| Tom Morris. 29th July, 2005 - 7:00 pm
 This time it happened a little differently. But only a little. The result was again the same for the slumping Baltimore Orioles, who lost another heart-breaker last night at home against the Rangers, 2 -1. David Dellucci hit his 18th homer of the year with two out in the top of the ninth inning, breaking the tie-game, and sending the staggering birds to their tenth loss in twleve, their third out of four in this four-game series against previously slumping Texas. They also lost starting pitcher Sidney Ponson, who had to exit with only one out in the third inning after taking a Sandy Alomar, jr. ground ball off the thumb of his pitching hand.
Despite the bullpen's excellent job of providing 6 2/3 innings of stingy relief, it was the Orioles' lineup who once more had to accept the responsibility for this one. Their lone run proved not nearly enough to win this one, as they fell to 5 games back of AL EAST division-leader Boston, and 4 behind wild-card frontrunner Oakland. Baltimore had not been at one game over .500 since as far back as April 14.
The Orioles were the first on the board, when Melvin Mora came up with a key two-out RBI single to score David Newhan. But it was the only time they could get a hit with runners in scoring position, going 1 - 10 for the game. Baltimore, in all, stranded ten runners a day after leaving sixteen on base in Wednesday's 11 - 8 extra-inning loss.
For the Rangers, starter Ricardo Rodriguez, mired in an extended pitching slump, awoke tonight to give his team 7 1/3 strong innings, allowing one run on six hits and three walks. Kameron Loe finished the eighth, and Francisco Cordero pitched the ninth for his 24th save of the season for Texas, so desperately in need of good pitching over the last few weeks. Texas had allowed five runs or more in 18 of their last 20 games.
Their defense also came up huge, most notably in the eighth inning, when the Orioles put runners on second and third with nobody out. After Rodriguez retired Javy Lopez on a ground-out, and Loe struck out Luis Matos, it was David Newhan's turn at the plate. Having just been recalled from the minors that day, the outfielder hit a hard shot just off the bag at third, a ball which would have scored one, if not both of the Orioles runners. But Hank Blalock had different ideas, diving to his left, snagging the ball on a quick hop, then throwing Newhan out by inches to the end the inning. Had that ball gotten through, the Orioles would have headed to the ninth with the lead. But pitching and defense prevailed tonight for the Texas Rangers, who won back-to-back games for the first time since July 8 - 10.
For the Orioles, talk was of Ponson, of course, later diagnosed with a contusion on the thumb of his right hand. He was visibly pained by the impact of the ground ball, which he tried to bare hand as it approached him at the mound. His hand dripped blood as he took himself off the field. The irony of course was that Sir Sidney himself looked to be putting out one of his rare strong outings. He allowed no runs on only two hits in 2 1/3 innings, walking none.
Said Lee Mazilli: "He should be fine", adding that he expects the Aruban native will not miss his next scheduled start Tuesday evening.
Of course, as mentioned, pitching has not been the thorn in the Orioles' wings. Their failure to come up with the big hit game after game has left the fans, the players, and their manager visibly frustrated:
"We have got to find a way to get the guys in when we need to," Mazzilli said. "We've got to fight through this. No one's going to give you anything. Something will break, and when it does, hopefully it will take on a nice little ride."
An optimistic outlook, to be sure. But for far too long now it is Baltimore who have been getting getting taken for a ride -- by good teams and bad teams, at home and away, day games and night. It is the other team that has come up with the base hit when it counts, and it's sad to say, but with games against division leaders the White Sox and the Angels next up on the schedule, the Orioles may soon enough drive themselves and the season into the ground. |
