Mike Oquist, 1995 Collector's Choice #343

Today is a very Mike Oquist day, wouldn't you agree? I mean, yesterday was downright Steve Kline, but at least it wasn't as Radhames Liz as Tuesday. All in all, it was a pretty Mark Williamson week. But today is perfectly Mike Oquist, and it already looks like tomorrow will be quite B. J. Ryan. Have a good night, folks, and always keep it Tippy Martinez.

Mike Oquist, 1994 Topps Team Stadium Club #276

One thing you may not know about me (because I just made it up) is that I am always looking for any excuse to talk about Mike Oquist. The former Oriole righthander's name was on the lips of many a baseball fan and writer last night when Royals long reliever Vin Mazzaro matched a rather dubious Oquist feat.

Kansas City was already in a desperate way when starter Kyle Davies left with an injury after facing only four batters in the first inning. Nathan Adcock was not particularly sharp in relief, allowing two of Davies' runners to score and permitting a run of his own in an inning and two-thirds. Adcock walked the leadoff man in the third inning, causing Royals manager Ned Yost to summon Mazzaro from the bullpen. The third-year veteran, making his second appearance after replacing the injured Bruce Chen on the roster May 10, got through the third inning without a problem. Things got a little rocky in the fourth, but the Indians had only plated one run in the frame with two outs, two on, and Carlos Santana at the dish. Then, disaster struck:

Walk, 3-run double, 1-run single, single, 2-run double, single, 3-run home run, and mercifully, a strikeout. That's 10 runs on 8 hits and 2 walks, with 9 runs scoring with 2 outs. A 3-0 Tribe lead had ballooned to 13-0. Yost sent Mazzaro out to start the fifth, and some have questioned the skipper's motives. But having already burned through two pitchers, and probably hoping to salvage something from the righty's outing, there's a case to be made for that decision. Needless to say, it didn't work out too well. He retired Shin-Soo Choo on a fly ball, but the next four at-bats went double, walk, single, 1-run single, and that was all she wrote for the shell-shocked Mazzaro...but his ERA wasn't finished taking its beating. Reliever Jeremy Jeffress allowed all three inherited runners to score on a Matt LaPorta double and a groundout by Jack Hannahan. It was 17-1 at that point, en route to a 19-1 romp.

Vin Mazzaro's final line: 2.1 IP, 11 H, 14 ER, 3 BB, 2 K. He retired 7 of 21 batters faced, and saw his ERA skyrocket from 4.50 to 22.74. To add insult to injury, he was demoted to AAA Omaha right after the game. He was the first pitcher to allow 14 runs in a game since...drumroll please...Mike Oquist, who coughed up 14 in a 5-inning start for Oakland against the Yankees on August 3, 1998. In a few respects,  Vin's blowup exceeded Mike's drubbing. He did it in relief, and in nearly three fewer innings. No one had ever given up that many runs in so few innings, in fact. As for relief pitchers, the last to get hung with a 14-spot was the great Les "Buster" McCrabb of the 1942 Philadelphia Athletics.

If you think I'm talking about Vin Mazzaro as a diversion from the Orioles' late-inning meltdown in Fenway last night, well...hey! Look over there!

Mike Oquist, 1994 Pinnacle #224

Doesn't the term "Rookie Prospect" strike you as a little redundant? It reminds me of former O's TV play-by-play guy Michael Reghi, who used to call "home run bombs" when a hitter went deep. I think he grated on my nerves more than anyone else who's ever called Orioles games in my time as a fan, and that home run call was the greatest annoyance. Generally, we've had it pretty good, though. The glory days of Chuck Thompson or even Jon Miller might be long gone, but we could do much worse than the primary TV duo of Gary Thorne and Jim Palmer. They've developed a surprisingly good chemistry in just their second year together. It often sounds like they're having fun, and they're competent and sometimes informative. Sure, "Cakes" loves to hear himself talk, but at least he's not a willfully ignorant relic of the baseball Dark Ages like Joe Morgan or Tim McCarver. I don't listen to games on the radio very often (particularly since my antenna broke off last winter), but I've never had a quarrel with Joe Angel or Fred Manfra, or even the goofy-but-harmless Jim Hunter. Angel is forever in my good graces for a call he delivered at the end of a hard-fought victory over a certain team from New York in the summer of 2006. "Rodriguez grounds out, and...thaaaaaa YANKEES LOSE! THAAAAA YAAANKEEES LOOOOOSEEE!" He was, of course, mocking sycophantic Bronx Bombers announcer John Sterling. Any enemy of Sterling is a friend of mine.