[Droford]

On the heels f that triple play the other night, I present great moments in orioles base running blunders

Twenty years ago today, the Orioles hit into an utterly preposterous double play. It wa something so bizarre, it’s hard to believe it had ever happened before, though something close to it once had. On April 17, 1993, the Orioles battled the Angels in Baltimore. It was a close game, with California nursing a narrow 6-5 lead heading into the bottom of the eighth. In that frame, the Orioles threatened to rally for the victory, and by all rights they should have but tripped themselves up in a memorable display of dumb baseball. First, the good news. Baltimore loaded the bases with one out thanks to two hits, an intentional walk, and a fielder’s choice. The tying run was just 90 feet from scoring and a cleanly hit single could give Baltimore the lead. At the plate stood veteran outfielder Mike Devereaux. Though not a feared hitter, Deveraux was solid, and sure enough he stroked the ball into shallow center field. Would this fall for a hit? Angels outfielder Chad Curtis charged in to try to catch it. The runners dared not advance too far for fear of being doubled off the bag. Curtis dove and—the ball ended up in his glove. Was that a trap or a catch? Actually, it was a trap, so there was no chance to double anyone up. One run should come around and there should be only one out. Only it didn’t end up with a tie score, bases loaded and one out. The inning would end on a double play. The first problem was lead runner Jeff Tackett. He had no idea if Curtis caught it, but assumed it had been caught and went back to third. This is confounding because he could be forced at the plate for not advancing. Though it was a trap, it’s tough to really excuse Tackett here. After all, the other runners figured out what was going on. Baltimore star Brady Anderson knew, and advanced from second to third—just in time to greet the out of place Tackett. But maybe the strangest base running came from Chito Martinez on first base. He recognized the ball had been trapped and so advanced, but he completely forgot there were runners ahead of him. Martinez went to second and, seeing a chance to gain an extra base, went on his way to third. This is just plain bad baseball. Really—couldn’t he have noticed not one, but two runners at third in front of him? Guess not. So the Angels relayed the ball to the plate, where catcher John Orton had it. Instead of stepping on the plate, he advanced to third where he played it safe and tagged everyone. Umpire Terry Craft had a fun situation to figure out: Three guys on one bag. Clearly two were out, but who? As a general rule, the lead runner has position, but in this case that wasn’t true. With the bases loaded and a live ball, Tackett needed to advance, but didn’t, so he was out. As for the others, Anderson was safe and Martinez out. Anderson advanced to his base ashe was supposed to, but Martinez advanced to someone else’s base. Anderson was the guy who didn’t screw up. But it didn’t matter—the double play ended the inning. Baltimore would lose, 7-5. There’s no way that play should happen, but it did.