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05-08-2003, 10:01 AM
Swept by the freakin' Tigers. How pathetic is that.
:hmm:
O's dirty truth: Tigers make it a clean sweep
Detroit nearly doubles win total by going 3-0; Daal falls in finale, 9-4
By Roch Kubatko
Sun Staff
Originally published May 8, 2003
Does a home series qualify as a monumental failure when the host team is swept by an opponent whose start ranked among the worst in baseball history?
How about when the opponent is batting .198 before arriving in town, but scores 22 runs in three games? Or when a .127 hitter with no homers clears the fence twice in three innings, as Detroit catcher Brandon Inge did yesterday?
The Orioles can't say they've reached rock bottom yet, not with so many months left in their season, but they were groping for more than just answers after losing again to the Tigers, 9-4, yesterday at Camden Yards.
Starter Omar Daal lasted only four innings, as the Tigers handed the Orioles their fourth consecutive defeat and fifth in the past six games. David Segui hit his first homer since coming off the disabled list, but he couldn't stop the Orioles from falling below .500 for the first time since April 26.
And it could get worse.
Next up are the Kansas City Royals, who have lost twice in 13 home games.
Careful not to insult the players in the opposite clubhouse, manager Mike Hargrove said getting spanked by the Tigers didn't bring more pain than if the punishment was administered by a contender. Or a team old enough to spell the word.
"It doesn't hurt any less or any more losing three to Detroit than it would to the Yankees. A loss is a loss," he said. "It bothers you knowing that if we had pitched well, we probably would have won these games."
Unable to locate his pitches, Daal (2-4) allowed five runs and eight hits while turning in his shortest outing of the season. Catcher Brook Fordyce counseled him twice in the first two innings, throwing an arm around his shoulder and patting him on the backside. Hargrove gave him the hook.
"He had no command of his fastball or his changeup," Hargrove said. "We tried to allow him enough time to get that, but it became real obvious during the fourth inning [when the Tigers scored two runs on three hits] that it just wasn't going to happen, so we got him out of there."
The rest of the team should have followed.
"I didn't have my best today," Daal said. "I was a little bit wild. I hung too many pitches over the middle of the plate. I just wasn't hitting my target today."
A crowd of 22,770 saw the Tigers break open the game with three runs in the ninth off closer Jorge Julio. The last two were delivered by Craig Monroe, who cleared the fence in center field.
Julio would have gotten away unscathed if Tony Batista had made the tag on Bobby Higginson, who stole third base with two outs. Fordyce's throw arrived in plenty of time, but umpire Mike Everitt correctly ruled Higginson safe. Dean Palmer followed with a run-scoring single and Monroe homered.
"I argued a little bit," Hargrove said, "but it's hard to argue when you know the umpire's right."
Hargrove had enough reasons to be irritated. He didn't need to invent any.
The Tigers (7-25) have won four straight for the first time since July 2002. They hadn't swept the Orioles in a three-game series in Baltimore since 1993. They hadn't done much besides embarrass themselves before arriving here.
"I wish they had waited four days before they started swinging the bats better," Hargrove said, "but I think a lot of that also had to do with the fact we didn't pitch well. We didn't hit our spots. We left a lot of balls up in the zone. And it wasn't any one person. It was everybody."
Making his seventh major league start, Gary Knotts went five innings to earn his first victory this season. The Orioles provided some resistance, scoring four runs off him, but Detroit's maligned bullpen silenced them.
Maybe the next team to play them will be a little more wary of the Tigers, who have cranked out six or more runs in their past five games after doing it twice over the first 27. They hadn't scored nine until yesterday.
"We're riding this wave as long as we can," Tigers manager Alan Trammell said. "I don't know how many more wins it will take for [the national media] to stop being sarcastic when they talk about us."
The Orioles don't find them all that amusing. Not anymore.
"We knew those guys were going to get hot," second baseman Jerry Hairston said. "Unfortunately, they got hot here."
Copyright © 2003, The Baltimore Sun
:hmm:
O's dirty truth: Tigers make it a clean sweep
Detroit nearly doubles win total by going 3-0; Daal falls in finale, 9-4
By Roch Kubatko
Sun Staff
Originally published May 8, 2003
Does a home series qualify as a monumental failure when the host team is swept by an opponent whose start ranked among the worst in baseball history?
How about when the opponent is batting .198 before arriving in town, but scores 22 runs in three games? Or when a .127 hitter with no homers clears the fence twice in three innings, as Detroit catcher Brandon Inge did yesterday?
The Orioles can't say they've reached rock bottom yet, not with so many months left in their season, but they were groping for more than just answers after losing again to the Tigers, 9-4, yesterday at Camden Yards.
Starter Omar Daal lasted only four innings, as the Tigers handed the Orioles their fourth consecutive defeat and fifth in the past six games. David Segui hit his first homer since coming off the disabled list, but he couldn't stop the Orioles from falling below .500 for the first time since April 26.
And it could get worse.
Next up are the Kansas City Royals, who have lost twice in 13 home games.
Careful not to insult the players in the opposite clubhouse, manager Mike Hargrove said getting spanked by the Tigers didn't bring more pain than if the punishment was administered by a contender. Or a team old enough to spell the word.
"It doesn't hurt any less or any more losing three to Detroit than it would to the Yankees. A loss is a loss," he said. "It bothers you knowing that if we had pitched well, we probably would have won these games."
Unable to locate his pitches, Daal (2-4) allowed five runs and eight hits while turning in his shortest outing of the season. Catcher Brook Fordyce counseled him twice in the first two innings, throwing an arm around his shoulder and patting him on the backside. Hargrove gave him the hook.
"He had no command of his fastball or his changeup," Hargrove said. "We tried to allow him enough time to get that, but it became real obvious during the fourth inning [when the Tigers scored two runs on three hits] that it just wasn't going to happen, so we got him out of there."
The rest of the team should have followed.
"I didn't have my best today," Daal said. "I was a little bit wild. I hung too many pitches over the middle of the plate. I just wasn't hitting my target today."
A crowd of 22,770 saw the Tigers break open the game with three runs in the ninth off closer Jorge Julio. The last two were delivered by Craig Monroe, who cleared the fence in center field.
Julio would have gotten away unscathed if Tony Batista had made the tag on Bobby Higginson, who stole third base with two outs. Fordyce's throw arrived in plenty of time, but umpire Mike Everitt correctly ruled Higginson safe. Dean Palmer followed with a run-scoring single and Monroe homered.
"I argued a little bit," Hargrove said, "but it's hard to argue when you know the umpire's right."
Hargrove had enough reasons to be irritated. He didn't need to invent any.
The Tigers (7-25) have won four straight for the first time since July 2002. They hadn't swept the Orioles in a three-game series in Baltimore since 1993. They hadn't done much besides embarrass themselves before arriving here.
"I wish they had waited four days before they started swinging the bats better," Hargrove said, "but I think a lot of that also had to do with the fact we didn't pitch well. We didn't hit our spots. We left a lot of balls up in the zone. And it wasn't any one person. It was everybody."
Making his seventh major league start, Gary Knotts went five innings to earn his first victory this season. The Orioles provided some resistance, scoring four runs off him, but Detroit's maligned bullpen silenced them.
Maybe the next team to play them will be a little more wary of the Tigers, who have cranked out six or more runs in their past five games after doing it twice over the first 27. They hadn't scored nine until yesterday.
"We're riding this wave as long as we can," Tigers manager Alan Trammell said. "I don't know how many more wins it will take for [the national media] to stop being sarcastic when they talk about us."
The Orioles don't find them all that amusing. Not anymore.
"We knew those guys were going to get hot," second baseman Jerry Hairston said. "Unfortunately, they got hot here."
Copyright © 2003, The Baltimore Sun