WillyM

The Dodgers, favored by all the experts to walk away with a world championship at the end of this season, lost today to the Mets. That drops LA's record to 12-11. Though that still leaves them in first place in the NL West, every AL East team currently has a better record.

I remember my father, who was a Yankees fan, taking me to Yankee Stadium to see a doubleheader with the Orioles in August 1962. The Orioles were trailing, 2-1, in the eighth inning of the first game when Billy Hitchcock sent Whitey Herzog up to hit for Hobie Landrith. My father leaned over and said, "I think this guy's going to hit a home run." And he did. Herzog pounded one into the right field bleachers, and the score was tied. Herzog was not particularly known as a power hitter. He hit only seven home runs that season and never more than eight in any season. I never figured out what gave my father the premonition that he was going to hit one on that occasion, but I was certainly delighted that Herzog proved him right. The homer turned out not to be enough, as the Yankees scored in the bottom of the ninth to win the first game, 3-2. The Orioles came back to win the nightcap, 4-3.

Nice hit, Cedric. Big insurance run.

He actually did pitch to three guys. He threw the home run to Santander before getting the last out in the eighth and the first out in the ninth.

Not the prettiest 4-3 I ever saw, but Holliday got the out.

Just to flip the scenario a little bit, I can name a fellow that the Orioles thought was past his prime, only to find out, after they'd let him become a free agent, that he had more than a little bit left in the tank. In 1993, when the Orioles picked him up, this guy had already pitched six seasons, though he had not pitched in the big leagues in 1992. He went 25-22 over three seasons for the Orioles, which wasn't too bad, but the ERA went from 3.43 to 4.77 to 5.21. At that point, his career record was an unremarkable 59-76 and he was going to turn 33 over the offseason. The Orioles decided he was pretty much at the end of the line and let him go. He was Jamie Moyer. He would go on to pitch another 16 seasons in the big leagues, winning another 210 games over that time period. His career record was 269-209. He is currently ninth on the list of most games won in a career by left-handed pitchers.

As of 5:10 PM, the grounds crew have moved the tarp off the infield, though they do not yet seem to be in the process of rolling it up.

As I recall, the knock on him last year was that he had a reputation for control problems. The first time he saw game action was because Hyde had absolutely nobody else to put in that game, and was just hoping he wouldn't walk the ballpark. And he didn't. His control was exemplary for most of the season. So he comes out there tonight, and after McDonald brags about how he hadn't walked anybody so far this spring, he walks three guys in 2/3 of an inning. I hope those control problems aren't about to resurface.

In this area, Comcast took the PIttsburgh sports channel off the basic package on Jan. 16. One day it was there, next day it wasn't. They took their time letting customers know what they had done. They finally sent out a notice on Feb. 1, stating that the channel had been moved to a higher tier. You might think that if they made this move in the hope of encouraging customers to sign up for the higher tier, they would have included an explanation as to exactly which other channels would be included in the higher tier, how much the higher tier would cost, and what we would need to do to sign up for it. Nope. The notice did not include any of that information. Now it's March, and I still don't know how it would be possible to sign up for the Pittsburgh sports channel. Of course, the way the Penguins are playing, I don't have that much desire to watch them, anyway. But with the Orioles coming off a 100-win season, I'd really like to think that I'll be able to watch Oriole games this spring and summer. Who knows if Comcast will ever explain how to do it?

I can still see Billy retreating into shallow right center to catch Hank Bauer's popup for the final out in Hoyt Wilhelm's no-hitter. I live close to Harrisburg, PA, where the Senators are the Washington Nationals' AA farm club. There was a time when I thought I would get to see Billy's son, Billy Jr., on the field in Harrisburg, as the Nationals named him to be the Senators' manager during the 2019-20 offseason. But then the 2020 Eastern League season was cancelled due to COVID, and by the time minor league baseball was ready to resume, the Nationals decided on somebody else to manage the Senators in 2021.

Saturday, Nov. 11, Texas A&M beat Mississippi State, 51-10. The next day, the coach of the winning team, Jimbo Fisher, was fired by Texas A&M. The day after that, the coach of the losing team, Zach Arnett, was fired by Mississippi State. Anyone remember another occasion when both teams' head coaches were fired after a midseason game?

One of Roch Kubatko's recent articles listed players currently participating in the Orioles' instructional camp. I did a double-take when I saw the fourth name on the list. I thought Roch was pulling our leg by including a Civil War general in the list. But no, the Orioles actually did draft a pitcher named Braxton Bragg in the eighth round this year. He signed a contract and pitched several games for Delmarva before the season ended. Does anyone know if Braxton Bragg the pitcher is related to Braxton Bragg the Confederate general?

I was also at Game 5 in Philadelphia. I can remember Scott McGregor threw his first warmup pitch before the Phillies came to bat in the bottom of the first inning, and a fan near me exclaimed, "Wow! This guy doesn't throw hard at all! We ought to kill this guy!" Nine innings later, the Phillies still hadn't scored. I remember walking down the street to get to my car after the game and there was a vendor along the sidewalk trying to sell pennants. He said "Don't be mad. I've got winners pennants right here. Orioles pennants." He didn't sell too many to the disgruntled Phillies fans.

Taijuan Walker had 31 starts for the Phillies this year, pitched 172 innings, and led the team in wins with 15. Sure seemed like the Phillies could have used an innings-eater like him in Friday night's game, instead of trotting out an entire bullpen full of one-inning-type relievers. Anyone know why Walker has not pitched in the postseason?

In 2019, the Astros earned the distinction of being the only team ever to lose all four home games in a seven-game series. Now we get to see if they can do it again.