Orioles make their moves to help make their move
by Peter Schmuck
As unlikely it seemed just a couple of weeks ago, the pennant chase is officially on at Camden Yards and the Baltimore Orioles are in a perfect position to make their move on the Toronto Blue Jays.
They're a streaky team that could start streaking in another direction any day, but the events of the past week or so have only strengthened the Orioles. From the decision to release beleaguered first baseman Glenn Davis to the trade for pennant-stretch veteran Lonnie Smith to the string of tough losses suffered by the first-place Toronto Blue Jays, the Orioles are back in the race.
"A lot of things are going our way right now," says pitcher Ben McDonald, who has been one of the architects of the late-season comeback. "We're getting clutch hitting and good pitching. We've been a streaky team, but hopefully we can end this thing real strong."
The next week should be crucial. The Orioles are in the middle of a nine-game road trip that pits them next against the Milwaukee Brewers, they of the worst record in the A.L. East, and then the Cleveland Indians, who have lost seven of 10 to the Orioles this year.
What more can a contending club ask for? The Orioles play two teams they own a combined 14-6 record against this year before coming home to close out the season with a nine-game stand that includes seven games against the Blue Jays and New York Yankees.
"Things definitely look good right now," first baseman David Segui says. "Hopefully,, this run of bad luck for (Toronto) and good luck for us will keep up for a while. Hopefully, we can get ahead so we won't have to worry about who beat who. Everybody's confidence is soaring right now, but there's still a long way to go. You don't want to get carried away."
There will be no better way to top off a pennant race than the October 1-3 series that has Toronto at Baltimore.
"It looks like that final series in Baltimore will be even more significant now," Toronto's Pat Borders says. "Of course, everyone would like to win it a couple of weeks beforehand, but I'd like to be going into that series with the option of winning it there. If we have that option, I like our chances."
The Orioles have not made the splashy acquisitions that have characterized the Blue Jays' recent late-season runs, but they have picked up two players - Mike Pagliarulo and Smith - this year who know what to do when the season is on the fine. Pagliarulo, who played on the 1991 Minnesota Twins World Series champions, has played a big role in the club's recent turnaround.
The presence of Pagliarulo, Smith and postseason veterans Harold Baines and Rick Sutcliffe should steady an otherwise youthful Orioles club.
"If I was going to do something, I'd want somebody who has been there before," Pagliarulo says. "I don't know if you could prove it on paper as far as those things working out, but this organization has a plan. They have a good chance of doing it. If you have players who have been through it, it might make it a little easier.
"Sometimes, you don't know how guys are going to act at crunch time. There are some guys who act real good and (Smith) is one of them."
The acquisition of Smith could turn out to be pivotal, since it gives the club a veteran hitter who has proved he can handle pennant race pressure. He has appeared in 63 postseason games during his 15-year career. Though he won't be eligible for postseason play with the Orioles, that experience could play very large during the final weeks of play.
Smith has appeared in five World Series for four different teams. He went down the stretch with the pennant-winning Atlanta Braves the past two years.
"His experience will really pay off," Manager Johnny Oates says. "From what I've been told, it will pay off even if he doesn't go to the plate, because of his presence in the clubhouse."
In spite of all the positive developments of the past few days, the Orioles still will have to overcome one major personnel loss if they are to win the division title. Reliever Gregg Olson remains on the sidelines with a sore elbow at a time when a veteran stopper could mean everything to a contending team.
There still is the possibility that he will return before the end of the season, but Oates has resigned himself to using his three setup men - Alan Mills, Todd Frohwirth and Jim Poole - to hold the late innings together the rest of the way.
"This might be the only division you can win with 80 wins," Blue Jays Manager Cito Gaston says. "The Yankees could feel frustrated at not gaining ground when we've played so poorly, but then they could feel as fortunate as we do. If we don't lose the leads we did in the last two weeks, then they might be three or four back.
"They should also consider themselves like we do - lucky to be where they are.
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