The past and the future blended seamlessly on Saturday at Camden Yards, alternate visions of glory trimmed in orange and black. Between innings, the scoreboard showed clips from the Orioles’ last championship clincher, 40 years ago this fall. When the game resumed, the current players did a sharp imitation.
Flawless defense, stingy pitching, clutch hitting, heady baserunning. A sold-out crowd. Fireworks. A splash zone in the outfield stands — the Bird Bath — to hose down fans after big hits. Another win for the best team in the American League.
“They remind me a lot of when I came up, with Eddie Murray and Rich Dauer and Mike Flanagan and Dennis Martinez,” said Scott McGregor, the pitcher who closed out the 1983 World Series against Philadelphia and reunited with his former teammates last weekend.