It’s July 16, 1996, and Juan Guzman threw a complete-game, five-hit shutout as the Blue Jays took an early lead and cruised to an easy 6-0 win in Baltimore.

The second game of the “Cal Ripken at third base” era was a resounding failure. Ace right hander Mike Mussina gave up five runs in the first three innings. He hung around for seven innings and gave up 12 hits. The Jays hit seven doubles on the night.

Manny Alexander, who started his second straight game at shortstop, made an error and later failed to cover second on a stolen base attempt, resulting in the throw sailing into center field. It was not a great display.

“He hasn’t played out there,” O’s manager Davey Johnson said to the Sun’s Buster Olney. “It’s possible he’s pressing. When I talked to him, I just told him to relax and play aggressively.” (Baltimore Sun, p. 1D, July 17, 1996)

Alexander did have one of the O’s five hits.

Mussina was disappointed in his effort as the loss set him back to 11-7 on the season.

“I made some bad pitches,” he said. “I got the ball up a few times, and they got some hits. … I’m struggling, and not having the year I’d hoped to have or that I’ve had in the past.”

Anyway, some days you have it, some days you don’t. The O’s have been not having it more often than not these days.

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

After several weeks on the injured list, infielder Jeff Huson was back in the lineup tonight. He started at second base for the banged-up Roberto Alomar and contributed two hits. Huson had been nursing an injured knee and there was speculation he would be released or traded instead of rejoining the team. But when Roger McDowell went on the injured list, Huson was back with the ball club.

“I’m happy with the way the situation worked out,” he said. “I didn’t think I’d be back. From all of the discussions we had, I thought I was either going to be traded or put on waivers.” (Baltimore Sun, p. 5D, July 17, 1996)

In other news, Bobby Bonilla is still the focus of trade rumors. Olney reports that the O’s and Giants have talked about a trade centered on Bonilla for catcher Kirt Manwaring and pitcher Mark Leiter. The trade would reunite Bonilla with his former teammate in Pittsburgh, Barry Bonds. The trade deadline is just over two weeks away, so we’ll see what happens. 

A shutout is not good for the wall.

Blue Jays (42-51) at Orioles (47-44), 7:35 p.m.

Starting Pitchers:
TOR – RHP Erik Hanson (8-11, 6.55 ERA)
BAL – LHP Kent Mercker (3-6, 7.20 ERA) 

The main story on the front page is a familiar one, as Orioles legend Cal Ripken has moved to third base after starting 2,216 consecutive games at shortstop. In Baltimore, it is like there is no other news today, though the Dow Jones did tumble 161 points and has lost over 300 points since it peaked at 5,778 on May 22. The greediest among us are worried that the long-running bull market is coming to an end. “It’s ugly,” said Curt Fox, some broker guy on the Eastern Shore, said to the Sun. “What you are seeing here is that clients are hard to find. They don’t want to buy because they are sitting on losses on their current holdings. They are stuck.” Anyway, shut the fuck up, Curt, let’s talk about Cal.

As we discussed in yesterday’s blog, Cal played third for the first time since June 30, 1982. It was a big deal.

“I wasn’t certain it was going to happen this fast,” Ripken said. “But [O’s manager] Davey [Johnson] seemed pretty adamant about it. I was told this is a temporary situation and they’re going to evaluate Manny Alexander as the shortstop. I’ve had a few months to get used to the idea. I don’t take it as criticism that I can’t play shortstop any better than I have or I can’t hit any better than I have the last couple of months.”

Johnson noted that the decision is a stressful one. “This is a very hard thing to do,” he said. “Because we all know Cal is the heart and soul of this team.”

Anyway, the O’s won that game so it looked brilliant at the time. After losing today’s game in humiliating fashion, it looks less brilliant. There’s always tomorrow!

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

It’s NBA free agency and the Sun is shocked about the contracts being handed out to star players. They even misleadingly compare it to CEOs by having the entire 7-year contracts on the same bar chart as the CEO’s single-year compensation.