It’s August 6, 1996, and the O’s rudely greeted an old friend, scoring eight runs in just three-plus innings off Ben McDonald to win comfortably, 13-3, in Milwaukee.

McDonald, who spent the first six years of his career in Baltimore before leaving for the Brewers this past off-season, just didn’t have it tonight. He didn’t record an out in the fourth inning as the O’s scored eight times in the frame to build an insurmountable 9-0 lead.

B.J. Surhoff, playing against the team that he played with for over a decade, pounded out two homers, a double, and a single as he flirted with the cycle. Because he left for the greener pastures of Baltimore as a free agent this past season, Milwaukee fans showered Surhoff with boos every at bat.

Cal Ripken also chipped in three hits and Eddie Murray drove in three runs. Jeffrey Hammonds hit his second homer in the last three games. The offense is really humming.

And while the bats stayed hot, O’s ace Mike Mussina cruised. He pitched eight innings, given up just three runs on four hits to earn his 13th win of the season.

I guess the game went too late for Buster Olney’s game column in the Sun to have any quotes, so we’ll just have to imagine the O’s were pleased with their effort tonight. 

Here’s the box score with the lovely totals. 

In roster news, the O’s added three new faces before the game. Relievers Archie Corbin and Esteban Yan joined the team, as did catcher Cesar Devarez. The three all were called up from the Rochester Red Wings.

To make room, a pair of rookies, reliever Garrett Stephenson and catcher Gregg Zaun, were sent to the minors, and Arthur Rhodes, whose injured shoulder will keep him out the remainder of the season, was put on the injured list.

B.J. adds two bricks against his former team and Hammonds stays hot.

Orioles (57-54) at Brewers (55-58) 8:05 p.m.

Starting Pitchers
BAL – RHP Scott Erickson (5-10, 5.35 ERA)
MIL – LHP Scott Karl (10-5, 4.76 ERA)

Just a few days after Congress gutted welfare in order to “save $55 billion,” Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole wants to cost the country 10 times that much with a $548 billion tax cut over the next three years.

Naturally, he used slavery imagery to get his point across. “It’s time to unshackle the U.S. economy from the big-government ball and chain and ‘Go for the gold,’” Dole said in Chicago on the campaign trail.

Let’s just unpack that metaphor real quick. Does Dole think that Olympians are shackled until they are allowed to compete? Very curious.

Of course he also promised to balance the budget while doing these huge tax cuts.

Because he is a Republican, the rich would benefit most from his plan, which calls for a 15% reduction in income tax and cutting capital gains tax in half. He also included a $500 per child in tax credits for parents, which he knew would be mentioned in the same sentence by the media (as the Sun did here) even though it is a pittance compared to the first two items in the list.

And if that proposal seems too realistic… don’t worry, Bobby ain’t done. “But this is only the beginning,” he said. “We will not stop until we repeal the entire tax code and replace it with a simpler, fairer, flatter system that will allow Americans to file their tax returns without the help of a lawyer or an account or both.”

Obviously he is conflating things here. You don’t need to have massively regressive flat tax to make filing taxes easier. This is the Republican playbook though, yesterday, today, tomorrow, and forever. 

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

Raise hell to praise Dale. The Intimidator is back in the car this week despite breaking his collarbone last week.