‘70 O’s take 2 of 3 from ‘02 Halos to stay in AL Wild Card Race.

9/17-9/18 - Edison Field
GAME 1 - Orioles 4, Angels 3
The tension surrounding this series was so thick you could cut it with a chainsaw.  Both teams were fighting for the proverbial playoff lives.  Baltimore was trying to keep alive in a division where the top 2 teams are juggernauts and the team directly above them (Boston) was 2 games ahead for the final wild card slot.  Anaheim needed some wins to stay atop their division of "have nots".  Jim Palmer (6-1, 3.05) did what HOF aces do.  He pitched better than his opponent Jarrod Washburn (3-2, 3.71) and even overcame some poor fielding by Mark Belanger, who has uncharacteristically made 12 errors in 28 games.  Down 2-1 the O's scored 2 in the 4th and 5th respectively.  Boog Powell hit a huge 2 run homer in the 5th, which turned out to be the game breaker.  Eddie Watt threw a perfect 9th to notch his first save of the season.

GAME 2 - Angels 9, Orioles 8
The second 1 run game of the series featured an offensive explosion.  Once again Dave McNally (1-5, 5.72) blew a stinker, but this time his offense was able to keep him in it.  A 5 run 5th inning plus solo runs in the 6th and 7th gave Kevin Appier (2-2, 2.34) an insurmountable 9-1 lead.  All looked good until Anaheim's pen imploded and allowed 7 unanswered runs to be scored to make it 9-8.  Troy Percival had to come to the rescue and pitch a perfect 9th by fanning Merv Rettenmund and Paul Blair.  Percival recorded his 8th save.  Both teams combined for 6 homers with Davey Johnson hitting 2 in a losing cause.  David Ecksten went 4 for 5 with 3 runs scored for the Angels who recorded 15 hits.

9/19- Memorial Stadium
GAME 3 - Orioles 4, Angels 3 (10 inn)
What would this tension riddle series be like without another 1 run game ?  This time it took 10 innings to get a decision.  With the score tied at 3 Davey Johnson would come to the plate and send the Baltimore faithful home happy with a walk off homer off of Angel reliever Scott Shields.  Johnson would his his third homer of the series.  Pete Richert (3-1, 0.00), who pitched the 9th inning would win the game in relief of Tom Phoebus, who only gave up 2 earned runs over 7 innings of action.  Boog Powell would hit his 7th homer of the season while going 2 for 3 and increasing his season average to .331.