| Tom Morris. 5th July, 2005 - 8:08 pm
 It was as good a birthday present as anyone could imagine for the 75 year-old George Steinbrenner. His Yankees, having surrendered an early six-run lead, came back to score seven runs in the eighth, pounded Orioles all-star closer B.J. Ryan, and stole a wild, explosive marathon of a game, 13 - 8, in front of a raucous sellout New York crowd. Jason Giambi hit two home runs, Gary Sheffield and Hideki Matsui hit one apiece for New York, and Bernie Williams provided a two-run bloop single to put the Yankees ahead for good. It was Giambi's first multi-homer game in almost two seasons, and could be a very real sign his season is on the upswing. At four hours twenty-nine minutes (and a combined 397 pitches) today's was the longest nine-inning major league game of the season, and to Ryan and Baltimore starter Bruce Chen it may have seemed even longer. The Orioles middle relief allowed no runs through six innings, but Chen, Steve Kline and Ryan's stats: 2 IP, 13 runs, 11 hits, 5 walks. The two teams issued a combined fifteen bases on balls, hitting four batsmen.
The game started poorly right away for the normally dependable Chen. After a single and a walk, Sheffield launched a 1 - 1 pitch into the left-field stands for his fourteenth homer and a 3 - 0 lead. Two outs later Matsui put one over the right-field fence. In the second, Giambi hit his first of two homers, and Cano hit an RBI single before the bewildered Chen was pulled from the game, down by six. He missed his last start because of a sprained big toe injury, but his evaluation was a different one:
"My foot was fine", he said. "I was just terrible today".
The Orioles, in desperate need of a win having lost nine of their last eleven games, made a miraculous recovery against Yankees reliever Tanyon Sturtze, who was making a last-minute spot-start in place of injured Carl Pavano. Brian Roberts hit his fifteenth home run in the third inning to cut the lead to five. And in the fourth, Sturtze and reliever Scott Proctor gave them a lot of help, walking four Orioles and hitting one, as Baltimore scored three runs on only one base hit to make it 6 - 4. Jay Gibbons led off the sixth against Proctor with a home run, his twelfth of the year. And in the seventh Melvin Mora doubled and scored the tying run on Rafael Palmeiro's RBI single, hit number 2,993 for his career. Later in the inning reliever Jason Anderson gave up a two-run double to Luis Matos, and the Orioles were up 8 - 6. Then it all went downhill fast.
After rookie Chris Ray worked out of a jam in the bottom of the seventh inning, Lee Mazzilli handed the ball to left-hander Steve Kline for the eighth. Kline served up Giambi's second home run, then a base hit to Ruben Sierra, the only two batters he faced. B.J. Ryan came in an inning earlier than usual and proceeded to implode, making 45 pitches while recording only two outs. Everything seemed to go the way of the Yankees, who sent twelve men to the plate in the baffling inning. Catcher Sal Fasano's take:
"That was the most unbelievable inning I've seen in my 12-year career. I've never seen that many quails fall in one inning".
Ryan came on to yield a Jeter single and, after a sacrifice bunt and an intentional pass to Sheffield to load the bases, walked in Alex Rodriguez for the game-tying run. Williams followed with his go-ahead hit, a Texas leaguer that made its way over the head of sprinting second baseman Brian Roberts, and into shallow right field. The final three runs came by way of an error, a hit batsman and a single before Ryan was pulled and Jorge Julio finally came in to record the final out.
By that point all the Orioles could do was shake their heads. But apparently Lee Mazzilli held a team meeting following the loss to praise his players rather than scold them.
"I told them I'm proud of the way they played," said the Orioles skipper. "We very easily could have folded the tent. They came back and battled...There's no give-up with this team".
Kline, having appealed a four-game suspension for angrily arguing a balk call last week, continued his deep struggles in relief. As a southpaw he has had the most difficulty with left-handed batters, has served up home runs in his last two appearances, and has seen his ERA skyrocket to 5.93 in 30 2/3 innings for the year. His four home runs allowed are two more than he gave up all of last year.
"Everything I throw is getting hit. I'm trying so hard and it's just not working out. It's been an emotional year and we're not at the break yet.", the despondent Kline said in a gloomy clubhouse.
Sammy Sosa, despite a couple of well-hit balls, two walks and two runs scored, went hitless to extend his slump to a woeful 1 for 37, his batting average dropping to .225 for the year. Lee Mazzilli said he plans to use Sosa at DH more often than not, another of several desperate maneuvers aimed at shaking the slugger out of his hitting struggles. The Orioles must look very hard to find a bright spot through this horrible slump, during which they have already lost their AL East division lead to the Red Sox. And with today's loss they had their second-place lead over the Yankees fall to only 1 1/2 games. Wait...make that 1/2 a game. As I write this Baltimore has just put another stinker up on the scoreboard. Rodrigo Lopez allowed ten earned runs in three innings, the Yankees hit four more home runs, and the Orioles lose an absolute laugher (if you're not crying), 12 - 3. This is the kind of slump that leaves deep bruises, and if something drastic does not happen soon, this heavy losing stretch could make this entire season a wasted one. |
