win the Rookie Of The Year and MVP awards in the same season (Ichiro Suzuki is the only other player to do it) - and I was sad to see him leave the Orioles but I understood the move.  He would spend the 1989 season in Detroit before returning to southern California in 1990 with the Padres for the final season of his career.

"Later" in the case of the three players the Orioles received for Lynn turned out to be September 9th when it was announced that they had received catcher Chris Hoiles and pitchers Cesar Mejia and Robinson Garces from Detroit.  Neither Mejia or Garces ever played in the majors - in fact each of them only spent one season in the Orioles' organization (1989) and both were out of baseball (at least as active players) after 1990.  Hoiles on the other hand became the regular catcher for the Birds during most of the 90's and was elected to the Orioles Hall Of Fame in 2006.

Tonight's game was exceptionally frustrating.  The Orioles would get 16 batters on base tonight behind 14 hits and two walks but would only score five runs.  They managed to only have six guys left on base however.  How did they achieve this feat?  They grounded into four double plays and had a runner picked off.

The Orioles came out of the gate swinging this evening.  Joe Orsulak led off the game with a double and Brady Anderson followed with a bunt single.  A Cal Ripken sacrifice fly brought Orsulak in with the first run of the game.  After Eddie Murray popped out, Anderson stole second which allowed him to score on Larry Sheets' single.  Jim Traber then connected for a two run home run to make it 4-0.  Terry Kennedy followed with a single before Rene Gonzales grounded out to end the inning.

Orioles starter Jay Tibbs pitched very well over the first six innings of the game.  He walked one batter and gave up two hits but ended up only facing one batter over the minimum through six innings due to Jim Eppard of the Angels grounding into two double plays.  Unfortunately as I mentioned before the Orioles were having similar offensive issues of their own.  A Cal Ripken lead off single in the third was immediately erased when Eddie Murray ground into a double play.  In the fourth the Birds got two on with one out when Kennedy and Gonzales had back-to-back singles but Bill Ripken hit into an inning ending double play.  The fifth inning was exceptionally egregious.  Orsulak led off the inning with a single but was picked off of first immediately by Angels starter Wille Fraser.  Anderson then walked but Cal Ripken followed with a ground ball to shortstop that the Angels converted into their third double play in three innings.  The Orioles had gotten a single and a walk in the inning and yet still managed to finish the inning with having only sent three men to the plate.

Things fell apart for the Orioles in the bottom of the seventh.  Johnny Ray broke up Tibbs' shutout by leading off the inning with a home run.  Wally Joyner followed with a single and after Brian Downing popped out Chili Davis his a single as well to chase Tibbs from the mound.

Sometimes when a team makes a defensive replacement you'll sometimes hear announcers talking about how the ball will find the new guy.  I'm not sure I've heard it with pitchers before but the ball found new Orioles reliever Doug Sisk - the first batter he faced (Tony Armas) hit a ground ball that Sisk fielded and made a bad throw to first on. Armas was safe and the bases were now loaded.  Eppard made up for hitting into two double plays by lining a two RBI single.  Orioles manager Frank Robinson pulled Sisk from the game and replaced him with Mark Thurmond who hit Jack Howell with a pitch to load the bases back up.  Out went Thurmond and in came Mark Williamson.  Dick Schofield greeted the new pitcher with a two RBI single to put the Angels up 5-4.  Williamson managed to get Mark McLemore to line out and Ray to fly out to end the inning.  The Angels sent 10 men to the plate and scored five runs on five hits, an error and a hit by pitch.

The Orioles came back in the eighth.  George Hendrick had come in to play left field this inning and the ball immediately found him - Cal Ripken lined a shot into the gap between left and center field that Hendrick somehow misplayed.  Cal ended up at third and was given credit for a double and Hendrick was charged with an error that allowed Cal the extra base.  After Murray had a shallow fly out Pete Stanicek (who had replaced Sheets in left the previous inning) singled to score Cal with the game tying run.  But Jim Traber grounded into the Birds' fourth double play of the evening to end the threat.

Joyner led off the Angel's half of the eighth with a double and moved to third on Downing's ground out.  Williamson issued an intentional walk to Davis to set up a double play but Armas foiled that plan by lining a double to put the Angels back on top.  After Darrell Miller (who had run for Eppard in the previous inning) struck out for the second out Williamson issued his second intentional walk of the inning - this time to Jack Howell.  This loaded the bases for Schofield who was able to work a walk to force in a run and extend the Angels' lead to two.  Finally Williamson got McLemore to fly out to end the inning.

The Orioles would manage to get a couple runners on base in the ninth but they failed to score.  On the plus side though they at least failed with out the benefit of yet another double play.

The loss brought what had been the Orioles best month by far of the season to an end on a sour note.  The Birds almost managed to break even in August, going 14-15 on the month.  They actually outscored their opponents 120-117 this month.  Unfortunately they would not sustain this improvement over the final month of the season.

My friend Steve had moved from Delaware to Boston without having introduced me to Sabra, the woman that he thought I should meet.  But he gave me her phone number and told me that he told her that I would be calling.  I'm a fairly shy person and the thought of cold calling someone like this terrified me but I called her this evening and she turned out to be very nice.  We ended up talking on the phone for almost two hours and set up a date to go out to dinner on Friday up in Delaware.

Monday August 29 at the Angels

Opponent: California Angels
Outcome: L
Score: 2-4
Streak: L1
Record: 45-85
Rank: 7th
GB: 29

The Orioles made a trade before today's game, sending Jim Dwyer to the Minnesota Twins for a player to be named later (who was announced as pitcher Doug Kline two days later).  Dwyer had joined the Orioles as a free agent prior to the 1981 season and established himself as one of the best pinch hitters in baseball.  The highlight of his Orioles career was probably the home run he hit in Game One of the 1983 World Series.

Tonight's game featured a somewhat rare event - both pitchers throw complete games although since the Orioles lost Jeff Ballard only threw eight innings.  The Angels drew first blood in this game.  They loaded the bases with one out in the third inning on two singles (by Dick Schofield and Jack Howell) and walk (to Devon White).  Johnny Ray then hit a ground ball up the middle that Bill Ripken fielded and then stepped on second to force White.  But he threw the ball away when trying for the double play which allowed Howell to score and Ray to end up on second.  The Angels led 2-0.

The Orioles cut California's lead in half in the fifth.  Fred Lynn led off with a single and went to third on Terry Kennedy's single.  Rene Gonzales then grounded into a double play but Lynn was able to score on the play.  Brady Anderson followed with a single but was thrown out at second trying to extend it to a double to end the inning.

A Tony Armas solo home run leading off the seventh pushed the Angels lead back up to two but the Orioles managed to score a run on a ground out again in the eighth.  The Angels picked up a final run in the ninth on a pair of singles by Thad Bosley and Brian Downing that were separated by a couple ground outs that allowed Bosley to get to third.

Friday July 29 vs the Royals

Opponent: Kansas City Royals
Outcome: L
Score: 2-6
Streak: L1
Record: 32-69
Rank: 7th
GB: 27.5

After a week on the road the Birds returned home to open a ten game home stand with a three game series against the Royals.  But the big news of the day was off the field - the Orioles sent Mike Boddicker, the final starting pitcher remaining from the 1983 World Champions, to the Red Sox for outfielder Brady Anderson and pitcher Curt Schilling. 

The trade may have taken some of the wind out of the O's as they only managed four hits this evening against Bret Saberhagen and Jeff Montgomery.  Meanwhile the Royals were teeing off on Jeff Ballard.  George Brett had a two run home run in the first inning and Bo Jackson had a three run shot in the fourth.  The Royals also picked up another run in the first when Frank White doubled and Danny Tartabull hit a ground ball to Rick Schu at third that Schu threw away.

The Orioles got one run in the first inning on Cal Ripken's second home run in as many days and got their other run in the fourth inning when Jim Traber had an RBI single that scored Bill Ripken.

May 2 vs the Rangers

Opponent: Texas Rangers
Outcome: W
Score: 9-4
Streak: W1
Record: 2-23
Rank: 7th

GB: 15.5

This was special.  The Orioles and 98 Rock had marketed this night's game as "Fantastic Fans Night" and the fans responded in droves.  It helped that it was "Three Buck Night" but 50,402 fans packed into Memorial Stadium, even into the seats that weren't three bucks.  My friends Steve and Rick and I were three of those fans although we got delayed by the traffic getting to the ballpark so we didn't settle into our seats in the right field bleachers until the bottom of the first.  We missed Bob Rivers, who had finally gotten some rest after his 258 hour marathon, throwing out the first pitch and the pregame announcement that the Orioles and the State of Maryland had come to an agreement on a 15 year lease on a new stadium for the Birds "a few blocks west of the Inner Harbor in the Camden Railroad Yards".  There had been unease in Baltimore about the Orioles' future for a few years given that owner Edward Bennett Williams was based out of Washington DC (and had previously owned the Redskins) and Washington DC had been without a baseball team since 1972.  The abrupt departure of the Colts for Indiana in March of 1984 didn't help.

We did arrive in time to see this in the bottom of the first however:

If you don't know who she is, I'm not sure I can really explain her.  Give her Wikipedia page a read.

On to the game itself.  Perhaps the best part of the night is that the Orioles were able to rise to the occasion that night and reward the 50,000 fans with not just a victory but another laugher.  Appropriately Cal Ripken got the scoring started with a solo home run in the bottom of the third (he struck out in the first, apparently dazed by Morganna's kiss).  They exploded for five runs in the bottom of the fourth.  Keith Hughes and Terry Kennedy led off the inning with a single and a double respectively.  After Craig Worthington popped out, Pete Stanicek and Bill Ripken had back-to-back RBI singles.  A wild pitch brought Stanicek in and then Cal Ripken reached on an error by third baseman Steve Beuchele.  Eddie Murray followed up with an RBI single and then with Larry Sheets at bat Rangers pitcher Jose Guzman balked for the second time in the game (I'm pretty sure the first time was when Morganna ran onto the field) and scored Cal Ripken from third for the fifth run in the evening.  The Rangers got one back in the top of the third when Curtis Wilkerson tripled and scored on a wild pitch but the Orioles put up another three runs in the bottom of the sixth on five walks, an error and one hit.  It was 9-1 going into the top of the ninth when Ruben Sierra hit a three run home run to make it a little closer but really all it did was prevent the Orioles starting pitcher Jay Tibbs from pitching a complete game.  He was replaced on the mount by Doug Sisk who got the final out.

This game was probably the highlight of the 1988 season for the Orioles but this day had some sadness as well - the Orioles released Scott McGregor.  McGregor had had some great seasons for the O's in the early 80's - he went 20-8 in 1980 for a team that won 100 games but finished second and went 18-7 for the World Series winning team in 1983.  But he was 0-3 with an 8.83 this season and at age 34 was no longer viewed as part of the future for the team.  Mike Boddicker was now the last starter from the 1983 team still with the team - Jim Palmer had retired and Storm Davis, Mike Flanagan and Dennis Martinez were in Oakland, Toronto and Montreal respectively.

The turnout by the fans this night made the national news:



Despite being at the game, I didn't keep score and so I didn't save the game story from the Washington Post.  Therefore I can't share the clipping here.

The O's made the cover of Sports Illustrated.  I'm not sure when the issue actually came out but the cover date was this day:

The accompanying article can be see here at the Sports Illustrated Vault.

April 5 - Off Day

The Orioles were off on April 5th but they made two transactions - they released catcher Jamie Nelson and signed free agent catcher Mickey Tettleton and assigned him to their AAA team in Rochester.  Tettleton would become the regular catcher for the big league team later in the season.