It’s April 14, 1996, and the O’s couldn’t figure out Twins young righty Frankie Rodriguez, who gave the Birds their second loss on the season, 4-1.

The low score was perhaps surprising because both starting pitchers came in with ERAs well north of 10 on the young season — Rodriguez at 12.91 and O’s rookie Jimmy Haynes at 15.75.

Haynes pitched better than his first start, giving up three runs in 4⅔ inning, but he dropped to 0-2 on a team that has won every game he hasn’t pitched in.

“I think he’s getting closer to where he wants to be,” said O’s manager Davey Johnson. “The big thing is he proved he could pitch up here last year. It’s not like he’s just breaking in.” (Baltimore Sun, p. 6C, April 15, 1996)

Even the Twins — who beat him in his first start on April 6 — noticed that Haynes looked better.

“I thought he was throwing the ball at a better angle,” said second baseman Chuck Knoblauch. “He was keeping the ball down in the zone. He was better here than in Minnesota.” (Baltimore Sun, p. 6C, April 15, 1996)

Worth noting that his fastball was clocked at 86-87 mph. Granted, it was a different era, but that is not very competitive in the major leagues even in the 90s.

On the other side, Rodriguez baffled the O’s, giving up just one run on three hits through 7⅔ innings. “He’s a good big-league pitcher,” said Cal Ripken, Jr., about the former first-round pick of the Boston Red Sox who picked up his first major league win over the O’s last July. “He’s got good stuff.” (Baltimore Sun, p. 6C, April 15, 1996) 

Despite the great start to the season on the field, not everyone is happy. Bobby Bonilla is still vocally upset about being designated hitter, a role he is unfamiliar with because to this point he has played his entire career in the National League, where the pitchers bat so there is no DH. “I don’t want to like it,” he said. “Maybe I’m just a National League player. It’s just not baseball. I don’t want to think about hitting 24 hours a day.” (Baltimore Sun, p. 6C, April 15, 1996)

Regardless, he said his role will definitely affect his decision about whether to stay in Baltimore. “The bottom line is, it’s temporary no matter how you look at it,” he said. “If they choose all year, that’s the choice they make. They hold the cards.”

Here is the box score with the not so lovely totals. 

In other sports news, Greg “The Shark” Norman etched his name among history’s all-time losers by blowing a 6-stroke lead in the final round of the Masters. Not only did he blow the lead, he finished five strokes back of winner Nick Faldo. Roughly 25 years later, Norman would solidify his legacy as a loser by being the first CEO of LIV Golf, the Saudi-backed tour designed to funnel money to Donald Trump through his golf properties. 

Anyway, here’s his collapse. Enjoy.

No homers today so the wall stays where it is.

April 15 is a day off! Pay your taxes!

The last couple days Israel has been attacking Lebanon. Civilians were sent fleeing from artillery fire in southern Lebanon and Israeli gunboats blockaded Beirut. Hezbollah responded by firing rockets into northern Israel.

An Israeli helicopter fired on an ambulance near Tyre, killing six civilians, including two children. “It all happened in a second,” said the ambulance driver, Abbas, Mdethli. “I heard a wooshing sound. I was sucked out of the vehicle.” 

After first insisting that the ambulance was transporting a terrorist, the Israeli government eventually acknowledged that the attack was “a very regretful incident. But the battlefield is a very confused one.”

The International Committee of the Red Cross in Geneva strongly condemned Israel’s bombardment, which it says is between 100 and 150 shells an hour.

“According to international humanitarian laws, the civilian population should not be considered a target, or be forced to be displaced,” said Phillipe Gaillard, the head of the organization. “You have old people who have no means to leave their villages. They don’t have cars or buses. They just have donkeys and a pair of feet.”

Welcome to a recurring segment where I find fun things in today’s (in 1996) Baltimore Sun!

The Sun’s Vito Stellino gives his predictions for this week’s NFL draft.