FanPost

Orioles Comeback - Volume 8 - September 28th, 2007

After having two games to talk about in 2005, we're just going to skip over 2006 altogether. We very nearly skip over 2007 as well, but in Game 160 of that season, back at Camden Yards, the Orioles use a furious 9th inning comeback and a 10th inning walk-off to defeat the Yankees 10-9. The loss, combined with a Red Sox win, eliminates the Yankees from the AL East race with just 2 games to go. The Yankees, relegated to the Wild Card spot, go on to lose to the Indians in the ALDS, When Midges Attack! I don't know if we can pin the misfortunes of the Fall 2007 New York Yankees (and Joba Chamberlain's face) entirely on this one particular game, but I'm going to anyway. For dramatic effect.

The Yankees lead 9-6 in the Top of the 9th, with a runner on 2nd and 1 out, and have a 97% chance of not being eliminated from the AL East divisional crown. The Orioles score 3 times off Rivera in the 9th, then win in the 10th on a bunt. BUNTS RULE!

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BAL/BAL200709280.shtml

This game did not appear very fair on paper. The 92-67 Yankees started future Hall of Famer (and first repeat Yankees pitcher) Mike Mussina. The 68-91 Orioles started some guy named Jon Leicester. Fans of improbable sports happenings would be able to tell you that you pronounce this guy's name the same way you pronounce 182 game winner and current Cubs starter Jon Lester. This Leicester, however, is the winner of 7. All of which are already in the past on September 28th, 2007. Five happened, when he, too, was a member of the Chicago Cubs. You are looking at the final MLB appearance for Jon Leicester and all his unnecessary letters. It... does not go well.

It starts off ok. He gets through the first stranding Bobby Abreu at 2nd after a leadoff double.

In the Orioles half of the 1st, they threaten off Mussina, who, btw is finishing up the penultimate, and worst season of his career, but don't score. Brian Roberts, back into the mix right away after his feature role in our last two games, singles to start the inning. A 1-out single from Nick Markakis (welcome to the stage, Noodles!) moves Roberts to 2nd. He then steals 3rd with still 1 out, but a dribbler in front of the plate by Miguel Tejada and a lazy fly-ball from Aubrey Huff kills that rally.

Leicester navigates two walks in the 2nd. And the Orioles reward him with the lead. Jay Payton gets a 2-out rally started with his first triple of the night (foreshadowing!), and he gets knocked in by some dude named Scott Moore. Moore was acquired at the trading deadline that year from the Cubs (who else?) in exchange for the corpse of Steve Trachsel. Trachsel was terrible for the Cubs for 4 starts down the stretch. And even worse after the Orioles re-signed him for 10 games in 2008 before somebody finally decided to bury him instead of putting a baseball in his cold dead hands. (Pre-Publishing Note: check to make sure Steve Trachsel is still alive before leaving in corpse humor). Back to Moore, though, he would get caught stealing for some reason to end the inning with the O's up 1-0

The Leicester train finally broke down in the 3rd inning. Long name king Doug Mientkiewicz, Johnny Damon and Derek Jeter all had hits to lead off the inning, Jeter's knocking in the other two. A 1-out HR from ARod made the score 4-1 Yanks before you could even blink.

The Orioles get one back in the bottom of the inning. Tike Redman gets on with a single, steals 2nd and moves the 3rd on a Markakis single. He scores on a RBI ground-out by Tejada. Small ball, baby!

After an uneventful 4th, the Yankees send Leicester packing in the 5th. Jeter strikes out to start the inning, but a walk to Abreu, double from ARod and a single from Hideki Matsui spell the end for the game, and career of Mr. Leicester. His watch has ended. We will never see the likes of him again. As a parting gift, Victor Zambrano (the other Zambrano), came on and let that inherited runner score on a 2 out single by Robinson Cano. The Yankees have a 7-2 lead and already a 93% change of winning the game.

But we already know that isn't going to happen, and the Orioles get straight to work on that comeback. Mussina was very fortunate to see the end of the 5th himself, but it did not come without a significant amount of damage. A 1-out double by Tike Redman was followed up by consecutive 2-out RBI basehits by Tejada, Huff, Melvin Mora and Ramon Hernandez. And if it wasn't for a TOOTBLAN from Hernandez to end the inning, Mussina might well have been pulled without getting the 5 requisite innings to qualify for the win. But he did. Final line: 5IP 11H 6ER 1BB 2K. Somehow that was good enough to be in line for the victory.

That victory seemed more likely 2 pitches later, when Damon took Zambrano deep to start off the top of the 6th. And even more likely when ARod singled in Abreu off Rob Bell in the 8th to make the score 9-6. When the Orioles left runners on 2nd and 3rd in the 8th, that pretty much spelled doom. Rivera was going to be coming in for the 9th and everyone knows what that means.

Markakis teased us all with a single off Rivera to lead-off the inning, but then Tejada lines out to 3rd. Kevin Millar gets hit with an 0-1 cutter... hey maybe they are getting something going? Mora flies out. But then Hernandez keeps the game alive with a single to right. Two-outs, bottom of the 9th, down 3, bases loaded, best pitcher in baseball. This is the situation that you dream about as a kid! Granted, your team isn't 68-91 and playing out the stretch for the 10th straight season, but the rest of it rings true. Up to the plate strides Jay Payton. Payton had never had a regular season hit off Rivera up to this point, 0-6. But he did have this to draw from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtQoBdNj_oo It is hard to believe that Rivera, who would get to the playoffs pretty much every year for the rest of his career, never gave up a playoff HR after that.

Back to this game, though. Payton ripped a 2-1 pitch into the right centerfield gap (!) and the carousel went into motion. 1 run, 2 runs, 3 runs. Game tied. Payton ends up on 3rd with his second triple of the night (told you!). Scott Moore did not play the hero, though as he grounded out to 1st to end the inning.

Submariner Chad Bradford came on for the 10th and it was dicey. Jeter doubled to start the inning before giving way to pinch runner Bronson Sardinha, whom I'm only mentioning because of his glorious middle name: Kiheimahanaomauiakeo. You have been deposed, King Mienkiewicz. Sardinha moved to 3rd on a groundout from Bobby Abreu before Diamond Dave Trembley made the weird decision to intentionally walk both Rodriguez and Matsui. I mean, it's not the end of the world if the Yankees score 1 in the top half of a 9-9 game. Adding all those base runners just for a potential force seems to be inviting disaster. But what do I know since Jose Molina fouled out to 1st and Jason Giambi flied out to left.

The Yankees removed Mariano Rivera at this point in favor of Edwar Ramirez. 2012 Oriole Wilson Betemit also entered the game for the Yanks, playing 3B and he gets to play a fun role in what's about to go down. Roberts leads off the inning, and doesn't hit a walk-off... sorry, not this time Brian. After Roberts grounds out, Tike Redman hits a 1-out double. When Redman advances to 3rd on a passed ball, Torre proves that imitation is the best form of flattery by calling for Ramirez to intentionally walk Markakis and Tejada. (This makes infinitely more sense, though since the only run that could possible matter was Redman). Ramirez strikes out Kevin Millar for the 2nd out. And we're back to the bases loaded and two outs. This time it's Melvin Mora. I have been hard on bunting in this series. It is oftentimes silly and counterproductive. But sometimes, sometimes bunts can be glorious. And this one is. Watch it! Look at it! Gaze longingly into it's beauty:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3bWDtAJeYA

The key is how far back Betemit is playing. Mora sees this gift and takes it! 10-9! The Yankees lose. The-ee-ee Yankees lose. (Sorry, had to throw one of those in there somewhere in this series).

Now if you ignore the fact that this run crossing the plate probably set off a celebration in Boston as it officially clinched them the division (in a season that they win the WS, no less) we can all revel in the glory of the walk off bunt. Just remember midges. This game leads to midges.

FanPosts are user-created content and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editors of Camden Chat or SB Nation. They might, though.