It’s June 18, 1996, and the Rangers hit five homers in the first four innings, though they only needed one as Darren Oliver and company shut out the O’s 7-0.

The Sun’s Buster Olney’s lede says it all:

After complaining so much about being yanked early in his previous start, Mercker only lasted three innings tonight. Giving up six runs (and four homers) and never really giving the O’s a chance. Haynes came on in the fourth and promptly gave up another homer. Juan Gonzalez, Rene Gonzales, Kevin Elster, Dean Palmer, and Damon Buford all hit homers for Texas.

The rotation remains a mess, with Mercker averaging less than four innings per start and sporting a 7.47 ERA. As Olney speculates, it could be time for lefty Rick Krivda to take his spot. We shall see.

Meanwhile, the O’s couldn’t do anything against Oliver, and the lefty held them to just five hits through seven innings. Dennis Cook came on and retired six straight as the Birds went down without a fight.

Roberto Alomar and B.J. Surhoff both were out of the lineup with ankle soreness. “Roberto’s been a little hobbled with his ankle,” O’s manager Davey Johnson said about Alomar, who is in a 5-for-31 slump to drop his league-leading average to .380. “Occasionally, everybody needs rest. I wanted to give him some down time, especially with the rainy weather.” (Baltimore Sun, p. 6D, June 19, 1996)

Here’s the box score with the not-so-lovely totals.

In other O’s news, Tony Tarasco, who is currently at Triple-A Rochester, may miss the remainder of the season because of tendinitis in his right shoulder.

“It’s serious,” assistant general manager Kevin Malone said. “We’re hoping it’s not season-ending, but that is a possibility.” (Baltimore Sun, p. 6D, June 19, 1996)

That sure is one possibility. Another possibility is that he could be healthy in time to be in right field on a fateful October day at Yankee Stadium. I guess we’ll have to see what happens.

After failing to negotiate a different option, the Rangers and O’s are scheduled to play a doubleheader tomorrow. Until then!

No runs means no homers.

Rangers (42-27) vs. Orioles (36-30), 4:05 p.m.

Starting Pitchers
Game 1
TEX – RHP Bobby Witt (6-5, 6.05 ERA)
BAL – RHP Mike Mussina (9-3, 5.13 ERA)

Game 2
TEX – RHP Kevin Gross (7-4, 5.38 ERA)
BAL – LHP Rick Krivda (2-2, 3.52 ERA)

The FAA has indefinitely grounded ValuJet. Per a New York Times wire story on the front page of the Sun, the federal agency began its investigation of the airline following a Florida crash on May 11. The investigation found “serious deficiencies” in ValuJet’s operations, so it will not be flying again anytime soon.

A ValuJet spokesperson, James O’Donnell, said “There’s no question that ValuJet will return, and in fact the airline has already begun work on its return-to-service plan.”

I’m sure people will be eager to fly on an airline that recently killed 110 people and was subsequently deemed seriously deficient.

Kind of a slow news day on the front page, so that’s all for today!

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

These things were very ’90s.