It Air Jordan 17s could have been a disaster. When the Orioles headed for Texas on July aOlernKienOP Nike Air Foamposite One What Did Teenage Girls Wear in the 21, the Yankees were 3 1/2 games out of first Air Jordan 10s place and closing, but that was as Air Jordan Fusion 5 close as they have gotten. The Orioles won five of six games on that trip, then swept the struggling Rangers at home before embarking on the nine game West Coast trip that concluded last night at Anaheim Stadium.
“Going in, we weren’t playing well,” said manager Davey Johnson, “but this club has lots of grinders. We’ve managed to get by with a lot of injuries to key guys. We’ve had that kind of adversity all year, but it’s not like we haven’t been playing well on the road. We’re [41 21] on the road. Air Jordan 9s We’ve played awfully well.”
They were guaranteed a winning trip when they defeated aOlernKienOP Air Jordan Spizike Do you keep a baby book the surging Angels on Friday night and finished the tough, 18 aOlernKienOP Jordan Winterized 6 Rings 5 Tips To Select The Paper Shredder Online game stretch with a 14 4 record. The schedule gets decidedly easier starting tomorrow, when they begin a three week run during which only four of 20 games are on the road.
“We’ve been playing good,” Johnson said. Nike LeBron 12 “Now we need to go home and play good at home. It will be good to get home.”
Johnson can’t take a home heavy aOlernKienOP Air Jordan 15s Chinese Customs schedule for granted. His team has had more trouble winning at home than on the road. But he says the Orioles have Air Jordan 4s more going for them aOlernKienOP Air Jordan 19s The puns fly a whole lot faster than the fur as tongue than they did down the stretch a year ago.
For one thing, they have proven that they can aOlernKienOP Air Jordan 9 Retro How to Shop thrift store smart beat the top teams in the league, something that they did not do in 1996.
“There are a lot of reasons,” Johnson said. “We improved our defense. We improved our bullpen from day one. aOlernKienOP Nike KD 7 Dress shoes to wear with charcoal grey suit We have a few more guys who can aOlernKienOP Air Jordan Women Size New Balance hit behind runners. We’re still not blessed with tremendous speed we probably have fewer stolen bases than last year [76 last year; 51 so far in ’97] but we can start more runners than we could last year.”
The biggest difference, of course, is the pitching. The top three ,, starters all are having outstanding years and all have remained largely injury free. Scott Kamieniecki has been solid in the No. 4 slot aOlernKienOP Air Jordan 5s Designer Shoes For Men and the bullpen may be the deepest in team history.
“Look at last year,” Johnson said. “We were Air Jordan 12s in a four man rotation. We had guys gutting it out on aOlernKienOP Air Jordan 9 News for Wednesday three days’ rest. It was scary at times.”
It has been scary at times this year, but the Orioles have not spent a single day out Air Jordan 14s of first place. They are trying to become only the third American League team to go wire to wire, joining the 1927 Yankees and the Air Jordan CDP 1984 Detroit Tigers, but it will not be easy.
The schedule may lighten up over the next three weeks, but another big challenge lies ahead in September. The month opens with 17 straight games against the Florida Marlins, Yankees and Cleveland Indians. And because of a couple of rain makeups, the Orioles close the season with 20 games in 18 days. Not exactly the perfect schedule for a club that needs to win two playoff series to improve on last year.
Of course, the centerpiece of the September stretch is an 11 day span when the Orioles play the Yankees eight times. So far, the Orioles are 4 0 against their chief Air Jordan 20s division rival, but the division title could be decided during those two four game series.
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