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Message #: 31994
What a weird, painful series. The Orioles lost Game 1 when I inadvertently clicked a very wrong button in extra innings. In Game 2, the Orioles scored in each of the first four innings – only to be outscored by the Yankees *in each of those four inning*. By Game 3, the two decisive bases-loaded walks in the bottom of the 9th seemed almost predictable. Baltimore salvaged Game 4 in a fairly normal game, if you consider back-to-back RBI triples normal.
Game 1: NYA 4, BAA 3 (11)
Through five innings, Orioles starter Charles Nagy was uncharacteristically effective, allowing just three hits, one of them was a solo homer by Paul O’Neill, while New York’s Melido Perez was working on a one-hit shutout. In the 6th, the 1995 model Nagy resurfaced, allowing three hits and two walks, but a failed steal attempt and the bases-loaded groundout reliever Mike Oquist got to end the inning held the score to just 2-0. Third string catcher Greg Zaun finally put the Orioles on the board in the 8th with a solo shot off a fatigued Perez. In the top of the 9th, Brady Anderson doubled and was sacrificed over to 3rd. After Craig Biggio disappointed with a pop out, the Orioles manager did the unthinkable and pinch-hit for Cal Ripken. It worked, as Rafael Palmeiro doubled home the tying run and scored on yet another double, by Mike Pagliarulo, to give the Orioles 3-2 lead. However, Jacob Brumfield countered with a rare homer in the bottom of the frame to put the game into extra innings. In the bottom of the 10th, Wade Boggs singled, and Zaun made a two-base error on a sac bunt attempt to put runners on second and third with no outs. After an intentional walk, Biggio started a miraculous 4-2-3 double play to help the O’s escape. In the bottom of the 11th, the O’s luck ran out. After a leadoff single, Baltimore’s manager accidentally signaled for an intentional walk, setting up a game-winning single by Randy Velarde.
Game 2: NYA 24, BAA 9
Brady Anderson led off the game with a double and scored on a groundout to give Baltimore a quick 1-0 lead. That lead was gone before 1995 underachiever Greg Swindell retired a single batter, as Terry Shumpert started the bottom of the 1st with a single and Gerald Williams doubled him home. That was just the beginning of the nightmare inning, as Swindell yielded three singles, hit a batter, walked in a run, and then served up a grand slam to Gerald Williams on his second trip to the plate of the inning that made it 9-1 Yankees and sent Swindell to the showers. (By my math, his stats for the game would work out to an ERA of 121.50.) The Orioles managed 2 runs in the 2nd, which the Yankees answered with a four-run rally keyed by RBI doubles from Ruben Sierra and Don Mattingly. Chris Hoiles hit a two-run homer in the top of the 3rd to make it 13-5; the Yankees again counterpunched in the bottom of the frame with an RBI single by Sierra and a two-run double by Mattingly. The plucky O’s got off the mat again, scoring two in the top of the 4th on RBI groundouts. Naturally, New York got more in the bottom of the inning. Shumpert doubled, stole third (with a nine-run lead?!?), and scored on a groundout; later in the inning, Mike Stanley’s two-run double and yet another RBI single by Sierra put the Yankees on top 20-7. In the 5th, Hoiles doubled (“This might be stretched into a triple!” Chance of success: 5%. No thanks.) , but the Orioles failed to score. No such problem for the Yankees, as Gerald Williams hit his second homer of the game in the bottom of the 5th. Both teams pretty much fizzled out after that point, although Sierra added a three-run homer in the 8th and the Orioles got solo shots by Biggio and Ripken in the 9th.
Fun fact #1: Three different Orioles pitchers each allowed 7 or more earned runs. So did NY starter Sterling Hitchcock, who still got his 10th win. Fun fact #2: G. Williams wound up with 7 RBIs in the game – but Sierra’s homer gave him 8.
Game 3: NYA 6, BAA 5
A two-base error by Baltimore starter Ben McDonald on a sac bunt attempt led to two Yankees runs in the 2nd, and only a failed steal attempt by Brumfield prevented the inning from getting out of hand. Turnabout was fair play; after going hitless for four innings against David Cone, Zaun singled to start the top of the 5th and scored Baltimore’s first run on a three-base error by O’Neill; Anderson added a game-tying single. Anderson also tripled in the 7th to give Baltimore a 3-2 lead, but Stanley homered off reliever Jesse Orosco to tie the game in the 8th. Baltimore retook the lead in the 9th on a sac fly by Mark Smith, and Curtis Goodwin finally ended Cone’s night when he singled in an insurance run. The Yankees got a single and a walk to start the top of the 9th. Orioles closer Randy Myers allowed an RBI single to Brumfield, then walked in the tying and winning runs for a humiliating defeat.
Game 4: BAA 5, NYA 1
Baltimore’s Mike Mussina and New York’s Gil Heredia kept the game scoreless through 4 innings. In the top of the 5th, with runners on the corners, a steal attempt by Alex Diaz led to an errant throw by Joe Girardi to give the Orioles a 1-0 lead. The O’s broke through in the 8th with a four-run rally keyed by back-to-back RBI triples from Smith and Anderson. After allowing just two hits through 7 innings, Mussina let the Yankees load the bases with no outs in the 8th but survived, allowing just one run on a short single by Brumfield, and went the distance for his overdue 9th win.
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