It’s April 20, 1996, and the O’s couldn’t bounce back from Friday’s 26-7 debacle, dropping their third straight, 8-3, to the Texas Rangers.

Starter Jimmy Haynes dropped to 0-3 on the season after giving up seven runs in four innings. His spot in the rotation is officially in jeopardy. 

“Well, when the pitching ain’t good, it ain’t pretty, is it?” said O’s manager Davey Johnson. (Baltimore Sun, p. D1, April 21, 1996)

Centerfielder Brady Anderson led off the game with a home run for the third straight game, and now has seven homers in his last 10 games. But as the Sun says, “it’s meaningless, in the end, when you’re giving up runs at a rate of about 15 per game.”

With Haynes — and starter of the 26-run game Kent Mercker — struggling, there are serious questions about whether the O’s have enough pitching to contend. Despite getting an early lead from Anderson, Haynes let the first two batters he faced reach, and then gave up a 3-run home run to Will Clark. The Rangers never looked back.

“We’re going through a rough spell,” Johnson said. “We’ve got a couple of guys in the rotation struggling.”

He gave the dreaded “no comment” when asked about Haynes’s spot in the rotation.

He said he’d talk to GM Pat Gillick and Pat Dobson, and if they think Haynes will continue to be bad, “we might possibly put Arthur [Rhodes] in the rotation.”

“I’m not myself right now,” Haynes said. “I’m all off.” (Baltimore Sun, p. E8, April 21, 1996)

In perhaps an omen of things to come, in the fourth inning, O’s outfielder Jeffrey Hammonds chased a fly ball close to the stands in left field, but when he tried to catch it, a fan with a glove intercepted the ball. The O’s protested, but to no avail.

Righty Brian Sackinsky was called up to replace the injured Armando Benitez, who was sent to the injured list after reinjuring his elbow in the blowout 26-7 loss. Sackinsky pitched four innings in relief. It was his major-league debut. Born in Pittsburgh in 1971, the O’s drafted Sackinsky out of high school in the 39th round in 1989, but he didn’t sign. They liked him so much they drafted him again in 1992, this time in the second round after he spent three years at Stanford. His prospect shine had worn off over the years, but he slowly rose through the minors and today is a big day for him. He will forever be able to say he was a major-league pitcher.

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

In other O’s news, Iron Man Cal Ripken, Jr., sent a letter of congratulations to Gerardo Sanchez of the Nuevo Laredo Owls, who played in his 1,167th straight game, setting a Mexican League record.

In other Baltimore sports news, the Ravens made their first ever draft selections. They picked up UCLA tackle Jonathan Ogden with the fourth overall pick, and Miami linebacker Ray Lewis with the 26th pick. Not bad.

Brady makes it a double.

Double the fun for Brady, so at least the sideburns keep growing.

Baltimore Orioles (11-5) at Texas Rangers (12-4), 3:05 p.m. ET

Starting Pitchers
BAL – LHP David Wells, 2-0, 1.50 ERA
TEX – LHP Darren Oliver, 0-0, 5.06 ERA

On the front page we have a wire story on the events that marked the one-year anniversary of the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.

At 9:02 a.m. local time on April 19, survivors and friends and family of the dead gathered at the site and observed 168 seconds, one for each victim of the blast. The Sun has some of the grim details: 19 children killed, 30 children orphaned, and 219 lost at least one parent. An estimated 850 people were injured. At the time, it was the worst terrorist attack in the nation’s history.

And there was trepidation among federal workers a year later since it was also the third anniversary of the federal raid on the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Tex., which is another touchpoint for the far right.

Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating’s staff estimated that 387,000 people in Oklahoma City — one-third of the population — knew someone killed or injured in the bombing. And that 190,000 had attended at least one funeral.

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

The Baltimore Sketchbook is back, and this time it’s in Fell’s Point.