It’s quiet in Birdland but baseball is chugging on
Happy Friday, Camden Chatters! I hope you’re prepared for a nice fall weekend. The weather in the Baltimore area will be beautiful so get out there and get your pumpkin, eat some apple cider donuts, do all the things you have time for with your favorite baseball team home for the winter.
If you’re keeping up with the ALCS, Game three last night became an instant classic with an exciting ending to give the Guardians a 7-5 win. It was a back-and-forth game that showcased just how important home runs can be. The Guardians took a 2-1 lead on a home run from Kyle Manzardo, a score that looked like it might hold up until rockstar closer Emmanuel Clase blew the lead in the eighth inning.
With one runner on and two outs in the eighth, the Guardians went to Clase to get the final out of the inning. Instead, he gave up back-to-back home runs to Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton to make the score 4-3. Clase only gave up two home runs in the entire 2024 regular season. Just like that, it felt like the Yankees were about to go up 3-0 in the series, making them all but a lock for the World Series.
The Yankees added an insurance run in the top of the ninth but the Guardians struck back against first current Yankees closer Luke Weaver, then former closer Clay Holmes.
With two outs and a runner on second against Weaver, Jhonkensy “Big Christmas” Noel tied the game with a home run of his own. One inning later against Holmes, David Fry sent the hometown fans home happy with yet another dinger.
The Guardians didn’t show many signs of life in the first two games of the series, and even with the big win the Yankees still feel like they have the edge to me. But if the Guardians can grab another win today it’ll be a whole new series.
Links
New hitting coaches can’t alone fix Orioles’ offense – Baltimore Sun
This is true for sure, but you gotta start somewhere.
Rutschman’s second-half struggles were a huge story for 2024 Orioles – BaltimoreBaseball.com
Rich Dubroff breaks down Adley Rutschman’s troubled second half. Mike Elias has full faith! I hope he’s right.
Orioles standout prospects in 2024 – MLB.com
Jake Rill takes a look at Brandon Young, Patrick Reilly, and Aron Estrada among others.
Birthdays and History
Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! You have four Orioles birthday buddies, most notably relief pitcher Alan Mills. Mills had a 12-season major league career from 1990-2001, including two stints with the Orioles in 1992-98 and 2000-01. In his first stint, he appeared in 308 games with a 3.87 ERA. In the 90s, that was good for an ERA+ of 117. Mills was known for his mustache and for punching out Darryl Strawberry in a brawl with the Yankees in 1998. Today is his 58th birthday.
Also born on this day are 2007-08 starting pitcher Garrett Olson (41), 1995 relief pitcher Terry Clark (64), and 1977 one-gamer Ed Farmer (b. 1949, d. 2020).
There isn’t much Orioles history to speak of on this date. They have never played a postseason game on October 18th or made any notable transactions. So here is some other baseball history.
On this day in 1967, MLB owners approved of moving the Athletics from Kansas City to Oakland to start the 1968 season. As we know, the A’s played their final game in Oakland a few weeks ago and will supposedly end up in Las Vegas at some point. Next year they will play in a minor league park in Sacramento.
In 1977, Reggie Jackson of the Yankees hit home runs in three consecutive plate appearances in the World Series vs the Dodgers.
And in 1997, the first-ever World Series game was played in the state of Florida. The Marlins defeated Cleveland 7-4 with help from a home run by future Oriole Charles Johnson.