1997 AL EAST CHAMPION BALTIMORE ORIOLES
A NEW BALLPARK AND SOME ALL-STAR QUALITY TALENT LEAD TO WIRE-TO-WIRE 1997 TITLE
by Rick Benson
1997 was one of the most memorable seasons in Baltimore baseball history. For the first and only time ever, the Orioles were in first place for the entire season; winning their first AL East title since 1983. The Birds wire-to-wire season was a culmination of continued on-field improvement as key free agent signings such as Roberto Alomar, Rafael Palmeiro, Jimmy Key and B.J. Surhoff combined with holdovers and home-grown talents such as Brady Anderson, Chris Hoiles, Mike Mussina and everyone’s hero Cal Ripken Jr.
Without question, the Baltimore Orioles move into their brand new downtown ballpark in 1992 was a key piece in the resurgence of the team’s on field success. The fan base—still energized by Oriole Magic, fully embracing its lone major league team with the Colts departure, packing Memorial Stadium while relishing their memories and now enjoying their crown jewel of a ballpark---was as energetic and passionate as any in the league.
The Orioles were a 91-loss team moving into Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Aside from an MVP season from Cal Ripken Jr. (.323 batting average, 34 home runs and 114 RBIs) the 1991 season was all about celebrating the history and tradition of Memorial Stadium. The perception was this was it for the sports shrine on 33rd street; with a recognition that pro football may never return to Charm City. So fans poured through the turnstiles in record numbers to pay what they expected would be their final respects to the World’s Largest Outdoor Insane Asylum.
Baltimore opened their new ball park in style with veteran Rick Sutcliffe pitching a complete game 2-0 shutout of the Cleveland Indians. The Orioles battled the Toronto Blue Jays back and forth for the AL East lead until Toronto jumped into first for good in late June. The O’s improved 18 games over 1991 and finished the season in third place with an 89-73 record. Sutcliffe won 16 games but the standout on the staff was rookie Mike Mussina, who went 18-5 with four complete game shutouts and a 2.54 ERA. 1993 saw another 3rd place finish with 85 wins and the addition of veteran DH and St. Michaels, MD native Harold Baines. Oriole Park at Camden Yards was nationally showcased as the host of the 1993 All Star Game which resulted in a 9-3 AL victory and a 47,000 plus chorus chanting “Cito Sucks” in the ninth inning (see THE BAD, THE UGLY section on this site).
Celebrating their 40th anniversary as a major league team, the Orioles improvement continued in 1994. Baltimore was in second place with a 63-49 record when a player strike stopped play on August 12. The players and owners were unable to reach an agreement before the end of the season and the 1994 campaign ended with no postseason and no World Series champion.
When the labor strife ended, baseball was in desperate need of some positive, feel-good, public relations in 1995 and Ripken provided it. Baltimore’s Iron Man broke Lou Gehrig’s consecutive games played streak on September 6 by playing in his 2,131 consecutive game. Ripken’s streak, along with his willingness to stay long after games were finished to sign autographs, helped heal the wounds inflicted by the baseball strike. Unfortunately, the Orioles regressed slightly on the field; falling back to third place with a 71-73 record and manager Phil Regan was replaced by former Orioles great Davey Johnson.
Baltimore came into the 1996 season ready to end their 12-year postseason drought. They added Alomar, closer Randy Myers and starter David Wells to the mix and then on July 21 prodigal son Eddie Murray returned to the Orioles. Exactly one year to the day from Ripken’s streak breaking game, Murray hit his 500th career home run to the “EDDIE, EDDIE, EDDIE” cheers of the Oriole Park faithful. Ironically Murray wasn’t one of seven Orioles who hit at least 20 home runs: Anderson (50, 110 RBI), Palmeiro (39, 142 RBI), Bobby Bonilla (28, 116 RBI), Ripken (26, 102 RBI), Hoiles (25), Alomar (22, team leading .328 BA) and Surhoff (21). Mussina cemented his status as staff ace with a 19-11 record and 204 strikeouts while new closer Myers had 31 saves and 74Ks in 58 ¾ innings. The O’s continued their offensive onslaught in the AL Division Series; clubbing the Indians 3 games to 1 to advance to the ALCS against their hated rival New York Yankees.
Game 1 of the 1996 ALCS provided another chapter in the heated rivalry. Yankee shortstop Derek Jeter hit a deep fly ball to right field. Orioles outfielder Tony Tarasco appeared to camp under the ball and prepared to make a catch. However, a 12-year-old boy seated in the first row of the bleachers named Jeffrey Maier reached over the wall and caught the ball just above Tarrasco, costing the Orioles an out. Although it appeared to be fan interference, the umpire ruled the ball to be a home run; making Maier a hero to Yankees fans and yet another hated figure in Charm City sports lore. Jeter’s “home run” tied the game and the Yankees won in 11 innings. The O’s came back to win game 2, 5-4, aided by Palmeiro’s two-run homer to break a 2-2 tie in the seventh. The series returned to Oriole Park but New York swept the next three games to take the series.
To take the next step in 1997, some changes needed to be made. Having seven guys with 20-plus home runs and clubbing a major league record 257 home runs was more of a necessity than a luxury. The Orioles pitching staff, while boasting of several quality arms, had a bloated 5.14 team ERA. Mussina was the only starter with an ERA under 5 (4.81). And there was the Iron Man dilemma.
Manager Johnson had started experimenting with Manny Alexander at shortstop as the 36-year old Ripken was starting to lose some range. The Streak was also a constant topic the last few years whenever Ripken’s offensive numbers were below par. Ripken had certainly earned the right to have a say in his future position and any move was complicated by the fact that Alexander wasn’t cutting it as a replacement at short. Baltimore solved their dilemma, presumably with Ripken’s blessing, by signing former Oakland A’s shortstop Mike Bordick to a three-year contract. Bordick was an outstanding fielder with a low key personality that would provide the perfect transition.
Bonilla, whom general manager Pat Gillick wanted to trade the previous season but was vetoed by owner Peter Angelos, left via free agency and Baltimore replaced him with right fielder Eric Davis. The Orioles also signed free agent Jimmy Key, who was a solid number two starter to replace the departed David Wells. Key would go on to win his first eight decisions as an Oriole. The O’s also picked up right-handed starter Scott Kamienicki off the scrap heap and the ex-Yankee hurler slid right into the rotation and won 10 games. The pitching staff showed amazing improvement in 1997; dropping their ERA more than a full run per game to 3.91 with Key and Scott Erickson each picking up 16 wins. The bullpen was dominant as well with set up men Arthur Rhodes (10-3, 3.02 ERA), Armando Benitez (71 appearances, 9 saves, 2.45 ERA) and ageless wonder Jesse Orosco (71 appearances, 2.32 ERA) paving the way for closer Myers; who converted 45 of 46 save opportunities with a 1.51 ERA.
The offense didn’t show nearly the home run power from the previous season as only Palmeiro (38) and Jeffrey Hammonds (21) cracked the 20 home run mark. Hammonds had more opportunities due to Davis being diagnosed with cancer and needing to miss significant portions of the season for treatment. Alomar led the Orioles with a .333 batting average and Palmeiro was the lone 100+ RBI guy (110).
All of this was enough to earn Baltimore an American League best 98-64 record and the AL East title by two games over the Yankees. The O’s won the first two games of the ALDS on the road by identical 9-3 scores over the Seattle Mariners before falling 4-2 in game 3 at Oriole Park. Game 4 provided a rematch of aces Mussina and Seattle’s Randy Johnson. Mussina combined with Benitez and Myers to hold the Mariners to two hits in a 3-1 win to advance the Orioles to the ALCS and a chance to go to the World Series for the first time in 13 years. Their opponent would be the Cleveland, who rallied from a 2-1 deficit to take games 3 and 4 at Jacobs Field and prevent a World Series repeat by the Yankees.
The heavily favored Orioles took game one at Oriole Park as Anderson hit a solo home run in the first and Alomar banged a two-run shot in the third to give the O’s a 3-0 lead. Meanwhile, Erickson shutdown the Tribe, who only managed one runner as far as second base. Randy Myers came on in the ninth to pick up the save and seal the 3-0 win. Before a single game record crowd of 49,131, the Orioles took a 4-2 lead into the 8th inning with set-up man Benitez coming in for Key. With a noise level exceeding anything ever heard at Oriole Park and the record crowd anticipating a two-game series lead, Benitez surrendered a pair of two out walks and the Cleveland’s Marquis Grissom came up and crushed a three-run home run to silence the crowd. The Indians held on for the 5-4 win to tie the series and send it to Jacobs Field.
Game 3 saw Mussina set an ALCS record with 15 strikeouts, but his effort was wasted as the Tribe won 2-1. After losing game 4, 8-7, the O’s faced elimination in game 5. Kamienicki held Cleveland scoreless through the first five inning but had to leave due to shoulder stiffness. Key came in and got three more shutout innings while Davis hit a ninth inning home run for give Baltimore a 4-2 win to send the series back to Oriole Park. Game 6 was a classic pitcher’s duel between Mussina and Nagy. The Orioles pounded out ten hits but couldn’t push a run across and the game went into extra innings tied 0-0. Tony Fernandez hit a solo home run in the top of the 11th that provided the difference as the Orioles’ magical season came to an end.
1997 proved to be the last hurrah as Baltimore had become an aging team with a serious lack of incoming farm system products and a limited payroll to sign more free agents. Hammonds, the 4th overall pick in the 1992 draft, had his best season in 1997 and never came close to matching it. Jimmy Haynes, a 7th round pick in the 1991 draft, had such a dreadful season in 1996 that the O’s dispatched him to Oakland and he bounced around for 10 seasons and compiled a 63-89 lifetime mark. Other farm products like Rocky Coppinger, Aaron Ledesma and David Dellucci had no significant impact. The 1997 Orioles were built to win it all and after watching Cleveland lose the World Series to the upstart Florida Marlins; that notion earned additional validation.
And as if the 1997 season needed another moment of finality, Johnson—who always had a somewhat frosty relationship with Angelos--- resigned as manager after the season, largely due to a spat with Angelos concerning Alomar's fine for missing a team function being donated to Johnson's wife's charity. But even with the unhappy ending to the 1997 season; it will still be remembered as one of the best of the Oriole Park years and the benchmark that the current Orioles; led by manager Buck Showalter, are looking to meet and exceed.
ORIOLES CLINCH AL EAST
What began on Opening Day-- with a 4-2 win that put the O's in first place-- continued throughout the season as the O's annihilated one opponent after another, never falling from the division-leading perch. And even though the O's stumbled slightly at the start of September (going 9-16 at the beginning of the month), they'd built up such an insurmountable lead that it was simply inevitable that they'd clinch the AL East crown before the season was done.
And so it happened one Wednesday evening in Toronto. It came against a phoning-it-in Blue Jays team that had just fired their manager, Cito Gaston, earlier in the afternoon. Man, what a day for the Orioles! Not only did the Birds clinch, but one of O's fans' most despised managers was sent packing. I'm pretty sure there are still some "Cito Sucks" T-shirts adorning Baltimore fans' wardrobes to this day.
This game fit the tried-and-true 1997 Orioles formula. Get a quality start from your outstanding rotation, let your offensive stars punch out some runs, and hand it over to your shutdown bullpen. Nothing to it. Tonight's pitching stalwart was fourth starter Scott Kamieniecki, an underrated member of that wire-to-wire team. Kammy was a washed-out Yankees hurler whom the O's picked up as a free agent before the season, hoping to squeeze some use out of him after an injury-plagued ‘96 campaign. Kamieniecki won a rotation spot in spring and proceeded to give the Orioles 30 starts, 179 innings, and a 4.01 ERA as a secret weapon behind top three starters Mike Mussina, Scott Erickson, and Jimmy Key. You don't get to be a 98-win team without having a few players come through with out-of-nowhere quality seasons like Kammy. "I was just looking to make this team out of spring training," he said. "To be a part of this celebration is special."
On this night, Kamieniecki ate up seven innings and allowed three runs. He hung in long enough to be the beneficiary of a late Orioles rally. Trailing 2-0 in the sixth, the O's erupted for a five-spot against future Bird Omar Daal and reliever Tim Crabtree, an inning that featured four doubles (including Lenny Webster's go-ahead two-bagger). The Orioles poured in on in subsequent innings; Rafael Palmeiro-- who didn't even enter the game until the sixth-- went 2-for-2 with a three-run homer as the O's took a 9-3 lead in the ninth.
Even in a non-save situation, manager Davey Johnson gave closer Randy Myers the honor of finishing the game that would clinch the division title. And that he did. Fittingly enough, the final out was recorded on a line drive to Cal Ripken, the only Oriole remaining from the Birds' previous division-winning team in 1983. "You can make the same comparisons between the ‘83 team and this team," Cal said. "We're a pretty versatile team. We pitch very well, we execute very well and find ways to win offensively."
There it is. Orioles clinch AL East, four games ahead of the defending champion Yankees, holding first place from start to finish. "Wire-to-wire. It's kind of mind-boggling," said Ripken. And Cal was not a man whose mind was easily boggled, so that's saying something.
The party began when the O's got back to the clubhouse, pouring champagne and beer all over each other in a raucous celebration. "It's special. You're the last one standing," said the skipper Johnson. "You can't do it much better, especially considering we're in the same division as last year's world champions." His thoughts were echoed by the Orioles' assistant GM, Kevin Malone. "This is something rare, something extremely special, and ... this didn't happen by accident," he said. "For us to finish ahead of the defending world champions in arguably one of the toughest divisions in baseball is something to be proud of."
It was a memorable achievement, to be sure, but the Orioles' mission was by no means complete. After they were finished with their final four regular-season games, they had a date with the Seattle Mariners in the Division Series, a matchup that promised to be a difficult task. "This celebration is going to be sweet, but it's also going to be short," said Ripken. "We've got to start thinking about Seattle, and anything can happen in a short series. Fortunately, the kind of season we had is something we can dwell on as we get ready for the playoffs."
April 1997: Building on the promise of 1996
by Stacey Folk , Camden Chat, Mar 31, 2012
Coming out of Spring Training 1997, optimism was high in Baltimore. The Orioles were coming off of their first playoff appearance in thirteen years and had improved over the off-season. While the 1996 Orioles could slug (they scored 949 runs, good for third in the league), they weren't so great with the pitching (903 runs allowed, fourth worst). To improve they signed Jimmy Key and Scott Kamieniecki away from the defending Word Champion Yankees to bolster the rotation.
The offense they tinkered with a bit, but you don't do much to a lineup like that, frankly. They lost Bobby Bonilla to free agency (GM Pat Gillick, of course, had wanted to trade Bonilla during 1996 but was vetoed by team owner Peter Angelos, with the result being the Orioles taking the wild card. Some say that's the beginning of Angelos not trusting his GMs, but who knows). To replace Bonilla the O's signed Eric Davis. Eric Davis, who is awesome. Now, I won't pretend that you don't know what happened to Davis this season, but being that he wasn't diagnosed with cancer until May, he did in fact spend April 1997 kicking the crap out of American League pitching.
The other big off-season addition, of course, was Mike Bordick. Bordick came to the Orioles as a Cal Ripken approved shortstop replacement, allowing old Cal to finally move to third base. B.J. Surhoff, who spent a large chunk of 1996 at third base, moved to left field.
The starting rotation at the beginning of the year included Key, Kamieniecki, Mike Mussina, Scott Erickson, and Shawn Boskie. Key had a fantastic April including six shutout innings on Opening Day and a complete game shutout on April 13th, and other than his first start of the season when he was clobbered by the Rangers, Mussina was great as well. As for Shawn Boskie, well, he was demoted to the bullpen after two starts, kicking off a rotation fifth place in the rotation that would over the season include Rocky Coppinger, Rick Krivda, Mike Johnson,Nerio Rodriguez, and Esteban Yan.
The starting nine coming out of Spring Training were: C - Chris Hoiles, 1B - Rafael Palmeiro, 2B - Roberto Alomar, 3B - Cal Ripken, SS - Mike Bordick, LF - B.J. Surhoff, CF - Jeffrey Hammonds, RF - Eric Davis, DH - Brady Anderson
Why is Brady DH'ing, you ask? Seems pretty strange given his defensive abilities, but some of you may remember that in Spring Training 1997, Brady cracked some ribs. Instead of going on the disabled list, however, Brady spent the first three weeks of the season as designated hitter rather than go on the disabled list. For cracked ribs. During his playing days Brady had a reputation for being a pretty boy and people liked to poke fun at him, but that is bad ass. Other stories, of course, include him getting hit by a bus and still playing that night and passing kidney stones between innings.
But really, playing with cracked ribs? That has to affect his performance, doesn't it? Surely he'd be better off resting and coming back strong to help the team, right? No, not really. Brady DH'd every game from Opening Day through April 20th, and in that time he hit .380/.537/.540. His power numbers were down a bit with only two home runs and two doubles in that time, and he couldn't steal bases the way he usually did, but he took thirteen walks in fourteen games. He moved back to CF on April 21st and for the entire month hit .380/.515/.557. Not bad for a dude running around with broken ribs. Seriously, what an awesome player he was.
Other notable performances in April: Eric Davis slugged .705 with five home runs and five doubles, Roberto Alomar got off to a slow start (after missing the first five games due to suspension over that whole spitting incident) and only had an OBP of .300 for the month. Hammonds, getting a chance with Anderson injured, did not make the most of it. He OPS'd just .677 and couldn't get on base more than about 30% of the time. Chris Hoiles was awesome as course, getting on base at a .413 rate and hitting three home runs for the month.
And how about Mike Bordick, Cal's replacement? Well, let's just say he wasn't brought to Baltimore for his bat. And Cal had his finest month of the season in April, hitting .316/.350/.526
Overall the O's were 16-7 in April 1997. They scored 132 runs (5.74 per game) and allowed 94 (4.09/game). Not a bad recipe for winning, and the pitching got better over the next few months.
Twenty years later: Looking back at the Orioles’ wire-to-wire 1997 season
By Mike Klingaman, 3/27/17 Baltimore Sun
Twenty years ago, on Opening Day, the Orioles were a mess.
Staff ace Mike Mussina sat out with a calcium deposit in his right elbow. Outfielder Brady Anderson, coming off a 50-home-run season, nursed a cracked rib. And All-Star second baseman Roberto Alomar faced a five-game suspension for having spat on umpire John Hirschbeck the previous September.
One day earlier, the disabled list had claimed sore-armed right-hander Rocky Coppinger, the No. 4 starter. And for the 46,588 fans who hunkered down at Camden Yards on that cold and windy day, the left side of the infield appeared terribly out of sync. For the first time in 15 years, Cal Ripken Jr. wasn't the starting shortstop, having moved to third base.
This was the team that would lead its division, from first day to last?
The 1997 Orioles (98-64) were just the sixth club in big league history to go wire-to-wire — a melange of millionaires and journeymen, of characters and coming Hall of Famers. Come October, they handled the Seattle Mariners, but dropped the American League Championship Series to the Cleveland Indians, four games to two. Each loss was by one run.
Who knew, after this near-miss, that the Orioles wouldn't make the playoffs — or even break .500 — for another 15 years? As time passed, and the losses mounted, the summer of '97 almost seemed more fantasy than fact.
"I thought [in 1997] that we were getting good," said Ripken, 56. "We had some stability and a strong nucleus. And Davey [Johnson] was a really good manager, in the Earl Weaver mode; he saw the big picture of the whole season really well, and put us in a good position to win."
But Johnson was gone at season's end. The Orioles had also lost the ALCS in 1996, fraying the manager's tenuous relationship with owner Peter Angelos, whose mantra was "World Series or bust."
In 1998, all of the starters returned, "but we didn't play well," Ripken said. "Then we went into a major rebuilding mode."
And a 14-year tailspin. But all of that seemed far-fetched on April 2, 1997, despite the challenges of the day.
Starting strong
If the Orioles were shaky that afternoon, it didn't show. Two hours before the game, Ripken signed a two-year, $15.1 million extension and quickly got to work — three hits, including a home run, in a 4-2 win over the Kansas City Royals. Ribs taped, Anderson went 3-for-4. Outfielder Eric Davis, one of a slew of pivotal free-agent pickups, knocked in the decisive run while another, left-hander Jimmy Key, got the win.
First place was theirs, for keeps. The Orioles went 16-7 in April and 20-8 in May to go 81/2 games up in the AL East. Pitching built the buffer. Key won his first eight decisions and Scott Erickson won eight of his first nine, as did Mussina, who on May 3 signed a three-year pact worth $21 million.
Sticking around wasn't a tough call, said the 28-year-old right-hander, whom fans called Moose — with 10 ooohs.
"I wanted to play here. These guys wanted me to play here. So I'm going to stay," Mussina said then. That same month, he came within a whisker (two outs) of pitching a perfect game in a 3-0 win over the Indians.
In hindsight, he called the 1997 team the best in his 10 years in Baltimore.
"We had quality players, interesting personalities and some great acquisitions," Mussina said. "That was a fun six months of baseball. I can't believe it's been 20 years."
A 38-15 start matched the best in team history. The Orioles threw 10 shutouts versus one in 1996. Their 52 road wins (against 29 losses) set a club record. And the clubhouse fairly rocked the day trumpeter Chuck Mangione serenaded the players with the song "Feels So Good."
There were rough times as well. Davis contracted colon cancer and had surgery in June. Two months later, longtime public address announcer Rex Barney died.
On Sept. 3, the Orioles got a scare when, during a game against the Florida Marlins in Miami, part of their dugout roof collapsed, scattering players. And on Oct. 12, a plane crash claimed singer John Denver, who three weeks earlier had performed "Thank God I'm A Country Boy," the club's signature seventh-inning-stretch song, while dancing atop the Orioles dugout at Camden Yards.
All summer, an ax hung over the manager's head. In midseason, Johnson openly pondered his fate, should the Orioles not run the table.
"Basically, I've got a three-year contract," he said, "but I feel that we've gotta do it in two."
Why not? By June 4, the Orioles were on track to win 116 games.
Fans took note, streaming into Camden Yards at a club-record clip (3,711,132). In May, two mid-week wins over the lowly Detroit Tigers drew a combined 95,880 at Camden Yards. Randy Myers, the Orioles' eccentric closer, saved both games.
Winning personalities
The Orioles had had daffy relievers before, but none of Myers' ilk. He arrived at the ballpark wearing fatigues, read Soldier of Fortune magazines in the bullpen, and when summoned, entered the game doing "a ritual jog that seems a cross between hopscotch and stomping grapes," The Baltimore Sun reported.
"Randy certainly kept the clubhouse loose," said Ray Miller, 71. Then the Orioles pitching coach, Miller recalled the time President Bill Clinton was to visit and Secret Service agents arrived beforehand to scout the clubhouse.
"Their dogs stopped at Myers' locker and yelped and all of his stuff was dragged out — fake grenade, stun gun, hunting knife and even a bear trap," Miller said. "When someone asked what the trap was for, Randy said, 'Somebody's been stealing my cigarettes and I'm going to find out who.'"
This was the guy who would save 45 games in 46 chances, finish with a 1.51 ERA and earn the team's Most Valuable Player award?
"Randy was unbelievable," shortstop Mike Bordick said. "We had monsters in the bullpen — Armando [Benitez] could throw 100 mph — and quality vets in the lineup. I felt like, hands down, we were the best team in baseball and that we would win the World Series."
Another offseason addition, Bordick replaced Ripken, who'd shifted to third. Good thing. In June, the Iron Man suffered a herniated disk in his back, limiting his mobility and sending fiery jolts down his legs.
"There were times on the field when I thought, 'I can't do this,'" Ripken said. "I could envision myself walking straight from my position at third, past the catcher, through the little door that the umpires use and up the tunnel" to the clubhouse.
Beg off, Ripken did not. He insists it wasn't because of The Streak, his record string of consecutive games played, which would end a year later at 2,632.
"I kept going because I wanted to play for a winner, to be part of that team and contribute," he said. "That was my incentive; that's why I pushed through."
Likewise, the pennant drive fueled Davis' return. The AL's leading hitter on May 6 (.388), he underwent surgery a month later to have one-third of his colon removed. In September, while still on chemotherapy, Davis returned to the lineup to heartfelt applause. More than 41,000 at Camden Yards cheered for two minutes as he stepped to the plate, or tried to, in the first inning against the Indian.
"I wanted to get into the batter's box, but the fans wouldn't let me," said Davis, 54. Three times, he tipped his cap and blew kisses to the crowd.
"Then I looked over and saw both teams outside their dugouts and thought, 'Whoa.' It brought a lump to my throat."
He flied deep to right-center field, advancing to third base a runner who would score the first run in a 6-5 victory that clinched a playoff spot for the Orioles. Twelve days later — and 24 hours after undergoing chemotherapy treatment — Davis got four hits, including a home run, in a win over the Milwaukee Brewers.
Teammates wore Davis' number on their helmets that season.
"Eric rubbed off on everyone. He was an inspiration to us all," said Bordick, 51.
Still, the Orioles struggled down down the stretch, losing 20 of their last 35 and watching a 91/2-game lead on Sept. 6 melt to two.
Playoff recovery
Despite their AL-best record and first division title in 14 years, they were underdogs in the Division Series against the homer-happy Seattle Mariners, who had bashed 264 that season, breaking the major league mark set by the Orioles a year before.
Mussina bagged them — twice — as Baltimore took the series, three games to one.
"That was fun," said Mussina, who bested Randy Johnson (20-4), one of the game's most dominant pitchers, both times. It irked the Orioles, Mussina said, "to start the postseason on the road after going wire-to-wire. Everyone was fired up."
None more than Mussina, who in 14 innings that series allowed seven hits, three runs and struck out 16. He won the opener, 9-3, as Ripken had three hits and Davis added a two-run single.
"I'm just blessed to put my uniform on," Davis said afterward.
Four days later, before a sellout crowd at Camden Yards, Mussina did it again, dispatching Seattle, 3-1, with help from Benitez and Myers. Fans whooped, the scoreboard flashed "WOW" and the Oriole Bird danced derisively atop the Mariners' dugout. In the clubhouse, first baseman Rafael Palmeiro (38 home runs) sprayed his manager with champagne while Mussina answered questions with homespun eloquence.
"Shoot, it was 80-something degrees out there in October," he told reporters. "It was a nice day to pitch."
Amid the din, a giddy Angelos declared that Johnson's job was safe.
"He's got another year on his contract," the owner said. "There's no reason to believe the Orioles will dismiss him."
A World Series berth was theirs, should they oust the Indians, who had the fewest victories (86) of any AL playoff team.
Game 1 turned in the first inning when Anderson scaled the center-field wall to rob Manny Ramirez of a home run, then hit one out himself to lead off the home half. Erickson stifled the Indians and the Orioles won, 3-0.
"First-pitch curveball," Anderson, 53, said of his wallop, one of three homers he hit while batting .357 that postseason. "My whole career is kind of a blur, but my at-bats in those [playoff] games are crystal clear in my head. That was the best time of my life."
Not so, for the Orioles. Cleveland won four of the next five games and moved on.
What happened? The bullpen broke down. Benitez, who had only two blown saves in 74 appearances in the regular season and ALDS, surrendered three game-winning hits. Clutch hitting failed. In one game, the Orioles went 0-for-12 with runners in scoring position. Mussina was brilliant (15 innings, one earned run, 25 strikeouts), but got nary a run of support.
"He was awesome, but we couldn't score for him," Miller said. "Everyone wanted to kill themselves because Mike was pitching his heart out."
In Game 3, Mussina struck out 15 but was gone when the Indians won, 2-1, in 12 innings. The winning run scored when a pitch got away from Orioles catcher Lenny Webster on a failed suicide squeeze. The Orioles argued it was a foul tip, but Hirschbeck, the umpire, stood fast.
"Somebody's messing with fate," Johnson muttered afterward.
Twenty years later, that call still rankles players.
"I call it a foul ball-slash-passed ball," Ripken said. "The instant replay would have helped."
The end
On Nov. 5, the same day he was named AL Manager of the Year, Johnson resigned. Angelos confirmed he would have fired him otherwise.
"This chapter is over," the Orioles' owner said. "I wish him well."
Six days later, Miller became manager, one of seven the team would have in the next 15 years. It would take the Orioles that long to win again — lean times that cast 1997 in an even better light.
"People think you're a total failure if you don't win it all, but that's not true," Ripken said. "We accomplished a lot and we overcame a lot. We were a World Series-caliber team — and, one could argue, the best in baseball that year."
