Crushed

My heart looks a little like this today.

UGH…. The last time I felt like this was when the Orioles lost in 1997 to the Cleveland Indians in the American League Championship Series.

Look at this line up for the 1997 Baltimore Orioles
C – Chris Hoiles
1B – Rafael Palmeiro
2B – Roberto Almoar
3B – Cal Ripken Jr,
SS – Mike Bordick
RF – Geronimo Berroa/Jeffrey Hammonds/Eric Davis
CF – Brady Anderson
LF – B.J. Surhoff

Their Starting Pitching consisted of
SP – Mike Mussina
SP – Jimmy Key
SP – Scott Erickson

This team was loaded. Two Hall of Famers (Ripken and Alomar) and possibly two more (Mussina and Palmeiro)

This team won 98 games and went wire to wire as the American League East Champions….

Than came game 6 of the ALCS against the Cleveland Indians. The game was taking place in Oriole Park @ Camden Yards. Cleveland had a 3 game to 2 advantage over Baltimore, but it didn’t matter our ACE was on the mound and we were home. Mike Mussina was the starting Pitcher for the Orioles and Charles Nagy was the starting pitcher for the Cleveland Indians. Both pitchers were the Ace’s of the teams and both of them pitched a beautiful game.

Charles Nagy pitched 7.1 IP with, 9 hits, 0 runs, and 4 Strikeouts. While, Mile Mussina countered with 8 IP with, 1 hit, 0 runs, and 10 Strikeouts. It was an amazing game and I was on the edge of my seat for the entire game. In the top of the 11th inning Tony Fernandez and all of his 11 regular season Homeruns hits the first pitch to win the game 1 to 0.

I was devastated. I hate all things Cleveland because of this game. And because of this game all of my guilt from taking their football franchise is gone. I also found out that watching ESPN classic the game is still just as painful.

So this brings me to last night. The Ravens had a tremendous season. Going 12 wins with 4 losses is nothing to sneeze at. It just drives me crazy that with the score tied and about 4 minutes to play I knew the Ravens were not going to win. They blew a 14 point lead in the 3rd quarter with three really bad turnovers. Joe Flacco played a good game but made two critical turnovers in the 3rd quarter (a fumble and Interception). But Anquan Bolden dropped a critical TD in the 4th quarter and T.J. Houshmandzadeh dropped pass to end the Ravens season…. I don’t even know what to say. I do believe that if T.J. Houshmandzadeh was playing against us he would have caught that pass. This makes it all the more frustrating. I don’t even want to get started on the 58 yard reception on the 4th and 19…. I heard Shannon Sharpe say how horrible the officiating was, but it’s no excuse. As the great, (yes I said great Matt) NFL coach Dennis Green once said….



We live to fight another day. I can not wait to listen to Baltimore sports talk radio about how all the Monday Morning Quarterbacks would have coached differently or how they would have made the receivers catch the ball. Not to mention how all of Baltimore will be handing out pink slips to the entire Ravens organization…. Good bye Cam Cameron, Good Bye Joe Flacco, Good Bye John Harbaugh. Maybe I will just listen to music on Monday. One thing is for sure and I know who I am cheering against next weekend.

Pitchers and Catchers report in 28 days…. At least we have the Orioles to look forward too. Oh wait….. Never mind.