Game 43: May 23, 1999 (L: 15-6)
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Commentary (by me)

This is the last of the Sunday night ESPN games this season for the Rangers.   Our last Sunday appearance was our worst.  However, I won't have to listen to the uneducated oafes in the ESPN booth misprounounce the Ranger players' names anymore.   My god - can they get ANYTHING right?   Cripes.   The one thing I like about ESPN's coverage is that they always show some really nice shots of the surrounding city the game is being played in - at least before the sun goes down anyway.

On to the game..  Oh man, I was lucky I had something else to do - I was sorting through some baseball cards, and was only peripherally paying attention to the game.  The way the score was after the first, you would have thought John Burkett was starting.  In fact, Burkett came in after .2 of the first inning, and pitched for six innings, not giving up a whole hell of a lot (by his own standards), and actually pitched the best game of the season for him.

One silly thing - before Morgan left the game, he did manage to get himself in the record books as the first pitcher to hit the same guy twice in one inning.  We now have the highest starting rotation ERA thanks to last night - it's over seven!!  We did have a few late inning solo home runs (Mac, Juan, Raffy), but that was really it for us.

Commentary (by Jim Meeks)

Not available.

Game Recap

BALTIMORE (TICKER) -- The Baltimore Orioles always seem to have big offensive efforts with Mike Mussina on the mound. But a 10-run inning is a first.

B.J. Surhoff and Mike Bordick each drove in three runs during a 10-run first inning and Mussina became the second seven-game winner in the American League as the Orioles coasted to a 15-6 rout of the Texas Rangers.

Mussina gave up a run in the top of the first before his teammates sent 13 men to the plate and tied a club record in the bottom half.

Mike Morgan hit Brady Anderson with a pitch to begin the frame and Bordick singled him to third. Surhoff's sacrifice fly made it 1-1. Albert Belle walked before consecutive doubles by Jeff Conine and Cal Ripken gave the Orioles a 4-1 lead.

Delino DeShields singled to put runners on the corners and Rich Amaral lofted a sacrifice fly. Charles Johnson singled and Morgan again hit Anderson to load the bases. John Burkett, normally a starter who has been banished to the bullpen, relieved and served up a bases-clearing double to Bordick. Surhoff capped the inning with a two-run homer, his seventh.

Surhoff is batting .387 (24-for-62) during a 14-game hitting streak.

The Orioles scored 10 runs in an inning for the fourth time in team history and the first since August 21, 1985 at Seattle.

"It was a pretty good offensive night for us. Anytime you get 10 runs, that's something special," Orioles manager Ray Miller said. "People like Conine, Delino, Bordick, they are all on fire now. They hit rockets off him tonight. It's nice to score some runs."

Baltimore banged out eight extra-base hits, including six doubles.

"It makes it a lot easier and a lot less pressure on us. It was actually kind of fun doing it," Conine said. "Now if we can carry this to the road and start playing consistently, things will fall into place."

Anderson became the first player in American League history and the third in the majors to be hit by pitches twice in one inning. The other two are Willard Schmidt of Cincinnati on April 26, 1959 and Frank Thomas of the New York Mets on April 20, 1962.

Mussina (7-1) joined Pedro Martinez of the Boston Red Sox, who is 9-1, as the only AL pitchers with at least seven wins. He allowed two runs and nine hits over seven innings, winning for the sixth time in as many home starts this season.

"I'll sit as long as it takes if we get 10. It was pretty impressive," Mussina said. "You can't get lax though by that, it's only one inning. If we can do it, why can't they? I don't think I've thrown the ball as well as I can but to hold them to two runs in seven innings, I'll take that any day. We never gave them the chance for a big inning."

Baltimore has averaged 8.3 runs in Mussina's 10 starts.

Rafael Palmeiro, Mark McLemore and Juan Gonzalez hit solo homers off reliever Rocky Coppinger for the Rangers, who lost two of three at Camden Yards after taking three of four from the Orioles at home last week.

"That was like a heavyweight championship fight. Bam. We got punched out in the first inning," Rangers manager Johnny Oates said. "But like I told Mo (Morgan), we have all been there before. I told him to get them next time. We both have had nights like that. But we will bounce back."

Morgan (6-4) was tagged for eight runs and five hits while recording only two outs as his ERA jumped from 4.89 to 6.26. In his last two starts against Baltimore, the righthander has been reached for 13 runs and 14 hits in just 5 2/3 innings.

It was Morgan's shortest start since retiring just one batter for Los Angeles against Houston on September 26, 1990.

Burkett made his first relief appearance since July 17, 1991 following 237 consecutive starts.

Johnson hit his 10th home run in the third to make it 11-1. He is batting .349 (22-for-63) with nine homers and 19 RBI in 19 games this month.

"We needed something like this. We have to start somewhere," Johnson said. "Hopefully, we can start here."

Palmeiro belted his second homer of the series and 13th of the season in the eighth and Royce Clayton added an RBI single, drawing Texas within 12-4.

The Orioles padded their lead with three runs in the bottom of the inning. Belle had a run-scoring groundout and DeShields stroked a two-run double.

Photos
(Click on any of them for a larger image

Orioles pitcher Mike Mussina	Brady Anderson (R) getting congrats for scoring	BJ Surhoff (R) getting congrats for his first inning homer	Cal Ripken making a throw to first	Mike Bordick turning two

Mike Morgan being yanked in the first

Box Score

Line Score
AL  FINAL
                    1  2  3   4  5  6   7  8  9     R  H  E
                    -  -  -   -  -  -   -  -  -     -  -  -
TEXAS               1  0  0   0  0  0   1  2  2     6 14  0
BALTIMORE          10  0  1   0  1  0   0  3  x    15 15  1   (FINAL)

BATTERIES:  TEX - MIKE MORGAN, JOHN BURKETT (1ST), DANNY
                  PATTERSON (8TH) AND IVAN RODRIGUEZ, GREGG ZAUN
                  (7TH)
            BAL - MIKE MUSSINA, ROCKY COPPINGER (8TH) AND
                  CHARLES JOHNSON, TOMMY DAVIS (8TH)

             WP - MIKE MUSSINA (7-1)
             LP - MIKE MORGAN (6-4)
           SAVE - NONE

HOME RUNS:  TEX - RAFAEL PALMEIRO (13) OFF COPPINGER IN THE 8TH, 0 ON
                  MARK MCLEMORE (2) OFF COPPINGER IN THE 9TH, 0 ON
                  JUAN GONZALEZ (10) OFF COPPINGER IN THE 9TH, 0 ON
            BAL - BJ SURHOFF (7) OFF BURKETT IN THE 1ST, 1 ON
                  CHARLES JOHNSON (10) OFF BURKETT IN THE 3RD, 0 ON

     TIME:  3:49     ATT:  40,516

PROBABLES:  TEX - MARK CLARK (2-3, 7.58)
            TAM - ROLANDO ARROJO (2-4, 6.54)

            BAL - SCOTT ERICKSON (1-5, 6.17)
            ANA - OMAR OLIVARES (4-3, 3.31)



Box Score
TEXAS (6) AT BALTIMORE (15) - FINAL

TEXAS                  ab  r  h rbi bb so lob   avg
T Goodwin cf            5  1  1  0   0  2   6  .215
Mclemore 2b             5  1  2  1   0  0   1  .326
Greer lf                3  0  0  0   1  0   2  .299
 Shave 1b               1  0  0  0   0  1   0  .333
J Gonzalez rf           5  1  2  2   0  0   1  .312
R Palmeiro dh           4  1  2  1   1  1   1  .383
I Rodriguez c           3  0  1  0   0  0   3  .322
 Alicea 3b              0  1  0  0   2  0   0  .157
Zeile 3b                3  0  0  0   0  0   1  .245
 R Kelly lf             2  0  1  0   0  0   1  .357
L Stevens 1b            3  1  3  0   0  0   0  .329
 Zaun c                 1  0  0  0   0  1   2  .182
Clayton ss              4  0  2  1   0  0   3  .171

Totals                 39  6 14  5   4  5  21

BATTING: 2B - T Goodwin (5, Mussina); L Stevens 2 (13, Mussina 2).
HR - R Palmeiro (13, 8th inning off Coppinger 0 on, 1 out);
Mclemore (2, 9th inning off Coppinger 0 on, 0 out); J Gonzalez
(10, 9th inning off Coppinger 0 on, 1 out). RBI - J Gonzalez 2 (35),
R Palmeiro (38), Clayton (3), Mclemore (11). 2-out RBI - J Gonzalez,
Clayton. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - T Goodwin 3,
I Rodriguez 1. GIDP - I Rodriguez, T Goodwin. Team LOB - 10.

BALTIMORE              ab  r  h rbi bb so lob   avg
B Anderson cf           3  2  1  1   0  0   1  .273
Bordick ss              5  3  3  3   0  0   1  .276
Surhoff lf              3  1  2  3   0  0   1  .352
 a-Otanez ph-1b         1  0  0  0   0  0   0  .213
Belle rf                3  1  0  1   2  1   0  .262
 Coppinger p            0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .000
Conine 1b-lf            5  2  2  1   0  0   2  .286
C Ripken 3b             3  1  1  2   0  0   1  .265
 Reboulet 3b            1  1  0  0   1  0   1  .212
Deshields 2b            5  1  3  2   0  1   0  .231
Amaral dh-rf            4  1  1  1   0  0   3  .234
C Johnson c             4  2  2  1   0  1   2  .272
 T Davis c              0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .000

Totals                 37 15 15 15   3  3  12

a-grounded to second for Surhoff in the 8th.

BATTING: 2B - Conine (10, Morgan); C Ripken (7, Morgan); Bordick 2
(11, Burkett, D Patterson); Amaral (3, Burkett); Deshields (4, D Patterson).
HR - Surhoff (7, 1st inning off Burkett 1 on, 2 out); C Johnson
(10, 3rd inning off Burkett 0 on, 1 out). SF - Surhoff, Amaral.
RBI - Surhoff 3 (29), Conine (26), C Ripken 2 (12), Amaral (8),
Bordick 3 (16), C Johnson (19), B Anderson (19), Belle (31),
Deshields 2 (13). 2-out RBI - Bordick 3, Surhoff 2, B Anderson,
Deshields 2. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - Reboulet 1,
Amaral 1. Team LOB - 5.

FIELDING: E - Reboulet (2, throw). DP: 2 (Bordick-Conine,
Deshields-Bordick-Conine).

TEXAS                        ip       h   r  er  bb  so  hr    era
Morgan (L, 6-4)                 2/3   5   8   8   1   0   0   6.26
Burkett                       6 1/3   7   4   4   1   3   2  11.19
D Patterson                   1       3   3   3   1   0   0   6.75

BALTIMORE                    ip       h   r  er  bb  so  hr    era
Mussina (W, 7-1)              7       9   2   2   2   2   0   4.45
Coppinger                     2       5   4   3   2   3   3  13.50

HBP - B Anderson 2 (by Morgan 2).  Pitches-strikes: Mussina 112-66;
Coppinger 49-25; Morgan 32-16; Burkett 70-42; D Patterson 22-11.
Ground balls-fly balls: Mussina 12-7; Coppinger 0-3; Morgan 0-2;
Burkett 10-6; D Patterson 3-0. Batters faced: Mussina 30;
Coppinger 13; Morgan 10; Burkett 27; D Patterson 7.

UMPIRES: HP--Derryl Cousins. 1B--John Shulock. 2B--Dale Scott.
3B--Joe Brinkman.
T--3:49.  Att--40,516.   Weather: 80 degrees, partly cloudy.
Wind: 7 mph, right to left.

AL       TEXAS AT BALTIMORE
         NOTE:  BALTIMORE'S CAL RIPKEN JR. DOUBLED IN THE FIRST INNING TO
                EXTEND HIS HITTING STREAK TO 12 GAMES.

AL       TEXAS AT BALTIMORE
         NOTE:  BALTIMORE'S BRADY ANDERSON HAS BECOME THE FIRST PLAYER IN
                AMERICAN LEAGUE HISTORY TO BE HIT BY A PITCH TWICE IN ONE
                INNING. HE BECOMES THE THIRD PLAYER IN MAJOR LEAGUE
                HISTORY TO ACCOMPLISH THE FEAT. WILLARD SCHMIDT OF
                CINCINNATI WAS HIT TWICE IN ONE INNING ON APRIL 26, 1959
                AND FRANK THOMAS OF THE NEW YORK METS WAS HIT TWICE ON
                APRIL 20, 1962.

AL       TEXAS AT BALTIMORE
         NOTE:  BALTIMORE'S B.J. SURHOFF EXTENDED HIS HITTING STREAK TO
                14 GAMES WITH A HOME RUN IN THE BOTTOM OF THE FIRST
                INNING.

AL       TEXAS AT BALTIMORE
         NOTE:  UMPIRE CORRECTION -- DERRYL COUSINS IS THE HOME PLATE
                UMPIRE AND JOHN SHULOCK IS THE FIRST BASE UMPIRE.

AL       TEXAS AT BALTIMORE
         NOTE:  TEXAS' IVAN RODRIGUEZ SINGLED IN THE SECOND INNING TO
                EXTEND HIS HITTING STREAK TO 13 GAMES.

Game Log

Texas Starting Lineups -- Tom Goodwin CF, Mark Mclemore 2B, Rusty Greer LF, Juan Gonzalez RF, Rafael Palmeiro DH, Ivan Rodriguez C, Todd Zeile 3B, Lee Stevens 1B, Royce Clayton SS, Mike Morgan RHP.

Baltimore Starting Lineups -- Brady Anderson CF, Mike Bordick SS, Bj Surhoff LF, Albert Belle RF, Jeff Conine 1B, Cal Ripken Jr 3B, Delino Deshields 2B, Rich Amaral DH, Charles Johnson C, Mike Mussina RHP.

Umpires -- Cousins (HP), Shulock (1B), Scott (2B), Brinkman (3B).

Gametime Weather: 80 degrees, Partly Cloudy, wind right to left at 7 mph.

TEXAS 1ST: T Goodwin doubled to left center. Mclemore grounded out to shortstop. Greer fouled out to third. J Gonzalez singled to right, T Goodwin scored. R Palmeiro popped out to third. (1 Run, 2 Hits, 0 Errors) TEXAS 1, BALTIMORE 0.

BALTIMORE 1ST: B Anderson hit by pitch. Bordick singled to left center, B Anderson to third. Surhoff hit sacrifice fly to shallow left center, B Anderson scored. Belle walked, Bordick to second. Conine doubled to left center, Bordick scored, Belle to third. C Ripken doubled to left, Belle and Conine scored. Deshields singled to right, C Ripken to third. Amaral hit sacrifice fly to left center, C Ripken scored. C Johnson singled to left, Deshields to second. B Anderson hit by pitch, Deshields to third, C Johnson to second. John Burkett relieved Mike Morgan. Bordick doubled to left, Deshields, C Johnson and B Anderson scored. Surhoff homered to right, Bordick scored. Belle struck out looking. (10 Runs, 7 Hits, 0 Errors) TEXAS 1, BALTIMORE 10.

TEXAS 2ND: I Rodriguez singled to center. Zeile flied out to center. L Stevens singled to left, I Rodriguez to second. Clayton grounded into fielder's choice to pitcher, I Rodriguez to third, L Stevens out at second. T Goodwin struck out looking. (0 Runs, 2 Hits, 0 Errors) TEXAS 1, BALTIMORE 10.

BALTIMORE 2ND: Conine grounded out to second. C Ripken flied out to right center. Deshields grounded out to pitcher. (0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors) TEXAS 1, BALTIMORE 10.

TEXAS 3RD: Mclemore grounded out to first. Greer walked. J Gonzalez flied out to right. R Palmeiro walked, Greer to second. I Rodriguez grounded into fielder's choice to third, Greer out at third. (0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors) TEXAS 1, BALTIMORE 10.

BALTIMORE 3RD: Amaral grounded out to second. C Johnson homered to right. B Anderson grounded out to second. Bordick lined out to left. (1 Run, 1 Hit, 0 Errors) TEXAS 1, BALTIMORE 11.

TEXAS 4TH: Zeile flied out to right. L Stevens doubled to right. Clayton lined out to first. T Goodwin struck out looking. (0 Runs, 1 Hit, 0 Errors) TEXAS 1, BALTIMORE 11.

BALTIMORE 4TH: Surhoff grounded out to third. Belle walked. Conine flied out to deep left. C Ripken flied out to left center. (0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors) TEXAS 1, BALTIMORE 11.

TEXAS 5TH: Mclemore grounded out to pitcher. Greer grounded out to shortstop. J Gonzalez grounded out to third. (0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors) TEXAS 1, BALTIMORE 11.

BALTIMORE 5TH: Deshields struck out looking. Amaral doubled to left. C Johnson popped out to second. B Anderson singled to right, Amaral scored. Bordick grounded into fielder's choice to shortstop, B Anderson out at second. (1 Run, 2 Hits, 0 Errors) TEXAS 1, BALTIMORE 12.

TEXAS 6TH: Reboulet at third. R Palmeiro singled to center. I Rodriguez grounded into double play, shortstop to first, R Palmeiro out at second. Zeile grounded out to third. (0 Runs, 1 Hit, 0 Errors) TEXAS 1, BALTIMORE 12.

BALTIMORE 6TH: Surhoff singled to right. Belle grounded out to third, Surhoff to second. Conine grounded out to third. Reboulet grounded out to third. (0 Runs, 1 Hit, 0 Errors) TEXAS 1, BALTIMORE 12.

TEXAS 7TH: L Stevens doubled to shallow center. Clayton singled to left, L Stevens to third. T Goodwin grounded into double play, second to shortstop to first, Clayton out at second, L Stevens scored. Mclemore singled to left. Greer flied out to left. (1 Run, 3 Hits, 0 Errors) TEXAS 2, BALTIMORE 12.

BALTIMORE 7TH: Shave at first. Alicea at third. R Kelly in left. Zaun catching. Deshields singled to center. Amaral grounded into fielder's choice to third, Deshields out at second. C Johnson struck out swinging. B Anderson fouled out to third. (0 Runs, 1 Hit, 0 Errors) TEXAS 2, BALTIMORE 12.

TEXAS 8TH: Rocky Coppinger relieved Mike Mussina. T Davis catching. J Gonzalez popped out to second. R Palmeiro homered to center. Alicea walked. R Kelly reached on infield single, Alicea to second. Alicea to third on 3rd baseman Reboulet's throwing error. Zaun struck out swinging. Clayton singled to left, Alicea scored, R Kelly to second. T Goodwin flied out to right. (2 Runs, 3 Hits, 1 Error) TEXAS 4, BALTIMORE 12.

BALTIMORE 8TH: Danny Patterson relieved John Burkett. Bordick doubled to left. Otanez hit for Surhoff. Otanez grounded out to second, Bordick to third. Belle grounded out to second, Bordick scored. Conine singled to left. Reboulet walked, Conine to second. Deshields doubled to right center, Conine and Reboulet scored. Amaral grounded out to shortstop. (3 Runs, 3 Hits, 0 Errors) TEXAS 4, BALTIMORE 15.

TEXAS 9TH: Amaral in right. Otanez at first. Conine in left. Mclemore homered to right. Shave struck out swinging. J Gonzalez homered to right center. R Palmeiro struck out swinging. Alicea walked. R Kelly flied out to right. (2 Runs, 2 Hits, 0 Errors) TEXAS 6, BALTIMORE 15.