Counting down as the ‘23 Orioles match some of the O’s winningest teams

[Gurgi]

11 hours ago, Frobby said:

Yes I am writing them from scratch.  But I lived through most of them, and what I don’t remember, a look at BB-ref will remind me of.   Honestly, I’m keeping them as short as I can. There’s lots of details I remember that I’m not throwing in, just so these won’t get too long.  Plus, I’m a slow typist….

Really great stuff.  Great idea for the thread also.

[Frobby]

With their 98^th win last night, and with 5 games remaining, the 2023 Orioles matched the 1983 World Champions and the 1997 wire-to-wire Al East Champions, tied for 6^th on the all-time Orioles wins list.  Both those teams are worthy of a lengthy write-up, so I will break this into two posts.

1983

The biggest offseason change for the 1983 Orioles wasn’t on the field, but in the dugout.   For the first time in 15 years, Earl Weaver was no longer at the helm, replaced by longtime Rochester Redwings manager Joe Altobelli.   Altobelli had a veteran team returning that had come within a game of the AL East crown the year before, and he and the front office pretty much adopted a program of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

Like many of Weaver’s teams, the ’83 Orioles didn’t get off to a roaring start, going 11-9, 15-13 and 14-11 in April, May and June.  At the all-star break, they were 42-34, a game out of first place in a lackluster AL East, and as late as July 16 they were 3 games back at 48-37.   They fought their way to 2 games up by August 5 at 62-42, but then suffered a 7-game losing streak, their second of the year to fall a game behind at 62-49.   But that was the end of that.   Over the next 44 games in August and September they went 34-10, clinching the division title on September 25.  The O’s coasted from there, losing their next 4 games and 5 of their final 7 to reach their final 98-64 mark that perhaps could have been a little better if they had needed it to be.

The ’83 offense was powered by the twin engines of Cal Ripken and Eddie Murray.  Ripken won AL MVP honors, hitting .318/.371/.517 with 27 homers and 102 RBI, also scoring 121 runs.   Murray hit .306/.393/.538 with 33 homers, 111 RBI and 115 runs scored, finishing second in the MVP voting and also winning a Gold Glove.  Ken Singleton had a solid year with an .829 OPS and 84 RBI, and the patented Roenicke/Lowenstein platoon monster, with a little help from Benny Ayala and others, posted an .893 OPS in LF, with 34 homers and 113 RBI.  Overall, the team finished 2^nd in the AL in runs scored.

The pitching also was very sound, finishing  2^nd in the league in ERA.  Jim Palmer was finally fading into the sunset, but the O’s got strong performances from Scott McGregor (18-7, 3.18 ERA), Mike Boddicker (16-8, 2.77), Storm Davis (13-7, 2.59) and Mike Flanagan (12-4, 3.30).   Anchored by Tippy Martinez (9-3, 103.1 IP at 2.35 ERA) and Sammy Stewart (9-4, 144.1 IP at 3.62 ERA), the bullpen also was very solid.

In the ALCS, the O’s faced the 99-63 Chicago White Sox.  The O’s lost the opener 2-1, with Cy Young Award winner Lamar Hoyt (24-10 in the regular season) outdueling McGregor.  The O’s won the next two games rather handily, 4-0 behind Boddicker and 11-1 behind Flanagan.   Game 4 was an epic duel, with both teams scoreless in regulation.  But in the 10^th, reserve Tito Landrum hit a solo homer off Chicago starter Britt Burns and the O’s scored two more after that to take a 3-0 lead.   Tippy Martinez, who already had thrown 3 shutout innings in relief of Storm Davis, threw another in the bottom of the 10^th and the O’s were champions of the American League.

The World Series against the Phillies followed a similar pattern.   The O’s lost Game 1 with John Denny outdueling McGregor 2-1.   But the O’s stormed back to sweep the next four games.   There were many memorable moments.  In Game 2, Mike Boddicker pitched his second complete game victory of the postseason as the O’s won 4-1.  In Game 3, Jim Palmer, who had been hurt and not very effective that season,  pitched 2 shutout innings in relief and got the win when the O’s scored 2 runs in the 7^th off of Steve Carlton and the O’s held on for a 3-2 win.  It made Palmer the only pitcher ever to win a World Series game in three different decades.  In Game 4, Joe Altobelli used four straight pinch hitters (Joe Nolan, Ken Singleton, John Shelby and Dan Ford) in the 6^th inning and they helped produce two runs that turned a 3-2 deficit into a 4-3 lead, in a game the O’s won 5-4.  The final game, a 5-0 shutout masterpiece by McGregor, was marked by Eddie Murray hitting two massive home runs in his first two at bats, the second one hitting his own picture on the scoreboard.  The final punctuation mark came when Cal Ripken caught a soft line drive for the third out in the 9^th.   The Orioles were World Champions for the first time in 13 years, after many excellent seasons of striving to get back to the mountaintop but falling short.

At the time, it seemed that the O’s were well-set to continue being a playoff contender for years, with the 22-year old MVP Ripken, the 27-year old superstar Murray, and the budding 25-year old ace Boddicker.   But alas, the supporting cast was getting a bit long in the tooth, and that iteration of the Orioles never seriously contended again.  1983 was the apex of an era, but it was a serious downhill ride from there. 

[Frobby]

1997

The 1996 Orioles had slugged their way into the playoffs for the first time since the ’83 team, but allowed a lot of runs.  In a move to shore up the defense, the O’s signed Mike Bordick to play shortstop, moving icon Cal Ripken to 3B.  They parted ways with Bobby Bonilla and Eddie Murray, and signed Eric Davis, among others.   They added Jimmy Key to the pitching staff.  And, in a move that should not be forgotten, they brought Ray Miller back as their pitching coach.

The results?   A wire-to-wire first place run in the AL East.   By month, they went 16-7, 20-8, 15-12, 16-11, 18-10 and 13-16, that last month the result of the O’s coasting the final three weeks of the season, watching a 9.5 game lead dwindle to 2 games, but it never felt that the outcome was in doubt.

The offense that year was good not great, finishing 6^th of 12 teams in runs scored.   The principal contributors were Brady Anderson (128 OPS+), Rafael Palmeiro (113 OPS+, 38 HR, 110 RBI), and BJ Surhoff (111 OPS+).  Roberto Alomar missed 50 games that year but was excellent (134 OPS+) when healthy.  Cal Ripken had something of a down year offensively (93 OPS+), but still knocked in 88 runs and, of course, played all 162 games.  After a good start to his season, Eric Davis missed most of the year batlting colon cancer, but was able to return in September.  Bordick didn’t hit at all (59 OPS+) but was as advertised on defense.  Palmeiro and Mike Mussina won Gold Gloves, and the team went from -30 Rtot in ’96 to +14 in ’97.

But the story of the 1997 Orioles was the pitching, where the O’s went from 7^th in the league in ’96 to 2^nd under Ray Miller’s watch.   Among the starters, Mike Mussina went 15-8 with a 3.20 ERA (137 ERA+), Scott Erickson was 16-7, 3.69 (119), Jimmy Key 16-10, 3.43 (128) and Scott Kamienecki 10-6, 4.01 (110).   But an even bigger story was the bullpen.  Randy Myers had 45 saves in 46 opportunities, posting a 1.51 ERA.   He was backed by Armando Benitez at 2.45 ERA, Arthur Rhodes at 3.02, Jesse Orosco at 2.32.   Collectively, the O’s pen posted a 3.33 ERA, 2^nd in MLB.  Manager Davey Johnson was a master of pushing the bullpen buttons, and the O’s had an 86% save rate, by far the tops in MLB.

In the ALDS, the O’s faced the Seattle Mariners, led by ace Randy Johnson, who had gone 20-4 that season with a 2.28 ERA.   Mussina outdueled Johnson twice in the series, allowing 2 runs in 7 innings while striking out 9 in the opener, while the O’s chased Johnson after 5 innings and 5 runs, in a 9-3 final.  Erickson beat Moyer in Game 2 by an identical 9-3 score.  The M’s came back to win Game 3 by a 4-2 score, setting up a Mussina-Johnson rematch.  Mussina outpitched Johnson again, allowing 1 run in 7 innings while striking out 7, and the O’s won both the game and the series by a 3-1 score.

The O’s then lost the ALCS to the Cleveland Indians in heartbreaking fashion, 4 games to 2, with all four losses coming by one run.  They won the opener 3-0 behind Erickson, then lost Game 2 5-4 when reliever Armando Benitez, who had been brilliant during the season (9 saves, 20 holds and one blown save), allowed  3 runs in the 8^th inning, blowing a 4-2 lead.  Mussina was on the mound for Game 3, and pitched brilliantly, striking out 15 and allowing 1 run in 7 innings, but was outmatched by Orel Hershiser’s 7 shutout innings; the O’s tied the game off Cleveland’s closer Jose Mesa in 9^th, but lost the game in the 12^th when Marquis Grissom stole home on a squeeze play, with Lenny Webster dropping a Randy Myers pitch as Grisson was heading towards home.  The O’s claimed that batter Omar Vizquel had fouled off the pitch on his bunt attempt, but the umpires ruled that the ball had not hit the bat, and the game was suddenly over, 2-1.  (You be the judge.) Game 4 was another heartbreaker, as the O’s rallied in the top of the 9^th to tie the game at 7-7, but lost in the bottom of the 9^th when Benitez allowed a 2 out walk-off hit, Alan Mills getting charged with the loss.  Now facing elimination, the O’s won game 5 4-2, surviving a scare when Myers allowed 2 runs in the bottom of the 9^th  and had two more runners on base with only one out, but eventually closed it out.   That brought the O’s back to Baltimore, down 3-2 but still with a chance, and they opted to turn to Mussina on three days’ rest.   For the fourth time in the postseason, Mussina pitched brilliantly, throwing 8 innings of 1 hit shutout ball, striking out 10.  But the O’s blew chance after chance against Cleveland’s Charles Nagy, whp allowed 9 hits and walked 3 in 7.1 innings, and the score remained tied when Mussina was relieved.  Myers pitched two scoreless innings but the O’s failed to score as well.  Enter Benitez, who retired the first two batters of the 11th inning, then allowed a solo homer to Tony Fernandez, who had hit only 11 homers all season.  The O’s couldn’t respond in the bottom of the 11^th, and just like that, the wire-to-wire dream season came to an abrupt end.  

And that wasn’t all that abruptly ended.  A few days later, Peter Angelos parted ways with Davey Johnson, citing a petty dispute about how Johnson had used the money he had fined Roberto Alomar to benefit a charity in which Johnson’s wife was involved.  Miller, a great pitching coach, was promoted to manager, which did not turn out to be his forte.   Myers refused to re-sign with the team, feeling that Johnson had been mistreated.  Things just snowballed from there, and the wire-to-wire team posted a losing season, and then another, and then another….until 14 years had gone by.   1997 was a very sweet season that, in the end, left a sour taste in the mouth of every Orioles fan.

[foxfield]

Fantastic 

[btownoriole]

A couple of memories from the end of that second 1983 7-game losing streak.

• The streak was snapped in Chicago in a game started by Bill Swaggerty.  I don’t believe he got the win but pitched well-enough to keep the O’s in the game.
• The game after the streak was snapped the O’s beat the White Sox again, 2-1.  Earlier in the game Ron Kittle hit what he thought was a home run.  The umpires ruled fan interference (which I believe was the right call).  Tony LaRussa completely flipped out, tossing third base, and getting ejected.  Kittle was stranded, a key development in a one-run game.

 

[Frobby]

With their 99th win tonight, with four games remaining, the 2023 Orioles now stand in sole possession of 6th place all time on the franchise wins list.  They’ve won more regular season games than two Orioles teams that won the World Series, the ‘66 and ‘83 teams.  Quite an accomplishment so far, but a lot left to try to accomplish.  

[Mooreisbetter27]

And just think, we re only tier 3!

[Malike]

10 minutes ago, Frobby said:

With their 99th win tonight, with four games remaining, the 2023 Orioles now stand in sole possession of 6th place all time on the franchise wins list.  They’ve won more regular season games than two Orioles teams that won the World Series, the ‘66 and ‘83 teams.  Quite an accomplishment so far, but a lot left to try to accomplish.  

You should have these written up in advance, Frobby. You're retired! You must be traveling or golfing too much!

[seak05]

I was at that '97 Benitez game 2 game, that was the epitome of gut punch loss. That whole series just felt like a curse 

[dystopia]

Best record since 1980!

[Frobby]

18 minutes ago, Malike said:

You should have these written up in advance, Frobby. You're retired! You must be traveling or golfing too much!

Oh, I’ve been writing them in advance, but no more than one win in advance.  I didn’t want to write a bunch of stuff I’d never get a chance to use.  

Right now, only the win totals of the 1969 and 1970 teams are out of reach in 2023.   So, we’ll see how many more rungs this team can climb. 
 

[drjohnnyfever1]

These write-ups have been excellent.  Thanks, Frobby!  Really enjoy them.

[DrungoHazewood]

I was at two of the 1997 playoff games: the ALDS clincher in Baltimore where Mussina out-dueled Randy Johnson and Davey famously played Jeff Reboulet instead of Robby Alomar and Jerome Walton over Raffy due to Johnson being essentially impossible for lefties to hit. That was great, we got scalped tickets way up in the top row of the upper deck behind the LF foul pole.

Then a week later we went to the Virginia Tech-Boston College game (a 17-7 win in Blacksburg), got up Sunday morning and drove six hours to Cleveland. Also got scalped tickets. It appeared we were four of maybe a dozen people wearing O's stuff in the whole stadium. Because of that we got interviewed by Kit Hoover (now of Access Hollywood semi-fame), and of course fled the stadium in the aftermath of Sandy Alomar's winning hit off Benitez, driving home through the night. At least we had Monday off for Columbus Day.

[Goober Noodles]

I was 11 years old for the 1997 playoffs.  I had moved at the end of summer to Pittsburgh, something I was extremely not happy about.  This is embarassing, but I watched the ALCS on a little black and white TV while pretending to pitch (glove and all) & bat in my living room depending on if the O's were pitching/batting.  Alomar getting rung up was traumatic.  I'm pretty sure I was bawling and rolling around on the floor screaming at my parents for screwing up the juju by moving the family away from Baltimore.  lol

This Orioles team is now officially the best team of my lifetime.  Can't wait to go to my first Orioles playoff game next Saturday.

[btdart20]

1997 Game 2 of the ALCS against Cleveland was my first/only playoff game I've ever been to.  Dad was never really a baseball fan and we didn't go to many games as a kid.  He was pretty aloof and we never had the best relationship.  My dad didn't teach me how to throw/catch.  My mom did.  We rarely tossed a ball as I got older because he said I threw too hard for him (and his old glove).  I remember being excited when they clinched and saying how it would be awesome to go to a playoff game.  Next thing I know Dad surprised me with tickets.  The excitement in OPACY was non-stop from the first pitch...  I wish we'd have won that one as the icing on the cake for my sorta "Field of Dreams" moment with my dad.  Baseball...  "This field, this game: it's a part of our past.  It reminds us of all that once was good and it could be again."  Now that I'm a dad, I play catch and coach my boys.  And much more engaged than he was with me.  But I now get the stresses and other things of life that I was just clueless about back then...

 

Then Game 3 with the botched squeeze play that Grissom "stole" home on.  I still think Vizquel fouled it. 

And Game 4 where Rhodes threw a wild pitch and two scored.  

It just wasn't meant to be...