At Buzzy’s Country Store this past Sunday I had the Orioles/Yankees’ game on one T-V and the Masters Golf Tournament on the other. When the Orioles fell behind by 5 runs in the very first inning, I thought “Oh well” and found myself paying more attention to the Masters than I did to the Orioles.
However, a little bit later I looked up to notice that the O’s had scored 4 runs and now only trailed the Yanks by 1 run. I thought “Good, at least they are making a game out of it.” But as I continued to watch, the Yankees scored a run in their half of the inning and extended their lead to 6-4. OK, back to watching golf.
I got busy in the Store as several folks dropped in and I didn’t really notice the O’s-Yankees score again until a little later when I saw that the Orioles had scored 3 runs and were now in the lead. By now I was tuned in and liked how the O’s had not only battled back but also how they had taken the lead in the game.
It didn’t last long though as the Yankees scored a run in their half of the 7th to tie it up 7-7. “Now,” I’m thinking “It would be a shame for the O’s to lose this one after coming back the way they did.”
Kayla came in to relieve me at the Store and as I drove home I tuned the radio in to listen to the game go into extra innings. The O’s scored a run in the top of the 12th as I pulled into my garage. With the Yankees coming to bat in the bottom of the inning I said to myself “Just hold ’em.”
Once home, I turned the game on to watch the Yankees bat and immediately wished that I hadn’t done so. The O’s closer Brach walked the first two batters he faced and then botched a bunt to load the bases. By now I was cussing and won’t reprint any of what I uttered here only to say it was more profane than it was profound.
The Yankees now had the bases loaded with no outs and their stud Aaron Judge coming up. Judge simply pulverizes the Orioles (click here for story on his 2017 success vs. the O’s. Judge was the absolute last guy that the O’s wanted at bat in that situation.)
Being the baseball seer that I am and sensing that bad things were about to happen, I picked up the remote and was about to flip the channel. However, Brach’s first pitch to Judge was a strike so I continued to watch. Fortunately, on the next pitch Judge hit into a 1-2-5 double play which is very rare. Brach then struck out the next batter, and the O’s had won the game and the series (3 out of 4) from the Yankees.
That’s what I’m talking about! As Chuck used to say “Ain’t the beer cold.”
The roller coaster of a game took almost 5 hours to complete and had a little bit of everything. This time last week when the O’s weren’t playing very well it looked like it might be a very long season for them. Today, it’s another story.
To see the double play I mentioned above (click here.)
Good interview here with O’s catcher Caleb Joseph: