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ORIOLES WIN BACK TO BACK
CHAMPIONSHIPS
Booster Field, Easthampton—On
a beautiful sunny day in September, the Orioles defeated the
Braves 9-3, to successfully defend it’s playoff title.
With a sense of unfinished business, the reigning playoff
champs entered the game determined to properly complete an
almost perfect season. The only thing standing in the way
was the surging Braves, who, ironically enough, was the team
to spoil the Birds’ bid for perfection during the regular
season Having split the season series not only in
wins-losses, but also in runs, the Braves and Orioles
appeared to be closely matched.
The first inning opened with
both teams going scoreless. Craig Kupinsky was the sole
base runner for the Braves, reaching first on an error and
then stealing second with two outs. For the Orioles, it was
Erik Nedeau who led off with a single but was doubled off on
a pop fly to end the inning. The second inning was another
story, however, with the Braves touching up Mike Maier for
two runs on two hits and a walk. The big blow coming when
Steve “I don’t believe in vowels” Czyz doubled over the head
of Orioles’ centerfielder Nedeau, plating the Braves’ two
runs. With only one out at this time, it looked like the
Orioles were going to take another tour through Braves
Country. However, Maier bore down and got not only the next
two batters but the following eleven in a row, facing the
minimum number of batters through the next four innings.
Fran Nai closed out the game retiring the first five batters
that he faced and going on to allow only one unearned run in
the ninth.
The Orioles offense, on the
other hand, came to life in the fourth inning when they
scored three runs on three hits including an RBI triple by
Pete “The Rippah” Varley, and a double by Steve “Tester”
Testoni. Sam “My best hit was an out” Williams plated
Testoni from second for the third run with a single to right
field. The score was 3-2 and remained that way until the
seventh when the Orioles scored three more runs on a
combination of timely hits and a faltering Braves defense.
In the eighth, the Birds capped off their offense with
another three runs on two Braves errors and an RBI double by
Varley.
Though the line score may not
reflect it, the Braves did not exactly go down quietly after
the second inning. In the fourth inning, Braves’ speedster,
J.J. Odom, hit a grounder deep to third but was thrown out
by a sparkling play and throw by Ron “Brooks” Dumont. The
next batter, Scott “Sizzlin’”Bacon, hit an absolute bullet
straight back to the mound where Mike “Baseball is a game of
inches” Maier caught it but not without a price, a major
league bruise on his leg. This play earned Bacon the “Hit
of the Day”, and Maier the “Defensive Play of the Game. The
third batter, Kupinsky, also hit a shot back to Maier, but
this one was a lot tamer, and Maier was able to field it
easily and throw Kupinski out at first.
In the sixth, with the score
still 3-2, the Braves looked like they would mount a rally.
Eugene Diana started off the frame with a groundball single
through the shortstop into left field. Czyz was up next,
representing the go-ahead run, and very capable of
delivering on that possibility. With the count being run to
1-2, and with several additional pitches being fouled off,
Maier reached deep and blew a high fastball by Czyz to get
the K and the first out of the inning. It was as if Maier
was making a statement in his last inning of work, and
responding to the double hit off of him earlier. The second
out came when Diana was caught stealing with a brilliant
throw by Monte “Cool Hand” Kroh to shortstop, Fran Nai.
Maier got Ray Laferriere to fly out to the right fielder to
record the final out in the top half of the inning.
The Braves squandered an
opportunity to tighten up the game in the eighth when a rare
outfield error would have set up men on first and second and
two outs with the meat of the order coming to the plate for
the Braves. Instead, overly aggressive base running caused
the third out to be made at third base, letting the Orioles
fly away unscathed. In the ninth, the Braves mounted yet
another threat, but with the score being 9-2 by this time,
there was little doubt as to the final outcome. The Braves
scored one more run on a single by Czyz, plating Brian
Guimond from second. The next batter, however, popped up to
the second baseman, Williams, for the final out of the
championship, giving the Orioles their second consecutive
playoff title.
Game Notes:
Craig Kupinski pitched a fabulous game for the
Braves, going six innings and allowing only three runs on
eight hits, one walk, and getting two strikeouts. Steve
Czyz was the Braves offensive force garnering two hits
and three RBIs. J.J. Odom narrowly missed making a
spectacular shoestring catch on what would become a triple
by Varley; this was the instrumental play in the Orioles
taking the lead in the fourth inning. Matt Boulanger
had a key at-bat in the bottom of the third inning in which
he fouled off eight of Kupinski’s pitches and ran the count
to 2-2 before finally succumbing to a nasty breaking pitch
and striking out. Boulanger’s 13-pitch at-bat may have been
deceptively significant in setting up the fourth inning for
the Orioles. The “Strange Play of the Game” goes to
Monte Kroh, who, in the eighth inning, hit a pitch off
the flat end of the nub of the bat inducing a throwing error
which scored one run and led to two others. The average age
of the Orioles is 48.5 years old, which is unofficially the
oldest average age of any championship team in QVOTB
history. It shatters the old unofficial record by
approximately 1 year, set by the Orioles one year ago.
Finally, Mike Maier is reported to have signed a
lucrative contract endorsing “Bike” products; the value of
the contract was undisclosed.
Mike Maier
(6, WP); Fran Nai (3)
Craig
Kupinsky (6, LP); J.J. Odom (2)
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