Last night I shouted myself hoarse at Camden Yards as the Orioles stunned the Yankees with a four-run rally in the bottom of the eighth. Yankee killer Jonathan Schoop hit a game-tying homer off of All-Star reliever Dellin Betances, and Adam Jones provided the game-winning blow with a two-out, three-run homer against Shawn Kelley. 5-3 final to wrap up the rain-aided two-game sweep. Now there are 43 games left, and Baltimore is 7.5 up on the second-place Jays and eight games ahead of New York, with the most demanding stretch of their 2014 schedule in the rear view.
The last time the Orioles had such a substantial cushion was September 13, 1997. Those O's were a veteran, high-payroll team, a club that led the American League East all season long. Jimmy Key tied with Scott Erickson for the team lead in wins, and when was the last time you thought about those guys? This is rarified air. Enjoy it, and allow yourself to dream about October.
2 comments:
From 01/24/2012:
Zach: "What are the odds you give of an Oriole playoff appearance by 2016? That's 4 more full seasons..."
Kevin: "I don't even try to presume that the O's will make the playoffs before I reach middle age. In 4 more years, I give it 75 to 1 odds. That's keeping in mind that an extra wild card is on the way."
Flash forward to today, the O's already made the playoffs once and are making a serious case to be pennant contenders again. Just 3 seasons removed from this conversation! I'm sure you'll gladly be wrong about that prediction (probably made in bitterness) for the next few years.
And by the way, I think of Scott Erickson every day.
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