May 9, 1984 - Battle of the Birds

Game #371 - Toronto Blue Jays, 6 @ Baltimore Orioles, 1

This was game one in a double-header, and it featured each club's best pitchers:  Doyle Alexander and Mike Boddicker.  Unfortunately for the O's, Boddicker didn't have his best stuff.  He gave up two runs in the second inning, with one of those reaching base from an error of his own making.  But he really got into trouble in the sixth.  Toronto send nine batters to the plate and scored four runs.  A Rich Dauer error opened the flood gates this time.

On the flip side Doyle Alexander continued his dominant start to the season by silencing the Baltimore Orioles over eight innings.  The only run to score was Wayne Gross, who hit yet another home run.  (I'm worried Gross' HR rating on his card is too high.  He did knock 22 HR's in 340 AB's in 1984, but he's already halfway to that total in just 30 games...)

Winning Pitcher - Doyle Alexander
Losing Pitcher - Mike Boddicker
Player of the Game - Alexander, 8IP, 5H's, 3K's
Hall of Famers in the Game - Cal Ripken and Eddie Murray

Game #372 - Toronto Blue Jays, 13 @ Baltimore Orioles, 3

This game was actually pretty exciting until it wasn't.  The Blue Jays had a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the seventh when the Orioles but two runs on the board with RBI hits from Al Bumbry and Mike Young.  But in the top of the eighth the Orioles bullpen had what has probably been the worst inning of the Statis Pro Season.  The Blue Jays scored TEN runs.  They sent fifteen hitters up to bat.  The ringleader was Lloyd Moseby, who started the destruction by crushing a grand slam for the first four runs.  Sammy Stewart, Baltimore's best reliever, gave up five runs without recording an out.  Bill Swaggerty followed and fared little better, giving up five runs but notching two outs.  Dennis Martinez finally got the Orioles out of the woods, but not before losing their pride...

Winning Pitcher - Ron Musselman
Losing Pitcher - Sammy Stewart
Player of the Game - Lloyd Moseby, 2-5, grand slam, 5RBI's
Hall of Famers in the Game - Cal Ripken and Eddie Murray

One interesting thing happened in the second game.  Cal Ripken got tossed from the game for arguing with the umpire on a Z card.  If I'm not mistaken, Ripken played every inning of baseball in 1984.  I slid Lenn Sakata over to short for the rest of the game, but I think I violated the laws of reality from the 1984 season...