Team reports

Sporting News, The, Oct 9, 2000

Baltimore

74-88: 4th

Age, injuries and chemistry doom club to poor finish

WHAT WENT RIGHT: RHP Jose Mercedes, who was dumped by three teams in 1999, won 13 games. ... SS Mike Bordick earned his first All-Star selection, joining C Charles Johnson; both were later traded away.... Ace RHP Mike Mussina lost 15 games, but he otherwise put up numbers consistent with his career statistics.

WHAT WENT WRONG: In stumbling to a fourth-place finish, the Orioles were revealed to be an aging team with no chemistry. The organization admitted as much by making five trade-deadline deals that sent six veterans away for mostly prospects.... It was a year of big injuries, with two players (RHP Scott Erickson and LHP Matt Riley) undergoing Tommy John surgery, OF Albert Belle being diagnosed with what is believed to be a degenerative hip injury and 3B Cal Ripken making a third trip to the disabled list in two years.

WHAT'S NEEDED FOR 2001: With Mussina a free agent and Erickson expected to miss most of 2001, there are holes to fill in the rotation. RHPs Jay Spurgeon, Jason Johnson, Luis Rivera and LHP John Parrish, among other young hurlers, are candidates. There is also talk of using the $14 million or so per year it would take to re-sign Mussina to acquire two starters in the free-agent market.... There are few certainties in the lineup--just 2B Jerry Hairston, C Brook Fordyce and 1B Chris Richard appear to be set. Center field could belong to Luis Matos or Eugene Kingsale, but neither appears ready offensively. That could be one position the team targets this winter. --Dave Sheinin

GRADING 2000

OFFENSE D

Unable to score runs (minus last week's 23-run aberration) since salary purge of July.

PITCHING F

Only the Royals had a worse team ERA; blame shared by starters and relievers.

DEFENSE C

Range has improved since July trades, but young club has no Gold Glove-caliber players:

ORIOLES

                   AVG     G    AB    R     H   HR   RBI

Fordyce           .301    93   302   41    91   14    49
DeShields( )      .296   151   561   84   166   10    86
(*)Mora           .291    53   199   25    58    2    17
Conine            .284   119   409   53   116   13    46
Belle             .281   141   559   71   157   23   103
(*)Richard( )     .276    56   199   38    55   13    36
(*)Morales        .273     3    11    1     3    0     0
Lewis             .270    71   163   19    44    2    21
Anderson( )       .257   141   506   89   130   19    50
Ripken Jr.        .256    83   309   43    79   15    56
Hairston Jr.      .256    49   180   27    46    5    19
(*)Kingsale(#)    .239    26    88   13    21    0     9
(*)Matos          .225    72   182   21    41    1    17
Myers( )          .224    43   125    9    28    3    12
(*)Coffie( )      .217    23    60    6    13    0     6
Hubbard           .185    31    27    3     5    0     0
Minor             .131    32    84    4    11    0     3
(*)Lunar          .125     9    16    0     2    0     1
K. Garcia( )      .091    16    33    1     3    0     0
(*)J. Garcia      .059    14    17    2     1    0     0

                   OBP    SLG    SB    K   BB    E

Fordyce           .341   .507    0    50   17    4
DeShields( )      .369   .444   37    82   69   13
(*)Mora           .359   .397    5    32   17   12
Conine            .341   .438    4    53   36   15
Belle             .342   .474    0    68   52    3
(*)Richard( )     .335   .563    7    38   15    5
(*)Morales        .273   .364    0     3    0    0
Lewis             .322   .411    7    31   12   10
Anderson( )       .375   .421   16   103   92    1
Ripken Jr.        .310   .453    0    37   23    5
Hairston Jr.      .353   .367    8    22   21    5
(*)Kingsale(#)    .253   .284    1    14    2    3
(*)Matos          .281   .308   13    30   12    2
Myers( )          .271   .344    0    29    8    0
(*)Coffie( )      .284   .317    1    11    5    1
Hubbard           .185   .259    2     3    0    1
Minor             .170   .143    0    20    3    4
(*)Lunar          .176   .125    0     4    0    0
K. Garcia( )      .091   .091    0    10    0    0
(*)J. Garcia      .158   .059    0     2    2    0

GRAND SLAMS: Belle (2), Clark (1)

                   ERA     W-L    G      IP     H     R

(*)Rivera         0.00     0-0    1     0.2     1     0
(*)Kohlmeier      2.39     0-1   25    26.1    30     9
Mussina           3.79   11-15   34   237.2   236   105
Mercedes          4.02    14-7   36   145.2   150    71
Trombley          4.13     4-5   75    72.0    67    34
McElroy( )        4.69     3-0   43    63.1    60    36
Ponson            4.82    9-13   32   222.0   223   125
Groom( )          4.85     6-3   70    59.1    63    37
Rapp              5.90    9-12   31   174.0   203   125
(*)Ryan( )        5.91     2-3   42    42.2    36    29
(*)Spurgeon       6.00     1-1    7    24.0    26    16
Mills             6.46     2-0   23    23.2    25    17
J. Johnson        7.02    1-10   25   107.2   119    95
(*)Parrish( )     7.18     2-4    8    36.1    40    32
(*)Brea          11.00     0-1    6     9.0    12    11

                 ER   HR     K   BB   SV    Avg.

(*)Rivera         0    0     0    1    0   .333
(*)Kohlmeier      7    1    17   15   13   .291
Mussina         100   28   210   46    0   .255
Mercedes         65   15    70   64    0   .270
Trombley         33   15    72   38    4   .247
McElroy( )       33    6    50   34    0   .247
Ponson          119   30   152   83    0   .258
Groom( )         32    5    44   21    4   .275
Rapp            114   18   106   83    0   .290
(*)Ryan( )       28    7    41   31    0   .225
(*)Spurgeon      16    5    11   15    0   .283
Mills            17    6    18   19    1   .263
J. Johnson       84   21    79   61    0   .278
(*)Parrish( )    29    6    28   35    0   .288
(*)Brea          11    1     5   10    0   .324