Seconds before Orioles closer Jim Johnson reared back to throw a ninth-inning, two-out fastball that would undo an entire night's worth of hard work, Melvin Mora had one thought running through his head: Call timeout!
Mora noticed that Cleveland Indians first baseman Andy Marte had opened his stance just a hair and was going to try to crank the next pitch over the left-field fence. In that instant, Mora wanted to freeze frame his pitcher and walk to the mound. He would tell Johnson to relax, take a deep breath and bust Marte inside. The Orioles would then wrap up a much-needed victory.
But Mora was the one who was frozen. He couldn't get the words out in time.
"I was really upset with myself," Mora said.
And so what unfolded next was like a slow-motion nightmare. Johnson left a fastball up in the strike zone, and Marte turned on the pitch and drove it over the left-field wall for a two-strike, two-run home run that gave the Indians a 5-4 victory Thursday night in front of an announced 13,991 at Camden Yards.
Such is life these days for the Orioles (57-70). Even when they play well enough to win, even when they seem to know what's coming, they still can't stop it.
"It was the worst pitch of the entire outing," said Johnson, who didn't shy away from reporters after the game. "I had plenty of opportunities to get the game over with and didn't execute, and I paid for it. It was the worst location I could have thrown it. I didn't get it in, I didn't get it down. It stayed pretty much in the middle, and he did what he's supposed to do."
A somber Dave Trembley said after the game that he had no regrets about his decision to use Johnson, who had given up only two runs in his past 10 appearances.
"We certainly were in position to win the game and had the guys in the right spots," the Orioles manager said. "I don't think any other alternative existed. There was no other alternative that existed. There's no gray area. There's no shoulda-coulda-woulda. I don't know what anybody would say what you could do differently. The home run ball has been absolutely devastating against us. And once again, it was tonight."
The way the game slipped away might have been devastating, but there were plenty of encouraging signs before the ninth inning.
