NEW YORK -- Author George Will can spend 10 page describing the inner workings of a 3-2 count, but last night he was seen leaving Yankee Stadium in the fifth inning. That's how painful it was watching the Orioles and Yankees.
It's possible Will stuck around to console Orioles owner ElJacobs, who was among the crowd of 17,084, but it's more likely he grew exhausted keeping track of the number of trips New York manager Stump Merrill made to the mound.
"You keep Stump off the field, and you could get out of there 4minutes earlier," Orioles manager Frank Robinson joked after his club's sixth straight win, a 6-3 victory in 10 innings. "What's he got, an appearance clause in his contract?"
That's a frightening thought, with the series set to resumtonight. Last night's game was your basic insult to the national pastime. The teams combined to use nine pitchers and leave 22 men on base. And that's only a hint of how poorly the game was played.
Take the Orioles' three-run second. It began in grand style, wittwo walks by Yankees starter Mark Leiter. Then Bill Ripken hit a one-out bloop single to center that probably should have been caught, loading the bases.
The first run scored on a passed ball by catcher Matt Nokes. Thsecond scored when Leiter failed to cover first on a routine grounder to second by Steve Finley. The third scored on a legitimate RBI single to center by Brady Anderson.
The Yankees were bad, but so were the Orioles. What other clucould fail to score with runners in scoring position and none out in three straight innings? Here's how it went: First-and-second in the fourth, first-and-third in the fifth and man-on-third in the sixth.
The game finally ended after Cal Ripken hit his 19th homeleading off the 10th against reliever Alan Mills, who wore No. 69 (did anyone say, spring training game?). Bill Ripken added a two-run, two-out double to complete the scoring.
Commissioner Fay Vincent and AL president Bobby Brown alswere in attendance, but they left just before reliever Gregg Olson earned his 34th save, tying the club record set by Don Aase in 1986. At that point only a handful of fans remained. Heaven help them.
* SQUEEZE PLAY: Righthander Mickey Weston is one of severapitchers who might not figure into the Orioles' plans next season, even though he was 11-1 with a 1.98 ERA for Triple A Rochester.
