2014 AMERICAN LEAGUE EAST CHAMPION BALTIMORE ORIOLES
With 8-2 win Tuesday, Orioles clinch first American League East title since 1997
Club beats Blue Jays to earn second playoff berth in last three seasons
September 17, 2014 by Eduardo A. Encina, The Baltimore Sun
After the Orioles drained bottles of champagne inside the home clubhouse of Camden Yards, leaving behind not a dry spot in a room littered with corks and empty beer bottles, they ran toward the dugout for a postgame party that Baltimore had long awaited.
They celebrated their first American League East division title in 17 years Tuesday night after their 8-2 win over the Toronto Blue Jays with their hometown fans at Camden Yards.
Their coronation as newly recrowned kings of the AL East came in front of a sea of orange -- an announced 34,297 -- entirely on its feet, standing as right-hander Tommy Hunter closed out the game with a grounder to first base. On cue, orange fireworks shot into the sky from the scoreboard and streamers were shot into the seating bowl.
“It was really loud,” Hunter said. “It was fun. You got the shakes a little bit from warming up. It was cool. It was a great environment. That’s the environment it should be in Baltimore. These guys love baseball, these fans, this city. We’re bringing it back.”
While players sprayed bottles of beer on each other and into a frenzied crowd above the Orioles dugout, manager Buck Showalter stood on the first step of the dugout and watched quietly wearing a AL East division champions cap and a proud smirk.
"You get older, you want to get a good angle and a good seat and see good people get a return for what they put into it and what they're trying to achieve,” Showalter said. “And this is a huge step, to get a chance now. We've got to figure out a way to win 11 games."
Even though this was the Orioles' ninth division title in franchise history, it was a first for the city of Baltimore. In this 60th anniversary season of Orioles baseball, it marked the first time in club history that they celebrated a division title at home while needing a win to clinch. Back in 1969, the Orioles won the AL East on a day in which they won, but had already sealed the division before their game ended.
“It’s an awesome experience,” said right fielder Nick Markakis, the longest tenured Oriole. “We worked hard all season long to get to where we are now, and we got step one out of the way. Now we’ve got a couple more steps to go ... Just taking it all in and the experience itself is something I’ll never forget.
Center fielder Adam Jones celebrated by giving Markakis a celebratory pie to the face. Jones also later pied a fan. Hunter pied right-hander Darren O’Day. While celebrating with their fans in the area in front of the home dugout, they stepped around empty Budweiser bottles and pie remnants.
“We reached the pinnacle,” Jones said. “It’s a big moment in our history, big moment within this clubhouse. These guys worked their tails off, every last one of them, for the same goal … to win."
And Jones understood how long a wait this has been for Orioles fans.
“I wasn’t able to drink at that time [in 1997], so I couldn’t taste the bubbly, but I can taste it now and it tastes really good. It’s a milestone. We’ve got a lot of work to do, but we’re going to celebrate tonight … the whole city of Baltimore. … It has been a long time coming for the city of Baltimore.”
The Orioles (91-60) are heading to the playoffs for the second time in three years. For a team that endured 14 straight losing seasons before Showalter and executive vice president Dan Duquette brought winning baseball back to Baltimore, they became the fourth different AL East team to win the division in the last five seasons.
Over the course of the season, the Orioles lost three keystone players -- Matt Wieters, Manny Machado and Chris Davis -- but other role players filled their absences holes.
Once one of those players -- first baseman Steve Pearce -- blasted a three-run homer off Toronto right-hander Drew Hutchison to give the Orioles a 3-1 lead in the first inning, anticipation built, ending with a dogpile behind second base following the final out of the game.
Pearce, who was reluctantly designated for assignment by the team in April because of a roster crunch, returned to the club days later after an injury to Davis and has had the best season of his career in his first real opportunity to play every day.
Pearce gave the Orioles a 3-1 lead with his 18th homer of the season. He took a 0-1 fastball just over the center-field fence with two outs in the bottom of the first.
“This is where I wanted to play,” Pearce said. “My decision was a no-brainer. I love everybody here, from the players to the front office, this is where I wanted to play. To have this feeling right now, it was the best decision I’ve ever made.”
As they built a sizable lead in the division, an Orioles team that entered the spring as a long shot with 7-to-1 odds to win the AL East showed resilience at every turn.
Right-hander Ubaldo Jimenez, who hadn’t pitched since Aug. 31 after being demoted to the bullpen a month ago, overcame a rocky start to hold the Blue Jays to two runs and two hits.
As a team, the Orioles held the Blue Jays to four hits -- and just two after the second inning.
Jimenez needed 60 pitches to get through the first two innings -- walking four and allowing two runs in two 30-pitch innings to open the night -- and he was almost certainly headed for a short outing. But Jimenez righted himself to last five innings on 97 pitches.
“I struggled in the first couple innings, and it didn’t feel like I was going to make it to the third,” Jimenez said. “But I wanted to find a way to get this team a win. I thank God for everything, and I thank Buck for giving me the opportunity to be there.”
The Orioles has struggled against Hutchison, who had a 0.98 ERA in four starts against the Orioles this season before Tuesday, but took a 4-2 lead on him with homers by Pearce and Paredes, extending their major league-leading total to 196.
When De Aza -- acquired in a trade with the Chicago White Sox at the end of August -- lined a pitch from Aaron Loup into the right-field corner with the bases loaded for a three-run triple, it seemed to be just a matter of time before the Orioles could celebrate in front of the home crowd.
This marked the second-earliest date the Orioles have clinched the division in franchise history. They sealed the AL East on Sept. 13 in 1969.
Eleven games are left in the regular season, but the Orioles still have something to play for: They entered Tuesday night four games back of the Los Angeles Angels for the best record in the AL and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.
And even though the high of becoming champions of the AL East will remain, the Orioles anticipate even more memorable atmospheres in Baltimore this postseason.
"It seemed to get bigger as the game went on,” Showalter said. “Was it my imagination? Or maybe just louder. I was telling [pitching coach] Dave [Wallace] during the national anthem. I said, 'Dave, just wait until the playoffs.' He said, 'This place is special.' Of course, I'm biased. I've been in a lot, and I don't think there's any more electric place than this ballpark when something's on the line for the city of Baltimore."
The postseason is a race to whoever can win 11 games first, and the Orioles are now one step along in the process, eight wins away from their first World Series title in 31 years. And after Sunday’s win, they would admit they even surprised themselves against the mighty Tigers.
“We figured it would be a long series, you figure probably five games,” Norris said. “It could go with one swing of the bat, one pitch can change the game, but obviously things are on our side right now and a three-game sweep of the Detroit Tigers who have been there and have all these MVPs and Cy Youngs. Well, it’s a team game, we got it done and we are pretty excited about today.”
Showalter stretched out left-handed reliever Andrew Miller twice this series. On Sunday, Miller retired all five batters he faced, bridging the game between Norris and Britton in the ninth.
But Victor Martinez and J.D. Martinez opened the inning with back-to-back doubles off Britton, cutting the Orioles lead to one. After Britton struck out catcher Bryan Holaday, Showalter then intentionally walked Nick Castellanos — creating a force play, but placing the winning run on base.
Showalter put faith in Britton and his ground-ball inducing power sinker . And the strategy worked to perfection as pinch hitter Hernan Perez hit a sinker from Britton to third base, starting a 5-4-3 game-ending double play that prompted a celebration behind the pitcher’s mound.
“I thought it was great,” Britton said. “I was on the same page as him right there. You set up the double play. With how many ground balls I can get and how good our defense is, I think you’ve got to take the risk that I’m going to get a ground ball right there. Knowing that Buck had the confidence that I could do it allowed me to focus in a little bit more and make a good pitch.”
Inside the Orioles clubhouse, executive vice president Dan Duquette, who brought both to Baltimore — Norris by a deadline deal with the Houston Astros last season and Cruz with a savvy February one-year, $8 million deal that was undoubtedly the best free-agent bargain of the season — received a classy congratulatory hug from Tigers general manager Dave Dombrowski.
Cruz’s 16th career postseason homer passed Babe Ruth for ninth place on the all-time list. He also tied New York Yankees outfielder Carlos Beltran for fourth among active players, trailing Derek Jeter (20), Albert Pujols (18) and David Ortiz (16).
Eight of Cruz’s postseason homers have come against the Tigers. As a member of the Texas Rangers, he hit six homers against Detroit in the 2011 ALCS. In eight career postseason games against the Tigers, Cruz is 8-for-20 with 18 RBIs.
Cruz, who led the major leagues with 40 homers in the regular season, could have been had by any team in baseball in the offseason. But he didn’t receive the multiyear deal he was seeking and in February signed with the Orioles.
Every time Cruz stepped to the plate Sunday, he heard an unmistakable chorus of boos and the chant of “ster-oids” from the crowd, a reference to his serving a 50-game suspension last year for his involvement in the BioGenesis scandal.
“He’s been outstanding,” Norris said. “Our MVP for sure. There have been so many guys that have stepped up this year, but what Nelson’s been through in the last couple years and to come into Baltimore and have another outstanding season, you can’t ask for more. He has a postseason pedigree, and we are pretty pumped he is on our side.”
While it wasn’t his most impressive homer of the season, it undoubtedly was his most important. With one on in the sixth inning, Cruz sent a 1-1 changeup tailing off the barrel of his bat down the right-field line into the first row of seats, just inside the base of the foul pole above the 330 feet sign on the fence.
“It was special,” Cruz said. “I was just hoping the ball didn’t go foul. That was my only concern, because usually when I hit the ball to right, it tails a bit right. That was my only concern.”
Price had retired seven straight Orioles hitters before Adam Jones hit a one-out single up the middle, bringing Cruz to the plate. Cruz’s blast silenced an already subdued announced 43,013 at Comerica Park on a chilly afternoon as the sun set on the Tigers' season.
“The only thing I was thinking was, ‘I could hear a pin drop in this stadium,’” Markakis said. “It was awesome. He’s been big for us all year. He’s been big in the postseason so far. Hopefully he can continue that, and we’ll all follow behind him.”
Opening his career pitching in baseball purgatory in Houston, Norris had never pitched in the postseason, let alone in a game of this magnitude. He entered the day with an unsightly 6.59 ERA in four previous starts against Detroit.
But pitching after a 10-day layoff from his last regular-season start, Norris allowed just four base runners — two hits and two walks — while striking out six. Overall, the Orioles held the Tigers to four hits in the game.
Norris didn’t allow a hit after Don Kelly’s leadoff single in the third inning. He retired 11 of his last 12 batters — the only base runner allowed was Kelly, who reached on a third-strike wild pitch — before issuing a one-out walk in the seventh, his final batter of the game.
Norris escaped a scare in the bottom of the third inning unscathed, stranding two runners in scoring position after a rare throwing error by shortstop J.J. Hardy placed runners at second and third bases.
“This is the position you want to be in, playing in October and moving on,” right fielder Nick Markakis said. “That’s what it’s all about. We’ve got a couple more steps we want to do. We’ve got some ball to play, and it’s going to be fun. We’re going to have fun doing it.”
Along the plastic covering that protected the players’ lockers was placed a Tigers scorecard featuring the jerseys of Detroit’s three Cy Young Award winners — Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander and David Price — each one crossed out with thick black marker.
The Orioles were the unquestioned underdog in this series, despite a 96-win season and a division title. They faced one of the most dangerous lineups in the majors and a team with impressive postseason credentials — one World Series trip and an additional two to the ALCS over the past three years.
“We enjoy being the underdogs, to try and fly under the radar,” shortstop J.J. Hardy said. “As long as we can do that, the better.”
In Sunday’s series-clinching win, designated hitter Nelson Cruz provided all the offense, breaking a scoreless tie in the sixth inning with a two-run homer off Price. And Norris, an unlikely hero who was told he was pitching in Game 3 on the team’s flight to Detroit on Friday night, shut down the Tigers lineup with 6 1/3 scoreless innings in his postseason debut.
DETROIT -- Buck Showalter has played postseason chess several times before, and like most participants as confident as he is, he has lost more times than not.
But in the Orioles’ triumphant American League Division Series sweep of the Detroit Tigers, the manager pulled all the right strings.
Before the Orioles’ series-clinching Game 3 win over the Tigers on Sunday afternoon, he switched the rotation, tabbing right-hander Bud Norris to start. And down to the final two outs, he veered from the unconventional, putting the winning run on base in the bottom of the ninth with an intentional walk before allowing closer Zach Britton to finish a three-game sweep of the Tigers.
The Orioles’ dramatic 2-1 victory over the Tigers on Sunday gave Showalter — the on-field architect of the club's resurgence — his first postseason series win in his 16-year managerial career, sending the Orioles to their first AL Championship Series in 17 years. They will open the ALCS on Friday at Camden Yards against the Kansas City Royals, who swept the Los Angeles Angels in the other ALDS.
“The sad thing is, only one team is going to be completely happy when this is all over,” Showalter said. “It can be real cold. … [Our players] don’t want to watch it. They want to participate and be in that [pressure] cooker, so to speak. That’s what you look for in players.”
The Orioles' three-game sweep of the Tigers marked their first postseason series sweep in more than four decades, when they beat the Oakland A's in three games in the 1971 ALCS.
Inside the visiting clubhouse of Comerica Park, the Orioles sprayed bottles of Chandon and chugged Budweiser, but their celebration was far more muted than their party in front of the home crowd at Camden Yards three weeks ago after claiming the AL East.
With 2-1 win, Orioles sweep Tigers to advance to AL Championship Series
Eduardo A. Encina The Baltimore Sun 10/5/14
Throughout the season, Duquette was savvy with his roster, acquiring players like third baseman Jimmy Paredes -- who hit a solo homer Tuesday -- and left fielder Alejandro De Aza, who laced a three-run triple down the right-field line in the seventh that all but put the game away.
“They all had big roles, but the team is the star,” Duquette said. “And when you have a lot of players who have good habits and do good work and you have good leadership with Buck, you’ve got a chance to do these things.
“I’m excited. I’m really happy we are where we are, but I’m looking forward to the next couple of steps, because we’ve got some more work to do.”
As they built a sizable lead in the division, an Orioles team that entered the spring as a long shot with 7-to-1 odds to win the AL East showed resilience at every turn.
