25 greatest games at OPACY

[BohKnowsBmore]

Hoiles ultimate grand slam against the Ms will always be my number one

[BohKnowsBmore]

2 hours ago, MDtransplant757 said:

Why the hell did they not start Roberts to begin the season? That just seems like a dumb idea. 

Vs. jerry Hairston jr? Fwiw who would be the long term answer at 2b was a serious discussion at that point. Easy to color our thinking on that with benefit of hindsight. 

[BohKnowsBmore]

2 hours ago, Dark Helmet said:

Segui. I really despise autocorrect.

"Hoiles ultimate grand slam" gave me "boiled ultimate grand slam."

[OFFNY]

2 hours ago, OFFNY said:

o

 

September 28th is my late mom's birthday. She has the distinction of having been a lifelong Yankee fan who converted (yes, she TRULY converted) to being an Oriole fan in October of 1978, because she didn't want me to be the only Oriole fan in our family. She promised me that the Orioles would win the World Series the following season, and she was off by one game.

September 28th of 2007:)The Yankees led us 9-6 going into the bottom of the 9th. They brought in Mariano Rivera in. Game over, right ??? Wrong !!!

We loaded the bases with 2 outs. It looked like curtains, except ......... Jay Payton drilled a bases-clearing triple into the gap in right-centerfield to tie the game !!! ))A lot of Yankee fans that were sitting near me were angrily screaming "choke" at their beloved team. )

In the top of the 10th, the Yanks hit a lead-off double, and it looked like our storybook ending would go down in flames. Not on this night. We managed to get out of the inning without being scored upon.

In the bottom of the 10th, we again had the bases loaded with 2 outs. On the first pitch, Melvin Mora laid down a bunt, taking the Yankees by surprise. Tike Redman raced home, and the Orioles all mobbed each other on the field.

With that win, the Orioles eliminated the Yankees from the A.L. East division title. They still got the wild card ...... but good enough. )

http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BAL/BAL200709280.shtml

 

 

o

 

 

 

 

[MDtransplant757]

1 hour ago, BohKnowsBmore said:

Hoiles ultimate grand slam against the Ms will always be my number one

Were you at that game?

[MDtransplant757]

1 hour ago, BohKnowsBmore said:

Vs. jerry Hairston jr? Fwiw who would be the long term answer at 2b was a serious discussion at that point. Easy to color our thinking on that with benefit of hindsight. 

Was it really? Why not move one to 3B or try to move one into LF? Honest question

[Justinlstn]

7 hours ago, BohKnowsBmore said:

Hoiles ultimate grand slam against the Ms will always be my number one

I was at that game sitting in right field when it happened, absolutely amazing game. If I am not mistaken Arod had hit a grandslam himself before Hoiles hit his.

 

My favorite all time game I ever been to was Mussina's near perfect game until Sandy Alamor hit a base hit in the 9th. Place was on edge the entire time.

[crissfan172]

5 hours ago, MDtransplant757 said:

Was it really? Why not move one to 3B or try to move one into LF? Honest question

With Bigbie, Matos, and Gibbons, the OF was full. They had Batista at 3B, who would be replaced by Mora the following year. 

Also...I don't know about Hairston, but Roberts definitely didn't have the arm to play 3B. 

[crissfan172]

7 hours ago, Frobby said:

I liked Jerry better when they first came up, but he couldn't stay healthy, and Brian upped his game after a couple of years.   

IIRC, the only reason that Roberts even got playing time was because Hairston got hurt. 

[MDtransplant757]

3 hours ago, crissfan172 said:

With Bigbie, Matos, and Gibbons, the OF was full. They had Batista at 3B, who would be replaced by Mora the following year. 

Also...I don't know about Hairston, but Roberts definitely didn't have the arm to play 3B. 

I would have suggested short, but we signed Tejada the next year

[Frobby]

Just to put the Hairston/Roberts thing into perspective, here's a timeline:

1997 -- Hairston is drafted by the O's, goes to Bluefield and posts an .862 OPS.

1998 -- Hairston starts the year at Frederick, posts a .796 OPS there.   Gets promoted to Bowie, posts .868 there.   Gets a September call-up and goes hitless in 7 PA.

1999 -- Hairston starts the year at Rochester, where he eventually posts a .787 OPS for the season.    Gets called up in June and posts a .764 OPS in 25 games while filling in for any injured Delino DeShields.     Gets called up in September, posts a .718 OPS over 25 games, for a major league OPS of .740 for the year (1.2 rWAR in those 50 games).    Roberts is drafted in June, posting a .670 OPS in 47 games for Delmarva as a SS.

2000 -- Hairston starts the year at Rochester, posts an .830 OPS, gets called up in mid-August and posts a .719 OPS (1.4 rWAR) in 49 games at 2B.   DeShields, who had been playing 2B, moves to LF after Hairston's call-up, filling a spot vacated when B.J. Surhoff was traded at the deadline.  Roberts is injured for much of the year, but posts a .777 OPS as a SS in 48 games at Frederick.

2001 -- Hairston is installed as the Orioles' starting 2B, playing 159 games and posting a .649 OPS (0.8 rWAR).    Roberts begins the year as Bowie's 2B, posting a .785 OPS in 22 games.    He gets to be promoted to Rochester's SS, posting a .699 OPS in 44 games.    Gets called up in mid-June when Bordick is injured, posts a .625 OPS (-0.3 rWAR) in 75 games, mostly at SS, but also playing some 2B and DH.

2002 -- Hairston returns as the starting 2B, playing 122 games (but no DL time) and posting a .705 OPS (2.6 rWAR).   Roberts starts the year at Rochester, gets called up on May 22 and plays mostly 2B until July 6, then plays one more game on July 30.   His major league OPS was .605 in 38 games (0.2 rWAR).   He posted a .738 OPS in 78 games at Rochester, playing 2B.

2003 -- Hairston returns as the starting 2B, posting a .769 OPS through 44 games when he is injured on May 20, not returning until September.   Roberts begins the year at new AAA affiliate Ottawa (remember that fiasco?),posts an .800 OPS there in 44 games, gets called up and takes over at 2B, posting a .704 OPS (2.7 rWAR) in 112 games.   Hairston returns in September, splitting time between DH and 2B in 16 games, posting a .598 OPS to finish the season at .725 in 58 games (0.6 rWAR).

2004 -- Hairston begins the year on the DL.   Roberts becomes the starting 2B and posts a .720 OPS (2.4 rWAR).   Hairston returns in mid-May, playing mostly OF and posts a .775 OPS in 86 games through mid-August, when he is injured again, missing the rest of the season.

2005 -- Hairston is traded for Sammy Sosa.

I think you can see from the foregoing that it was not obvious on Opening Day 2003 that Brian Roberts should be starting over Jerry Hairston.     That was quite a hot message board topic in 2003-04.    Hairston's injuries basically decided the issue.    Roberts did not hit enough in 2001-02 to consider him at any spot other than 2B/SS, and Hairston was pretty firmly installed at 2B.    They did experiment with Hairston in the OF in 2004.

[Tony-OH]

15 hours ago, Frobby said:

I liked Jerry better when they first came up, but he couldn't stay healthy, and Brian upped his game after a couple of years.   

Right, like when he "amazingly" got a lot stronger and started hitting doubles all over the place.

[Spy Fox]

Today I went to see if they had revealed the whole list of 25 games and it looks like the top nine will be a slow reveal between now and the start of the season. Here's a link to the highlights of the games already ranked. 

Because I'm bored, any guesses at what games might crack the top nine?

Here are the ones that came to mind as good bets:

• October 2, 2014: Delmon Young hits game winning double as O's go up 2-0 on Tigers in ALDS
• September 16, 2014: O's clinch AL East vs Blue Jays
• September 6, 2012: O's hit 6 HRs, including Jones tiebreaker in 8th, to tie Yankees for 1st place in standings on Cal Ripken statue night
• September 28, 2011: Andino walk-off hit ends the Red Sox season in game 162
• July 1, 2009: Down 10-1, O's mount biggest comeback in team history to beat Red Sox 11-10
• May 17, 1996: Chris Hoiles beats Mariners on "Ultimate Grand Slam"
• September 6, 1995: Ripken passes Gehrig's record

What am I missing? Maybe Game 1 of the 2014 ALDS could be in there as well, which had a lopsided final score but was generally an exciting game. If that's in there and I'm right about the seven above then there's only one missing game. 

I'm a bit too young to remember the '96 and '97 playoffs well, any major classics there?

[MDtransplant757]

22 minutes ago, Spy Fox said:

Today I went to see if they had revealed the whole list of 25 games and it looks like the top nine will be a slow reveal between now and the start of the season. Here's a link to the highlights of the games already ranked. 

Because I'm bored, any guesses at what games might crack the top nine?

Here are the ones that came to mind as good bets:

• October 2, 2014: Delmon Young hits game winning double as O's go up 2-0 on Tigers in ALDS
• September 16, 2014: O's clinch AL East vs Blue Jays
• September 6, 2012: O's hit 6 HRs, including Jones tiebreaker in 8th, to tie Yankees for 1st place in standings on Cal Ripken statue night
• September 28, 2011: Andino walk-off hit ends the Red Sox season in game 162
• July 1, 2009: Down 10-1, O's mount biggest comeback in team history to beat Red Sox 11-10
• May 17, 1996: Chris Hoiles beats Mariners on "Ultimate Grand Slam"
• September 6, 1995: Ripken passes Gehrig's record

What am I missing? Maybe Game 1 of the 2014 ALDS could be in there as well, which had a lopsided final score but was generally an exciting game. If that's in there and I'm right about the seven above then there's only one missing game. 

I'm a bit too young to remember the '96 and '97 playoffs well, any major classics there?

'96 no, I think '97 against the Indians, but they won't put it up there because the O's didn't win

[Spy Fox]

1 minute ago, MDtransplant757 said:

'96 no, I think '97 against the Indians, but they won't put it up there because the O's didn't win

I think they've had one or two losses on the countdown. I was also wondering if one of the 2014 ALCS games might be in there, which were both losses but also close and fairly interesting games. I'm guessing they won't be.