O’S Have Tribe On The Run Sandy Alomar’s Errant Throw Opens Door For Baltimore

Once again Wednesday, controversy raged in baseball around a player named Alomar.

The other one.

This time, the Alomar in question was Sandy - not his little brother, Roberto. This time, no saliva filled the air, no attorneys were necessary and no hearings were scheduled.

And this time, the Baltimore Orioles weren’t complaining about how it all turned out.

This time, the huge umpiring call that went against the other team’s Alomar was right in the middle of the Orioles’ dramatic 7-4 victory over the Cleveland Indians. And because it went the Orioles’ way, they lead this best-of-5 division series two games to none heading into Friday’s third game in Cleveland.

Of 20 previous teams that won the first two games in a best-of-5 postseason series, only three failed to hang on: the ‘82 Angels, ‘84 Cubs and ‘96 Yankees.

“I never take anything for granted,” O’s manager Davey Johnson said. “But I like our chances.”

That, however, is a matter for another day. The matter for this day centered on an eighth-inning throw by Sandy Alomar, who catches for the Indians.

That fateful throw hip-hopped past first baseman Jeff Kent. It allowed the go-ahead run to score. And it busted up a fabulous October baseball game.

The Indians had just scrambled back from a 4-0, fifth-inning hole to tie the game at 4 in the top of the eighth. But then it was the Orioles’ turn.

Bobby Bonilla walked. Cal Ripken bombed a ground-rule double to right-center. Eddie Murray was intentionally walked. And in stomped lefty Paul Assenmacher to face the left-handed B.J. Surhoff.

Surhoff tapped a one-hopper back to Assenmacher, and the largest crowd in Camden Yards history (48,970) let out a groan that probably could be heard in West Virginia.

The letter of the law dictates that Surhoff was supposed to run to first in foul territory. Instead, he charged down the line, clearly on the fair side of the baseline. And that forced Alomar, who had taken the throw from Assenmacher to force Bonilla at home, to aim his relay throw to first to the second-base side of Kent.

The ball skipped into right field, Ripken roared home from second and this game was never the same.

It took a while for the game to get going again - because the Indians immediately scampered into the courtroom of home-plate umpire Greg Kosc and first-base ump Tim Tschida to argue for truth, justice and the American way. We now present their testimony:

From manager Mike Hargrove: “Obviously, Sandy did not make a good throw. But our contention was that he had to alter his throw because Surhoff was running inside the line.”

From Alomar: “Jeff Kent couldn’t see. He couldn’t see me. And he couldn’t see the ball through the runner.”

From Kent: “I know exactly what B.J. did because I’ve done that myself. I know the best thing for me to do is run on the (infield) grass and hope I get hit.”

Surhoff, testifying in his own defense, didn’t exactly confirm that he’d acted with intent to commit this heinous baserunning crime. But he didn’t exactly deny it, either, saying: “You just don’t want to make it easy on them.”

As Tschida put it, “the fact that the baserunner is inside the line doesn’t, in and of itself, constitute interference. pHis being inside the line has to prevent whoever is covering the bag from catching the ball. In our judgment, it was simply an errant throw.”

The unfortunate part of this episode is that it eclipsed so many other wonderful, and less controversial, elements to this game - such as:

Another Brady Anderson homer. An unusual midgame team meeting called by Hargrove before the sixth inning to remind his team to relax and just “be who you are and what you have been.”

A two-run homer by Albert Belle moments later that almost rescued the Indians from the dead. A critical strikeout of Manny Ramirez by Orioles smokeballer Armando Benitez with the game tied in the eighth.

Orioles 7, Indians 4

Cleveland Baltimore ab r h bi ab r h bi

Lofton cf 5 1 2 0 ByAdsn cf 4 1 2 2 Seitzer 1b 4 0 2 1 Zeile 3b 4 0 0 0 Kent 1b 0 1 0 0 RAlmr 2b 4 1 1 1 Thome 3b 4 1 2 0 RPmro 1b 3 1 1 0 Belle lf 3 1 1 2 Bonilla rf 2 1 0 0 Franco dh 3 0 0 1 Dvraux rf 0 0 0 0 MRmrz rf 4 0 0 0 CRpken ss 3 1 2 1 SAlmr c 4 0 0 0 Murray dh 3 0 2 1 Vizquel ss 3 0 0 0 Alxndr dh 0 1 0 0 Vzcaino 2b 3 0 1 0 Surhoff lf 4 0 0 0 Incvgla lf 0 1 0 0 Parent c 3 0 1 0 Hoiles c 0 0 0 0 Totals 33 4 8 4 Totals 30 7 9 5

Cleveland 000 003 010 - 4

Baltimore 100 030 03x - 7

E-Seitzer (1), SAlomar (1). DP-Cleveland 1, Baltimore 1. LOBCleveland 6, Baltimore 8. 2B-Seitzer (1), CRipken (2), Murray (1). HR-Belle (1), ByAnderson (2). SB-Lofton 2 (2), Vizquel (2). SF- Franco, ByAnderson.

Cleveland IP H R ER BB SO Hershiser 5 7 4 3 3 3 Plunk L,0-1 2 1 3 3 2 2 Assenmacher 2/3 0 0 0 1 0 Tavarez 1/3 1 0 0 1 0 Baltimore IP H R ER BB SO Erickson 6-2/3 6 3 3 2 6 Orosco 1/3 2 1 1 0 1 Benitz W,1-0 1 0 0 0 1 1 RMyers S,1 1 0 0 0 0 0

Orosco pitched to 2 batters in the 8th, Plunk pitched to 3 batters in the 8th.

HBPby Hershiser (CRipken).

T-3:27. A-48,970 (48,262).