“Well, her heart was filled with gladness when she saw those city lights/She said the prettiest place on earth was Baltimore at night” —Tompall Glaser & Harlan Howard, “Streets Of Baltimore”
I’ve never been to Baltimore, so I can’t vouch for the prettiness of its streets. But Oriole Park in Camden Yards seems pretty enough, and the way the Cleveland Indians played tonight filled MY heart with gladness, as they beat the Orioles 7-2 in the first meeting of these two clubs in 2012.
Former Orioles manager Earl Weaver, who will be honored with a seven-foot bronze statue in Camden Yards this Saturday, was famous for his philosophy of how to win baseball games: “pitching, defense, and the three-run homer.” The Indians took that advice to heart tonight: the starting and relief pitching were excellent, they played errorless ball, and more importantly, they hit not one, but two three-run homers. The oft-maligned Johnny Damon hit the first of these off Orioles starter Wei-Yin Chen in the second inning, giving the Indians a 3-0 lead. In the seventh inning, Asdrubal Cabrera followed suit. Sandwiched in between those dingers was a solo shot by Shin-Soo Choo.
Indians starter Zach McAllister, recently called up from AAA Columbus to take the place of the slumping Jeanmar Gomez, pitched a solid game, striking out six and walking only one over 5⅔ innings. His only real mistake was giving up a two-run homer to J. J. Hardy in the fifth inning. When McAllister gave up a two-out double in the sixth, his pitch count over 100, Joe Smith took over and got the last out of the inning and set the Orioles down 1-2-3 in the seventh. Esmil Rogers handled the last two innings, retiring all six batters he faced.
So, way to go, Indians. Nice way to end the losing streak. Winning is fun. Let’s see more of the same tomorrow, please!
Oh, I’m on Twitter, all right: https://twitter.com/VernMorrison
I am headed to the game tonight and have been to Baltimore quite a bit. Some of the city is gorgeous and other parts (as displayed in HBO’s “The Wire” as downright treacherous).