The date was May 13, 2007. Jeremy Guthrie, making just his third start of the season, took a shutout into the 9th inning in Boston, having surrendered just three hits. After getting Julio Lugo to ground out to start the inning, Guthrie got a pop-up from Coco Crisp. Orioles catcher Ramon Hernandez dropped the ball, allowing Crisp to reach first safely. Guthrie was then removed from the game with the Orioles still comfortably out in front 5-0. Four hits, three walks and another error later, the Orioles walked off the field at Fenway Park on the wrong end of a 6-5 ball game.
The game that day, immediately and ever since known as “The Mother’s Day Massacre” was the ugliest game I had ever seen played by a Baltimore Orioles baseball team. Until Sunday night.
Sunday night’s game, also against the Red Sox, was the most pathetic excuse for a baseball game I have witnessed in my 29 years following the Baltimore Orioles. And, much like that fateful day back in 2007, it started out so well.
The Orioles gave starting pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez a lead right out of the gate, scoring three runs in the first inning off of Jake Peavy, who had given up just four earned runs in his previous three starts combined. Jimenez, meanwhile, took a shutout into the sixth inning while his offense tacked on two more runs for a 5-0 lead. And then the wheels fell off. Sound familiar?
With one out, David Ortiz singled, Mike Napoli walked, and then Jonny Gomes stepped to the plate. Catcher Matt Wieters was putting the target on the outside corner, which means absolutely nothing with Jimenez on the hill, who kept missing high-and-tight on the ever-powerful Gomes. Eventually, Gomes would take advantage, sending a 339-foot home run into the first row atop the Green Monster, just inside the fair pole (or foul pole, depending on your outlook in life). The game was 5-3 and Jimenez would exit the game, failing for the fourth consecutive outing to record a quality start.
After the sixth inning, the Orioles would commit three errors after having committed just four errors total in the season’s first 16 games. The four errors–a dropped relay throw by Ryan Flaherty, a bouncing throw to home by Jonathan Schoop, and a wild throw with two outs in the 9th with the winning run on third by David Lough (Darren O’Day also had a wild pitch)–led to three runs and a 6-5 loss by the Orioles. To the Red Sox. In Fenway. With the winning run crossing home plate on an error in the bottom of the ninth inning. All too eerily familiar.
Those of us watching at home have to hear ESPN and MLB Network talk about how this was a great comeback by the Red Sox and how fitting it is on the day they honored those in Boston one year after the attacks at the Boston Marathon. And for Boston, it is fitting. But a great comeback? Hardly.
The Orioles gave this game away. Ubaldo Jimenez’s inability to hit his spots on a regular basis is costing this team ballgames. The absence of Manny Machado and the inability of J.J. Hardy to stay healthy are severely hurting this team, as five of the eight errors have come from third base, and six of the eight errors have come from either Jonathan Schoop or Ryan Flaherty while replacing one of those two Gold Glove infielders.
The thing about this team since Buck Showalter took over is its resiliency. Many times we have seen the Orioles come back from an ugly loss with a win the next day, as if nothing happened the day before. It’s one of the finer qualities of this ball club. But this one was as ugly as they come. It is completely unacceptable for a professional team to play such sloppy, uninspired baseball, especially against a division opponent on national television. And with Monday being Patriot’s Day, the Red Sox have everything going for them. The Orioles needed this one. They didn’t get it, and it hurts. After Monday, it could hurt that much more.
