The Baltimore Sun from Baltimore, Maryland • Page 119

The Sun Sunday, June 1,1997 Page 7c Orioles Notebook Ken Rosenthal 1 mh gpr 's add outfielder, It's early, but April-May ride is prompting October dreams place Davis on DL Fine company How the Orioles compare after 51 games with the six most dominant division winners of the past 15 years- I i i 'ci -TA Team Record GAGB 1988A'S 36-15 9 1986 Mets 36-15 9 1997 Orioles 36-15 8 1995 Indians 36-15 6 1984 Tigers 39-12 4 1990 A's 35-16 3" 1993 Braves 28-23 -5 KARL MERTON FERRON SUN STAFF Scary moment: Roberto Alomar writhes in pain after feeling a "little pop "in his left shoulder during an eighth-inning at-bat. Alomar, who reached base four times, left the game but hopes to play today. rector, recommended Dellucci to Johnson, who was seeking a left-handed-hitting outfielder. "I just saw him play three nights ago and he hit a home run over the center-field fence," Thrift said. "He uses the whole field, he has a short swing, but heaven knows if he's going to hit in the big leagues." To make room for Dellucci on the 40-man roster, the Orioles transferred Jerome Walton to the 60-day DL.

Incaviglia out for few days Dellucci's arrival also Is important because the Orioles will be without Pete Incaviglia for the next three or four days, Johnson said. Incaviglia was hit on the left elbow by a pitch from Indians starter Charles Nagy on Friday and had to leave the game. X-rays were negative, but the elbow was swollen and sore yesterday. Johnson had considered adding a pitcher until Incaviglia was hurt. Trying to find something positive to take from all the outfield injuries, Johnson said they have given others a chance to play.

"When Eric would go down, Walton was in there. Then Walton has been down, and Jeffrey Hammonds and Tony Tarasco have done well," he said. "Other guys have gotten opportunities and they've produced. It's been that way up and down our lineup." Alomar feels shoulder 'pop' Roberto Alomar reached base four times, including a double and two singles, and knocked in the tying run in the sixth inning. But his good day took a scary turn in the eighth when he had to leave after feeling something pop in his left shoulder while swinging at the first pitch from Alvin Morman.

Alomar, who was batting from the right side for the first time yesterday, was removed as a precautionary measure, and Johnson said he probably would be OK hitting left-handed. The Indians are starting right-handers Albie Lopez and Chad Ogea the next two games. "I had a long swing and felt a little pop," said Alomar, who is 10-for-17 (.588) in his past four games. "I knew it wasn't bad because I didn't feel any pain. I'll wait and see what happens today." Bordick leaves .200 behind Now that shortstop Mike Bordick has gotten his average above .200, he looks intent on keeping it there.

He had two more hits yesterday, including his second home run, and is batting .216. a seven-game losing streak and another stretch in which it lost nine of 12. But who's to say the Orioles can't romp? The Yankees aren't as good as last season, and even if Hideki Irabu is legit, he can't 1 single-handedly erase a big division lead. Those '86 Mets, they just kept going. So did other dominant clubs of recent vintage the '95 Indians, the '88 and '90 A's.

"We were just determined. We weren't going to let up at any time; myself included," Johnson said. No, the Mets were on a mission." They had won 90 and 98 games the previous two seasons, but no division title. "If there was a save situation, I was going to my closer. I was not going to mess around," Johnson said.

"You can't take anything for granted. That's what you've got to, do, all the way through." The Orioles are more laid-back they don't irritate, they don't brawl, they don't swagger. Still, this is a veteran, professional club. Stearns called the chemistry "astounding." "They're starting to feel pretty good about themselves," Johnson said. "That team the Mets, they called us arrogant.

But that's part of being in New York City. "You've got to be a little bit arrogant, not normal or something, to survive. This team has more of a quiet confidence." Reliever Jesse Orosco, a member of both clubs, smiled when asked for a comparison. "We're not as mean as the '86 i Mets were," Orosco said. "I'm not taking anything away from this team.

It's a little more humble. V. But we're full of talent." And like the Mets, they're driven by their past. They reached the postseason for the first time in 13 years last season, but lost to the Yankees in the American League Championship Series. "Last year, we got in there and smelled it," Johnson said.

"This year, we'd like to go further." It's early, but not that early. 36-15. Page lc guessed it. 36-15. Again, it's premature to compare the Orioles to a team that won the World Series.

And it's unreasonable to expect them to play .706 ball all season. "Everyone in Baltimore thinks we're going to roll to 1 10 wins," first base coach John Stearns said. "But we all know it's not going to be that easy. "We've got some injuries, some guys down. But while we're hot, we've got to ride the crest." And what a crest it is, with the Orioles 21 games over .500 for the first time since the end of the 1983 season.

The season is almost one-third complete, and no Orioles pitcher has more than two losses. Mike Mussina, Jimmy Key and Scott Erickson have combined for 24 wins more victories than nine other major-league clubs. The Yankees beat Boston yesterday, but didn't gain ground on a day the Orioles figured to lose, with rookie Mike Johnson facing veteran Orel Hershiser. Johnson was 13 when Hershiser made his spectacular run through the 1988 postseason. He allowed back-to-back homers in the first inning.

And still, the Orioles won. They won with four relievers combining for 5 scoreless innings. They won by hitting four homers with Eric Davis and Pete Incaviglia sidelined. They won even though third baseman Cal Ripken made back-to-back errors in a frantic ninth inning. The game ended with Randy Myers striking out Matt Williams with the bases loaded, ended as it almost always does these days, with the Orioles leading.

Ripken put the Orioles ahead with a leadoff homer in the seventh. The other home runs came from relatively light contributors Tony Tarasco, Mike Bordick and Jeffrey Hammonds. And so it goes. "You can't spot a club like that four runs, but we still came back and won," Stearns said. "Every day I have to slap myself and wonder.

"It's way too early to start thinking about winning a pennant. We've got to go one game at a time, not look too far ahead. But I've been saying that for a week. "I've been saying, 'If we go 3-3 on this homestand, we'll be I've been thinking we've just got to hold our ground. But we just keep winning." And yes, it matters.

They can go 55-56 the rest of the way and still finish 91-71 a record that probably would get them into the postseason. A slump is inevitable the '83 world championship club endured TRADE! ftowie's Dellucci gives Johnson left-handtxl bat 1 )3y ROCH KUBATKO BUN STAFF Jt "With doctors at the University Maryland Medical Center still trying to ascertain the cause of Davis' abdominal infection, $he Orioles placed the outfielder on the 15-day disabled list yesterday, retroactive to May 26, and purchased the contract of left-handed-hitting outfielder David telluccl from Double-A Bowie, Davis hasn't played since last Sunday, a day after he removed himself with "excruciating" pain in his; stomach and went to a Cleveland hospital for four hours. He has been receiving intravenous (antibiotics to combat a 3-inch 'mass under the abdominal wall, has a catheter draining the infectious pocket. "I talked to a couple of doctors Friday and they told me he was much improved, but that it could be four or five more days until the infection really got out of him," said manager Davey Johnson. "They said at some point, there must have been a perforation and it caused an infection and the perforation healed up.

That's all they know." In 48 games with the Baysox, Dellucci was batting .346 (54-for-156) with 11 doubles, two triples, 11 home runs and 25 RBIs. He bat-)ted .388 (40-for-103) in May with nine homers, including two Friday hight against Binghamton, but didn't see a promotion coming. Instead, he heard about it through a phone call from Bowie trainer Mitch Bibb around 12:30 a.m. "I had just gone to bed. I Couldn't imagine who it would be," said Dellucci, 23.

"Bibb told me, This is the first time I've ever had to do and I was like, 'What's going Then he told me. I thought he was joking. I can't de-Scribe what was going through my head. I was on the phone until about 3:30 telling my family. anything, I thought I was go-pg to go to Rochester.

It was a Surprise for me. I haven't spoken to very many people here about anything. If this is my only day here, I'm thrilled." Despite batting left-handed, Dellucci had a .462 average (18-for-39) against lefties, including four doubles and five homers. "In college University of Mississippi, I was a better hitter against left-handed pitchers," he said. "I think I concentrate more on getting the ball to left field.

My concentration is a lot better with left-handed pitching." Syd Thrift, the Orioles' farm di A SUPER BUYIII POWER BRAKES, DUAL AIR BAGS MUCH MORE! 974356 'i I but nothing quite like Mike Mussina's near-perfect game Friday because it came against a great-hitting club. "I don't think he gave but a couple pitches that were over the heart of the plate all night long," he said. "It was a joy for me to watch." Mussina didn't allow a base runner until Sandy Alomar singled with one out in the ninth inning. Alomar was booed roundly yesterday after being introduced as a pinch hitter in the ninth. Around the horn Rafael Palmeiro had been the only AL first baseman without an error until yesterday, when his throw to second base sailed into left field in the Indians' four-run first inning.

He later made a fine throw from first to third to cut down Omar Vizquel trying to take an extra base. Hammonds' seventh-inning homer to left-center traveled 425 feet. Tarasco's second-inning homer to right-center went 407. Yesterday's attendance of 47,739 was the 10th sellout this year, and the sixth-largest regular-season crowd at Camden Yards, 20 shy of Friday night's. Ticket availability for the rest of this homestand: 2,000 today and 4,000 tomorrow vs.

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