A trip to Chicago for the Orioles
I’m thinking the last time the Orioles showed up to this part of the country, it was the Aubrey Huff show. He was drilling shots all over Milwaukee and the two Chicago ball parks.
I saw our first-place Birds twice this time around. We beat Chris Sale as Nick Markakis made a great catch in right field. We also sat though a three-hour rain delay at Wrigley Field. And it ended poorly 7 hours later with an Orioles loss.
Of course, I got to thinking about previous visits to Chicago for Baltimore. Obviously there were no trips to Wrigley in the good old days.
Here’s a few visits of note:
1. The 1983 playoffs: That was the season that Chicago’s American League team closed the season sizzling hot. it was not the team to take on come playoff time. And it was up to the 83 Birds to slow them down. It was scary as Richard Dotson had handled us during the season. And Cy Young winner, Lamar Hoyt was also on that staff.
Obviously, the Orioles stopped the Sox and went on to win the World Series.
2. I don’t have the date in my head but it was during the glory years (1969-71). There was a mini-riot in Chicago. A fight brought out in the field. Don Buford was in the middle of it. And that ignited the Orioles machine and it took off and won another pennant.
3. The Orioles headed to Chicago riding a 21-game losing streak. Yes, that horrid 1988 team. And it wasn’t close as the Orioles pounded the White Sox to go to 1-21.
OK, six games in Chicago. Both the teams here have losing records so we should have gone 4-2.
So I was in the ballpark when the very tough Sale took on the Birds on Aug. 18. But I didn’t known that Sale has had problems with the Birds. JJ Hardy started the fireworks with a second-inning homer. A Steve Pearce two-bagger made it 2-0. Bud Norris was mowing down the Sox and Nellie Cruz took one out.
It got a little scary in the seventh. The Sox had scored a pair of runs and again Markakis made a sparkling catch to preserve the lead. And then we blew the game open. Jon Schoop cleaned the bases with a double. Markakis cracked a homer and this game was over. It was an 8-2 win.
Chris Tillman cracked into double figures in wins on Tuesday. Only Nick Hundley homered. Delmon Young and Chris Davis had big hits in the 5-1 win.
The sweep came Wednesday as Wei-Yin Chen earned his 13th win. Adam Jones had 3 hits in the 4-3 win. Darren O’Day and Zach Britton gave us great relief work.
So all we had to to do was to beat the Cubs. And as if someone had stolen our bat bag, the team just stopped hitting. And some of our former pitchers gave us trouble like Jake Arrieta, Pedro Strop and Mr. Wada. Still no excuse for the lack of scoring.
We were no-hit into the seventh on Sunday until Pearce took a Wada pitch to Waveland Avenue. It’s hard to handle but we were swept by the Cubs.
Oh, yeah, my book of Orioles highlights and fun stories is here:
www.lulu.com/shop/bill-pemstein/tales-from-orioles-nation/paperback/product-21757959.html
