The Orioles are down to their last four games. After today's finale with Milwaukee, they travel to Toronto for the last three games of the season. If they manage a win against the Brew Crew, they could possibly go to Toronto, take two of three, and end the season tied, with the one-game playoff to take place in Baltimore. Of even possibly sweep and win the division !
But before that can happen, the Brewers have to go down. If they don't, and the Jays win, the O's would have to sweep the Jays in their own place, an unappetizing prospect.
It's up to Bob Milacki. Milacki is later quoted as "shaking in his shoes," and it shows. In the first, he's tentative, and loads the bases after a couple of walks. Facing the dangerous youngster Gary Sheffield, Milacki delivers a pitch that is struck to deep center....but Mike Devereaux runs it down, catching the ball in the midst of a full gallop. No runs score, and the battle is on.
In the fifth, the O's finally get two runners aboard, with the Froot Loops Kid at the plate. Tettleton, who has been struggling since his return from the DL, tries to lay down a bunt to advance the runners, but fails. On the next pitch, he swings away and drives the ball just foul to right. On an 0-2 count, Mickey delivers a mighty blow to deep center field, and the Orioles have three on the board.
Milacki takes that lead, and makes it good enough. He and Mickey Weston combine for a 3-0 shutout, and the scenario the Orioles hoped for is at hand.
It's Friday, September 29. Bird fans gather around sets all over the city, excited, exhilarated, nervous.
This is the game. There is no other game. Jeff Ballard is on the mound, and the O's must win.
Phil Bradley steps in to face Todd Stottlemyre, and suddenly, Bradley delivers a shot into the left field seats, and the Orioles are up 1-0 !!!
Jeff Ballard takes the mound confidently, and with his stellar defense behind him, he moves through the dangerous Jays lineup. Craig Worhington makes a super play in the first to rob Kelly Gruber. Randy Milligan does the same in the second, taking a double away from Manny Lee. Jamie Quirk throws out Pat Borders on a botched hit-and-run. Cal throws out Mookie Wilson at second when he overslides the bag, and later makes a spectacular play up the middle on a ball hit by Gruber. Ballard picks off a runner.
Meanwhile, the Orioles have offensive problems of their own. In the fourth they load the bases with two outs. In the fifth Cal doubles with one out, but is left stranded. In the top of the eighth, Steve Finley runs for Joe Orsulak after Joe singles, but then hesitates at second on a Randy Milligan double making sure the ball drops in, to the point that Cal Sr. stops him at third. He's stranded there.
In the home half of the eighth, Mookie Wilson singles, and Gregg Olson comes in following a Fred McGriff fielder's choice. Five outs to go. Tom Lawless pinch runs for McGriff, and steals second, but Olson gets George Bell on a groundout, Lawless advancing to third. With Kelly Gruber at the plate, who is hitting .189 against Olson, on a 1-2 count, Olson snaps off a curveball, which breaks down into the dirt. Quirk tries to flag it down, but can't. It rolls to the screen, and in one horrifying moment, the game is tied. Olson gets Gruber, but the game is now knotted at 1-1.
The end comes in the 11th. Ballard and Olson are long gone, and the Jays get to Mark Williamson, who had gotten through the 10th. Lloyd Mosby's double sends the Jays fans home happy.
Now, it's all down to Saturday. One must-win game, followed by another on Sunday.
On the way back to the hotel that night, a couple of players, including tomorrow's starter Pete Harnisch, get out at a coffee shop across the road, planning to walk back over to the hotel. The players crossed some railroad tracks in the median, and Harnisch yelped out in pain as they made their way in the dark. He had stepped on a nail, which had penetrated deep into his foot. He couldn't put any weight on the foot at all.
So, the Orioles turn to Dave Johnson, the Pride of Middle River, but also the loser of five straight. They tell him three hours prior to the game.
In the first, Johnson seems to be quite nervous, and the Jays touch him for a run on a George Bell single that plates Mookie Wilson. In the third, though, Cal doubles home Phil Bradley, forging a tie. Randy Milligan steps up, and delivers Cal with a single, and the Birds lead, 2-1.
Dave Johnson, meanwhile, is pitching the game of his life. After setting the Jays down in order in the sixth, a national TV audience begins to wonder...maybe these Birds can pull it off.
In the seventh, something goes against the O's. Tim Hulett leads off with a double, and then tries for third on a grounder to short. He's called out, but replays indicate Hulett was in safely. A scoring opportunity is lost.
After walking Nelson Liriano in the bottom of the eighth, Dave Johnson is finished for the day, leaving the game with a 3-1 lead. He gives up only two hits.
Frank Robinson, as he has all year, avoids pitching Gregg Olson again after using him for two innings last night. He goes to Kevin Hickey. Hickey walks Manny Lee, and after going to a 2-1 count on Lloyd Mosby, Robinson goes to Mark Williamson. Williamson, who had retired 25 of 28 batters prior to Friday night, again has a tough time of it. A sac bunt by Mosby leaves runners on second and third with one out. A Mookie Wilson single, another by Fred McGriff, and a sacrifice fly by George Bell puts the Jays ahead 4-3.
Oriole fans are stunned. Their incredible, impossible year is, at last, over. In a year of dramatic wins, the end comes with two equally dramatic defeats.
Fairy tales don't always come true.
NEXT TIME: reflections on a special season.