1997 alcs

[Uli2001]

I think it was Game 2 but I recall Cal hitting a homer off of Nagy. I don't really remember much. I was only ten. The lasting image I have is of Robbie Alomar striking out on a pitch way inside and Tony Fernandez' homer to give the Indians the lead and the pennant.

It was not Tony Fernandez in Game 2. It was Marquis Grisson off Benitez. Tony Fernandez's was in Game 6 in extra innings. Believe me, I remember.

[Uli2001]

I spent that summer in Yellowstone so from the end of May until late September I didn't see any baseball games at all. I do remember hearing how the O's had swept the Braves in Atlanta and thinking this was going to be the O's year. When Marquis Grissom hit that home run in the 9th inning I got a sick feeling in my stomach this series might not turnout the way I was hoping.

It was in the 8th. Benitez was the 8th inning pitcher. I wish it had been the ninth, then Randy Mayer would have been pitching.

[Uli2001]

Funny, I was thinking about the 1997 ALCS today, and how the Orioles will face yet another AL Central underdog. Dire straits ahead.

[Palmoripken]

It was not Tony Fernandez in Game 2. It was Marquis Grisson off Benitez. Tony Fernandez's was in Game 6 in extra innings. Believe me, I remember.

Right, i know, sorry if I confused since I was talking about game 2. Knew Fernandez was Game 6.

[Don Quixote]

The only things that come to my mind when I think about that series are the negatives...Benitez bombs, crazy horse-S endings. I would have preferred not to revisit that (even more often).

[hoosiers]

I really don't think of the 1997 playoffs much. We were the better team, we came to play and were undone by pure folly and craziness. It is just too hard to ponder how deliciously painful each loss was.

[Moshagge3]

Game 2 (Grissom homer), Game 3 (the foul bunt that wasn't) and Game 6 (Fernandez homer in extras) were all so horrific that Game 4 isn't even talked about. In that game the Orioles blew a 5-2 lead as the Indians scored five unanswered, the last two coming on a wild pitch. Yes, TWO runs scored on a wild pitch. How does that happen in the playoffs? And I just looked it up, the runner on second was Sandy Alomar, not known for his speed. How do you let Sandy Alomar score from second on a wild pitch? Anyway, the Orioles clawed back to tie it and Benitez came in with a runner on second in the 9th and two outs and let the winning run score. It was an inherited runner so Benitez didn't get the L but that's still three game-winning RBIs allowed by one reliever in one best-of-seven series. That's pretty amazing.

[Redskins Rick]

I really don't think of the 1997 playoffs much. We were the better team, we came to play and were undone by pure folly and craziness. It is just too hard to ponder how deliciously painful each loss was.

And coupled with losing in the ACLS in 96, extremely painful.

[JR Oriole]

And coupled with losing in the ACLS in 96, extremely painful.

The 1996 loss didn't bother me nearly as much. We were very fortunate to beat a 99 win Cleveland team, and the simple fact was that New York owned us that year. They won every single game played at Camden Yards that season, and I knew going into that series that we would really would have a tough time with the Yankees (and Bernie, in particular).

1997 was much, much worse because we were the better team. And we lost in such stupid ways, as several others have noted. I can handle losing to a superior opponent much easier than I can losing to what I feel is an inferior team. If we lose to Kansas City, it will be very tough to handle....not only because of what is at stake, but because I really feel like we are better than they are....

[Eddie_Murray33]

'97 remains extremely "difficult" to deal with- at least in a sports fan way (not life and death obviously). As others have said- the ALCS was a complete blur. We went from closing in on 2-0 up heading to Cleveland to 3-1 down in a blink of an eye...

It was also one of those "losses" IMHO that hurt more once you got a year or two removed from it and it became obvious that our "window" had closed. There was some hope during hot stove following the '97 season when Gillick was adding every veteran he could find (e.g. Carter, Drabek, Charlton, Guillen, etc.) to try and get us over the top. I remember us losing our '98 season (and home) opener on ESPN to the Royals though- and even that early- it was painfully obvious that we were an aged, lumbering station-to-station team with no dynamic players (outside of Alomar when he was focused/healthy). The joke was that the Orioles had signed the 1988 All Star Team in 1998. Meanwhile the Yankees were gearing up for dynasty mode- and Boston was becoming good again. It was going to be a long, long road back in the AL East...

[JR Oriole]

It was also one of those "losses" IMHO that hurt more once you got a year or two removed from it and it became obvious that our "window" had closed....

THIS nails it. It was really bad at the time, and in hindsight 17 years later, you realize that it was the shot that would take 14 years to really recover from. So it is actually even worse now that we know that 14 dreadful years would follow. It wasn't until Andino beat the Red Sox to close 2011 that we really were on our way back from the depths.

It took Pittsburgh over 20 years to recover from Francisco Cabrera and Sid Bream. The Braves have not won a World Series since Jim Leyrtiz hit that homer in Game 4. Texas has not been the same franchise since David Freese single-handedly ripped their hearts out in 2011. You wonder what the fates hold for the Chicago Cubs, whose 2003 Game 6 NLCS loss was as painful as anything I have seen in sports.

I am so excited to be back in the ALCS again, but it sure brings back a lot of painful memories from our last visit!

[Redskins Rick]

The 1996 loss didn't bother me nearly as much. We were very fortunate to beat a 99 win Cleveland team, and the simple fact was that New York owned us that year. They won every single game played at Camden Yards that season, and I knew going into that series that we would really would have a tough time with the Yankees (and Bernie, in particular).

1997 was much, much worse because we were the better team. And we lost in such stupid ways, as several others have noted. I can handle losing to a superior opponent much easier than I can losing to what I feel is an inferior team. If we lose to Kansas City, it will be very tough to handle....not only because of what is at stake, but because I really feel like we are better than they are....

96 was painful, I was in the stands for the first home game and they were winning, but Mussina was gassed and Davey had a tired bullpen and it was the MFY.

Not to mention the Maier homerun call in NY.

A bad memory for sure.

[JR Oriole]

96 was painful, I was in the stands for the first home game and they were winning, but Mussina was gassed and Davey had a tired bullpen and it was the MFY.

Not to mention the Maier homerun call in NY.

A bad memory for sure.

I was there in Game 3 in 1996, in those makeshift bleachers in the pen area. Zeile hit a two-run homer early and things looked good. I think we were up 2-1 in the 8th and then it fell apart in about 7 pitches. Jeter, Bernie, Tino, Cecil....couldn't get any of them out. Zeile threw a live ball straight into the ground in that inning. I don't think I spoke the rest of the night after that sequence.

The thing is, I did not have the same level of Yankee hatred then as I do now. I was still much more of a Blue Jays hater (1989 solidified that). My honest feeling in 1996 was that after going I think 3-10 against NY in the regular season (and 0-6 at home, I believe), I just thought NY was better and they would have found a way to beat us even without Maier's interference. Those Yankees I mentioned earlier were so damn clutch....they just killed you with huge hits in key situations.

[Palmoripken]

'97 hurt most I think because we went wire to wire that year and we most certainly were a better team. The Yankees one hurt too though because of the Maier ball and then seeing the New York media parade him as a hero. I remember him on Good Morning America and I think he got nice seats to the rest of their home games too. That more than the interference itself is what upset me and solidified me as a lifelong Yankees hater which was always there since my Dad always hated on the Yankees. I never developed until fairly recently the hatred many of you have for Toronto. See, I was just a little kid in the late 80's and early 90's and my earliest memories of baseball are right after the BJs big run in the early 90's just ended. The Yankees meanwhile were becoming a power again and my Dad always said he hated them so I followed suit. '97 did hurt more though for the reasons alreay said. It just had the feeling of a magical year. It was a fun year though. I think that fall was the first season I really pitched heavily. That spring I had pitched for the first time but it was in a blowout but fall I really got my pitching going.

[JR Oriole]

The 1996 team kind of underachieved through a huge chunk of that season. We had a lot of really good players, but it took awhile.....they came on late though, really around when Eddie re-joined. The 1997 team was wire to wire, and by the time they had swept the Braves in Atlanta (which was really hard to do), their record was something ridiculous like 45-19 or 50-22....something like that. That team was the definition of stacked....good at absolutely everything. No real weaknesses. We had the misfortune in 1997 of having to face a team that we probably should have lost to in 1996. I still believe that if we had faced the Yankees instead, who we were 8-4 against that season, we would have gotten our revenge on them. Instead, Cleveland got theirs on us. The Tribe actually underachieved that year in terms of a win total, because they still had a really good team in terms of talent. Alomar Jr. was great that year, and David Justice was a huge pickup....in the playoffs, he literally hit every pitch as hard as VMart hit that Britton sinker on Sunday.