Albert Belle robs Cleveland's Manny Ramirez of a home run in the first inning. (Reuters)

By Dave Sheinin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, April 4, 2000; Page D1

BALTIMORE, April 3 – Opening Day 2000 for the Baltimore Orioles had all the makings of something special. Their new manager faced his former team. Their third baseman climbed a step closer to another historic number. Their ace pitcher brought his best stuff, making the case again for why the Orioles should sign him for the rest of his career.

The only thing it didn't have was a victory. The Orioles' 4-1 loss today to the Cleveland Indians in front of 46,902 at Oriole Park at Camden Yards ruined an otherwise joyous day in Baltimore, one made up of equal parts pageantry, history and well-played baseball.

Mike Hargrove, who was fired as manager of the Indians in October and hired by the Orioles a month later, jogged in from center field during pregame ceremonies to a standing ovation, only to find himself battered and bettered by his former team. It was the kind of tight, taut game Hargrove had seen the Indians win dozens, maybe hundreds of times from the opposite dugout.

"Everything I saw them do today, I've seen them do for eight years," said Hargrove with a mixture of awe and disgust. "It didn't surprise me at all."

The Indians won the way they often did in the mid- to late-1990s, when Hargrove was leading them to five straight AL Central division titles. Their powerful offense came up with two home runs and some well-timed singles, and their brilliant infield defense made game-saving plays. At the same time, the Orioles failed to capitalize on the wildness of Bartolo Colon, the Indians' young ace.

Mike Mussina was the tough-luck victim, losing a game he pitched more than well enough to win. Through seven innings, Mussina had allowed only a pair of solo homers to Travis Fryman and Kenny Lofton.

But three straight two-out hits in the top of the eighth inning – all three of which either bounced off or rolled under the gloves of Orioles' infielders – led to two Cleveland runs and ended Mussina's day in bitterness.

"It's frustrating to pitch that well and lose," said Mussina, who made his sixth Opening Day start for the Orioles. "They hit a few balls [in the eighth] that were just out of reach."

In the loss, Hargrove had his heart broken by the very things that used to break the hearts of opposing managers almost nightly when Hargrove managed the powerful Indians. In the biggest play of the game, Omar Vizquel, the Indians' Gold Glove shortstop, saved the tying run in the bottom of the seventh inning by making a diving catch of Delino DeShields's soft liner in shallow left field.

"That was a game-saver," Hargrove said. "After watching Omar all those years, nothing he does surprises me."

Even though Mussina expected to throw between 95 to 100 pitches today, Hargrove and pitching coach Sammy Ellis allowed Mussina to pitch the eighth inning when his pitch total was at 98, trailing 2-1. It was a move Mussina endorsed during a discussion in the dugout between the seventh and eighth innings.

"I thought I was throwing as well in the eighth as I was in the third," Mussina said. ". . . It may have been a stretch [to pitch the eighth], but I didn't feel I was laboring, and neither did anyone else, or else they would have taken me out."

Neither did the Orioles take Mussina out when, with two outs, Fryman singled off the glove of diving shortstop Mike Bordick, and Sandy Alomar followed with a line-drive single off the glove of a leaping DeShields. Kenny Lofton, a left-handed batter, was at the plate, and Buddy Groom, the Orioles' new left-handed specialist, was ready in the bullpen.

Lofton "was Mussina's last hitter" either way, Hargrove said. Lofton singled sharply past first baseman Will Clark. New Orioles right-handed reliever Mike Trombley then gave up an RBI single to Vizquel, and the Indians' one-run lead was suddenly three.

"If I woke up today and knew I was going to end up still pitching in the eighth and only giving up two runs," Mussina said, "I would have taken that."

Had the Orioles managed a clutch hit or two against Colon, the Indians' flame-throwing right-hander, things might have been different in the late innings. The Orioles stranded five runners in the first two innings and either hit or ran themselves into three double plays in the first five innings.

The Orioles' only run came in the second inning, which began with Cal Ripken climbing a notch closer to another milestone.

With a set of banners on the warehouse wall beyond the right field fence counting up to his 3,000th hit – much like the banners that counted up to his record-breaking 2,131st consecutive game – Ripken blooped a hit into shallow center field, the 2,992nd hit of his career, then stretched it into a double, punctuating the play with a textbook hook-slide to the inside corner of the bag.

Although Brady Anderson singled in a run, the Orioles left the bases loaded when Colon struck out B.J. Surhoff on a nasty breaking pitch. Colon walked six batters but did not yield another run.

"That guy is throwing 98-99 miles per hour in the first two innings," Clark said. "That's no walk in the park. Guys like that are never really vulnerable. He can be wild, but it's what you call an effective wildness because you can't zone in on one side of the plate."

With only a loss to show for Opening Day, in the end the best thing that can be said about Hargrove's debut with the Orioles – and his first meeting against his old club – is that it is over.

"It was a relief getting that first game in," Hargrove said. "But you hate to see an opportunity like that slip by."