BALTIMORE, AUG. 25 -- The Baltimore Orioles' drive for their first postseason appearance in 13 years has hit a bit of a rut. Today they were shut out by the California Angels for the second time in three days, surrendering a grand slam to Randy Velarde while getting roughed up, 13-0.
The Orioles (68-61) remained six games behind the first-place New York Yankees in the American League East but fell a half-game behind the Chicago White Sox in a wild-card derby that has been forgiving lately. The Orioles have lost five of their past eight games following a 14-4 surge, and suddenly find themselves only three games ahead of the AL East's third-place club, the Boston Red Sox.
Another sellout crowd at Oriole Park at Camden Yards -- 47,239 -- pushed the Orioles over 3 million in home attendance for the season. But they followed one of their most thrilling victories of the year -- Saturday night's 5-4 triumph over the Angels, in which closer Randy Myers got Chili Davis to ground out on a full-count pitch to end the game with the bases loaded -- with a dud. "We didn't have much time of possession," Manager Davey Johnson said of the football-like score.
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Johnson, who was hospitalized Thursday with an irregular heartbeat, was asked before the game whether Saturday's tense finish had led him to increase the dosage of his medication. "The ones that give you an anxiety attack," he replied, "are the ones where the other team has 10 runs and you don't have any."
The Angels (61-69) did even better than that, using a seven-run fourth inning to grab a 9-0 lead and coasting behind the pitching of knuckleballing starter Dennis Springer. Springer (4-2) allowed five hits, all of them singles, and permitted one runner to reach second base in his first major league complete game.
"I wouldn't call him a pure knuckleballer," Orioles right fielder Bobby Bonilla said. "He threw a lot more fastballs than other knucklers, more than {Milwaukee's Steve} Sparks and more than {Boston's Tim} Wakefield."
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Said Springer: "A lot of it had to do with our team going out and getting a big lead. That makes it a lot easier. It gives you the confidence to be able to throw the knuckler for strikes, and not worry that they're going to hit it out of the ballpark."
The Orioles suddenly are having trouble scoring runs, even at hitter-friendly Camden Yards. The Seattle Mariners' Jamie Moyer took a shutout into the ninth inning Thursday. The Angels' Shawn Boskie and two relievers combined on a shutout Friday night. The Orioles went an entire series without a home run for the first time this year, and have only their second three-game homerless drought of the season.
"We've had an awfully grinding schedule," Johnson said. "Sometimes that can reflect the way you play. I think we're getting the back end of that. . . . Knuckleballers and offspeed pitchers give us trouble."
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Bonilla agreed: "Those are always the toughest guys to face, I think. The ball never seems to get there."
Orioles starting pitcher Scott Erickson (8-11) yielded eight hits and eight runs, in 3 1/3 innings. He was unlucky early, allowing a checked-swing, bloop RBI single by Gary DiSarcina in the second inning and a broken-bat, bloop RBI single by Tim Salmon in the third. But Erickson created his own bad luck in the fourth. With one out and the bases loaded, he tried to make a barehanded pickup of George Arias's tapper and muffed it for an error. Erickson fell behind in the count to Velarde, and had a 2-0 fastball deposited over the center field fence. It was Velarde's first career grand slam.
"I thought {Arias's tapper} was going to be a double play and I'd be out of the inning with no runs," Erickson said. "Maybe I tried to go a little too quick. The ball had some funny spin on it that I didn't adjust to. . . . {Velarde} should have never come up. I should have been out of the inning. I made a mistake, and it cost me."
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Nerio Rodriguez walked home two runs in the fifth and allowed Salmon's two-run homer in the seventh.
Orioles Notes: Club officials said they may activate reliever Armando Benitez from the disabled list on Monday. Johnson watched Benitez throw in the bullpen today. . . . The Orioles reached 3 million in attendance on their 67th home date, the second-fastest they ever have done so. They reached 3 million in 66 home dates in 1993. . . . The 13-run margin was the widest ever for the Angels over the Orioles. . . .
Johnson has said he'll scrap the club's four-man rotation at the first sign of trouble. Rocky Coppinger has complained of weariness, and Mike Mussina's fastball was clocked mostly at 83 to 85 mph on the radar gun Saturday night. But Johnson said today he hopes to get into September with the four-man rotation, adding: "I think it's been pretty good for the psyche of the team. When our pitching is good, we're a good club." . . .
Cal Ripken Sr. (manager-coach), Billy Hunter (coach-player) and Jerold Hoffberger (owner) were inducted into the Orioles Hall of Fame in a pregame ceremony. CAPTION: Randy Velarde drives in four with one blow, a grand slam in fourth inning that made the score 7-0. CAPTION: Cal Ripken gives the sign and Bill Ripken makes the call as Cal Ripken Sr. is inducted into the Orioles Hall of Fame.
