O's Lose..... Much Drama

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Verbal altercations in the dugout.

Bad umps.

Ejections.

Final score........11-10, Cards.

Very busy.

Details later.

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So, here's the scoop. We had an ump falling asleep on the job. :hmm: We had JJ so pissed off at Grover for taking him out of the game that they were going at it in the dugout. :hmm: We had poor BJ Surhoff being ejected, and he was in the dugout not even opening his mouth. And then we have the bullpen imploding once again. :sigh: The offense was just tearing along, and then they have to ring up a loss.

:banghead

Caught up in calls, O's drop ball vs. Cards, 11-10
Blown lead after rally adds to team's frustration over strike zone, ejection; Rally from four-run deficit short-lived; Rolen's slam last bump on 1-5 road trip
By Joe Christensen
Sun Staff
Originally published June 9, 2003



ST. LOUIS -- The Orioles had plenty of reasons to criticize themselves yesterday after a roller-coaster afternoon at Busch Stadium ended in an 11-10 defeat against the St. Louis Cardinals.

They made a terrific comeback against Cardinals ace Matt Morris, only to let another lead slip through their hands. They tried but never quite recovered after absorbing their latest kidney punch -- Scott Rolen's sixth-inning grand slam off Rick Bauer.

Individually, the Orioles picked themselves apart for bad pitches and costly defensive mistakes that dropped them to 1-5 on a six-game road trip that started with three losses in Houston.

As bad as their defense and pitching was, however, they felt the umpiring was worse.

In the fourth inning, just as the Orioles started making their comeback from an early 4-0 deficit, their dugout became a chorus of vitriol when plate umpire Doug Eddings called a pair of strikes against Jeff Conine.

On strike one, Conine checked his swing, and Eddings made the call without asking for an appeal. The Orioles were already upset about the largess of the strike zone, and when Eddings called strike two, the dugout roared again.

Suddenly, Eddings turned and ejected B.J. Surhoff, who later insisted he was an innocent bystander.

"My back was to the play," Surhoff said. "I wasn't even sure who was hitting at the time. I had to think about what the play actually was afterward. I had nothing to do with the whole thing."

Orioles manager Mike Hargrove went on the field for an explanation.

"I didn't hear B.J. say anything," Hargrove said. "I thought [Eddings] kicked me out. And I knew what I said wasn't enough to get kicked out. I had three or four guys tell me it wasn't B.J."

The Orioles' furor turned to bewilderment later in the fourth inning. Eddings called strike three on pinch hitter Jose Morban, giving the decisive punch-out gesture before realizing Morris had in fact just thrown strike two. Morban struck out swinging.

"The umpire today was out of the game," Orioles left fielder Melvin Mora said, summing up the clubhouse sentiment. "He struck out Morban with two strikes. Maybe all that was going on bothered him. I think it was a tough day for him. He's a human. He is going to make a mistake, too."

Eddings could not be reached for comment after the game.

The Orioles tried forming an us-against-the-world allegiance, and it worked for a while. St. Louis had built its first lead with a pair of towering home runs from Jim Edmonds off Jason Johnson.

Morris is 46-20 over the past three seasons, but the Orioles were undaunted, riding high with an offense that has averaged 6.9 runs in the past 19 games.

They scored two in the fourth and five in the fifth to take a 7-4 lead. Deivi Cruz capped their fifth-inning flurry with a two-run homer off Morris. It was Cruz's third homer in two games and eighth of the season.

St. Louis came back with two runs in the fifth, as third baseman Tony Batista mishandled a potential double-play grounder and a ball bounced out of Jay Gibbons' outstretched glove, allowing Tino Martinez a two-run double.

Orioles reliever Travis Driskill (1-2), who replaced Johnson in the fourth, made his own defensive mistake in the sixth. J.D. Drew hit a little roller toward first, and Driskill tried flipping the ball to Conine with his glove. That miscue, like the two in the fifth, was ruled a hit by a generous official scorer.

By making that play, Driskill would have had an open base to put Albert Pujols, the major league leader in hitting. Instead, Pujols doubled down the third base line, scoring winning pitcher Jason Simontacchi (4-3) with the tying run.

B.J. Ryan entered and walked Edmonds, loading the bases for Rolen. Hargrove turned to Bauer, hoping the sinker specialist could get a double-play ball. But Bauer left a sinker waist-high, and Rolen blasted it into the Orioles' bullpen behind the left-field wall for his fourth hit of the game.

"It was just a poor adjustment on my part," Bauer said. "That pitch was right there, man, up in the zone. You can't pitch like that to certain guys, and Scott Rolen's one of them."

The Orioles made one last gasp in the seventh. Gibbons, who went 4-for-5, had a run-scoring single and Batista, who went 3-for-5, hit a two-run homer, his 10th of the season. But the Cardinals' bullpen shut the door, with Cal Eldred recording the final four outs for his seventh save.

Hargrove said he would have used Surhoff as a pinch hitter in the sixth inning. Instead, Driskill hit for himself and grounded out to shortstop.

"Have I had that happen before?" Hargrove said, repeating a question about the Surhoff ejection. "Yeah, I saw a guy get kicked out of a game one time when he was up in the training room." :hoohoo: :laughing


Copyright © 2003, The Baltimore Sun

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The Hitting Machine That Is Melvin Mora.

Geez. I love reading stuff like, "two of the top hitters in baseball" and realizing that one of them is an Oriole. :D :clap2:

And they think R-Lo is ready, but Grover doesn't. (More on that later). And Sam Perlozzo's mom is very ill. :(

O's run up tab on offense
Team filling up on runs over past 19 games; Mora, Pujols make impression
By Joe Christensen
Sun Staff
Originally published June 9, 2003



ST. LOUIS - No matter how frustrated they were after dropping five of six games on this road trip to Houston and St. Louis, the Orioles left Busch Stadium yesterday feeling somewhat positive because their offense has been so good of late.
Who knew this team would wake up June 9 feeling like an offensive machine? The Orioles will enter their series against the Chicago Cubs tomorrow boasting the American League leader in hitting, as Melvin Mora went 2-for-4 yesterday, lifting his average to a cool .365.

The rest of the lineup is surging as well. In the past 19 games, the Orioles have accumulated 6.9 runs and 12.2 hits a game. They entered yesterday ranked fifth in the AL in hitting - ahead of the Texas Rangers and New York Yankees - and raised their mark to .278.

"I don't see us swinging over our heads, I really don't," Orioles manager Mike Hargrove said. "I see our young kids, [Luis] Matos and Roberts swinging the bats real well right now. Obviously Mora is hitting higher than he's ever hit before, but I don't think people are doing more than what their talent says they should be able to do."


[b]Mora vs. Pujols

The three-game series against St. Louis showcased Mora and Albert Pujols, two of the top hitters in baseball, and they did not disappoint.

Mora went 6-for-14 and extended his hitting streak to 20 games. Pujols went 7-for-13 with six RBIs, raising his major league-leading average to .389.

Like Mora, Pujols started his career playing five or six different positions before the Cardinals started using him exclusively in left field. The way Mora is playing, the Orioles would be hard-pressed to move him, too.

Yesterday, Mora threw out two runners from left, catching Scott Rolen running for third in the third inning and Tino Martinez at home plate in the fifth.

Mora is the 11th player in Orioles history to compile at least a 20-game hitting streak (B.J. Surhoff did it twice). Eric Davis has the club's longest hitting streak (30 games in 1998).

Matos went 1-for-5 again yesterday, extending his streak to 14 games.


Johnson struggles again

Hargrove lifted starting pitcher Jason Johnson for a pinch hitter after the third inning yesterday and scolded him in the dugout. Johnson walked away and slammed his glove in frustration, with the heated moments all captured on TV.

"Everybody wants to pitch, but I was battling out there and [Hargrove] knew it," said Johnson, who allowed four runs (three earned) on eight hits. "We were scoring runs at the time, and it was a chance to come back. I think he made the right decision."

In his past five starts, Johnson is 1-1 with a 6.66 ERA.


Lopez awaits chance

Rodrigo Lopez said the strained muscle in his left side feels so much better, he no longer needs treatment on the injury that has kept him on the disabled list since May 2. But the Orioles have been cautious as they plot his return.

Lopez made two starts at the Orioles' extended spring training camp in Sarasota, Fla., going three innings once and then 3 1/3 innings Wednesday in a game shortened by rain. Tonight, Lopez will start for Double-A Bowie against Reading.

"We'll just wait and see how this goes before we decide where we're going to plug him in, but if it goes well, he'll probably be back in the rotation," Hargrove said.


Perlozzo leaves

After rejoining the team for first two games in St. Louis, Orioles bench coach Sam Perlozzo returned to Cumberland to be with his mother, who is battling cancer and kidney ailments.



Copyright © 2003, The Baltimore Sun

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More details on the drama in the dugout.

06/08/2003 2:06 PM ET

Orioles' bullpen shelled in loss
By Gary Washburn / MLB.com


ST. LOUIS -- The Orioles will return home Sunday night an angry and battered team after a draining 1-5 road trip capped by a frustrating and strange series finale with the Cardinals.
Their pitching troubles were further exposed in Sunday's 11-10 loss. The Orioles rallied back from a four-run deficit only to have the bullpen get tattooed for seven earned runs.

In six games on the road, Orioles relievers were shelled for 23 earned runs in 20 innings, blowing leads in four of the five losses. The offense continues to pile up runs, and Cards ace Matt Morris was tagged for seven earned runs. But the bullpen dampened that effort.

Manager Mike Hargrove is getting tired of watching his club build leads only to slowly have his pitching staff deteriorate in the clutch.

"When you score 10 runs, you should win," Hargrove said. "You get tired of taking positive things away from defeats. The Cardinals are a good club, and we came in here and played well. But I would feel a lot better had we taken two of three."

After 5 1/2 innings of bad defense, shabby pitching, an ejection, and a dugout shouting match between Hargrove and starting pitcher Jason Johnson, the Orioles still led 7-4.

But the Cards chipped away against Travis Driskill, and finally it came down to right-hander reliever Rick Bauer facing Scott Rolen with the bases loaded in a 7-7 tie in the sixth. Driskill tried sneaking a sinker past Rolen, who placed a vicious swing on his third career grand slam and his first as a Cardinal. He received a standing ovation and made a curtain call.

"I tried to get him to hit it on the ground or foul it off," said Bauer, who had allowed just two runs in his previous seven outings. "I don't question the pitch. I question the execution. If you score 10 runs, you should win. Plain and simple."

The Orioles used a Tony Batista two-run homer in the seventh to draw to within 11-10, but St. Louis' bullpen responded for two scoreless innings. Cal Eldred pitched the final 1 1/3 innings for his seventh save.

The Orioles' clubhouse was filled with confused faces after several run-ins with home-plate umpire Doug Eddings.

First, Eddings ejected reserve B.J. Surhoff for yelling from the dugout after a disputed strike call to Jeff Conine in the fourth inning. Surhoff claims he did not say a word and had his back to the play when Eddings made the ejection.

Hargrove, and later Surhoff, ran onto the field to argue the call, delaying the game for a few minutes.

The consensus from the clubhouse is that someone yelled at Eddings, but it wasn't Surhoff.

"I wasn't even sure who was hitting at the time," Surhoff said. "I had nothing to do with the whole thing. You have to ask [the umpires], hold them accountable, not me. A lot of people yelled. One of them wasn't me, though. I was talking to someone else at the time.

"There's a good chance I would have been in the game. [Eddings] made us short-handed not knowing who did anything. I can say without hesitation that I have nothing to do with what was being said."

Later that inning, pinch-hitter Jose Morban took a called strike from Morris, and Eddings proceeded to go into his punchout routine to signify a strikeout -- but only two strikes had been recorded. Morban, obviously surprised, said he told Eddings it was two strikes and was ordered back into the box.

"I know why it happened," Morban said. "It's because I am a rookie."

Minutes earlier, after the Orioles put two runs on the board against Morris to cut the deficit to 4-2, Hargrove called Johnson back into the dugout and inserted Morban. Hargrove then got into an exchange with Johnson, who had allowed four runs, including two long home runs by Jim Edmonds.

Television cameras showed Hargrove pointed several times at Johnson before the right-hander walked into the clubhouse and threw his glove and bat in the process.

Hargrove said the dispute was not about Johnson being removed from the game.

"It was something else he wasn't happy about," Hargrove said. "But we got that straight pretty quick."

Said Johnson: "I am in a little funk right now, and I have to take care of it. Everyone wants to keep pitching. But I was battling out there. I was struggling. I think he made the right decision."

The Orioles took the lead with a five-run fifth inning off Morris that included a two-run homer from Deivi Cruz, his third in two days. Cruz now has eight homers, eclipsing his total from each of the past two seasons. His career best was 13 for Detroit in 1999.

Also, Melvin Mora had two hits and extended his hitting streak to a career-best 20 games. He is the 11th Oriole to have a hitting streak of at least 20 games. Eric Davis had a team-record 30-game streak in 1998. Luis Matos extended his hitting streak to 14 games with a fifth-inning single.

Those stats are impressive, but the reality was it came in defeat. Mora said the team needs to play crisper games or it could be a long summer.

"Sometimes we don't pitch good or we don't hit or score runs, so we have to pull everything together," he said. "If we put everything together we can get to where we were two weeks ago. We need to start it now."

Gary Washburn is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.