Alomar: a Hero in Black Hat

Improbable. Ugly and beautiful. Woeful and wonderful. Heart-stopping. And most of all, with Roberto Alomar providing a game-tying, ninth-inning hit and a 12th-inning, game-winning and series-winning home run, ironic. All these apply to the Baltimore Orioles’ emotionally draining victory over the Cleveland Indians Saturday that lifted them, flying high, into the American League Championship Series and a chance for the pennant starting Tuesday in New York against the Yankees.

The maligned and much-booed Alomar, down to his and the Orioles’ last strike of the game in the top of the ninth, singled home the tying run, then won Game 4 of the best-of-five series, 4-3, with a leadoff home run in the 12th, twice victimizing Indians closer and loser Jose Mesa.

“I’ve been going through a lot of tough times,” said Alomar, who was booed relentlessly by Cleveland fans for spitting in the face of umpire John Hirschbeck after being ejected from a Sept. 27 game against the Blue Jays in Toronto. “I think it was a mistake. I apologized. You have to move on.

“I’m real happy I came here and helped my team to win the series. You have to concentrate, to focus on the games. Today I didn’t let the fans bug me. I just went and played the game.”

The incident and Alomar’s remarks afterward -- saying the Hirschbeck had grown “real bitter” since the death of his 7-year-old son in 1993 -- fanned the controversy. Alomar’s subsequent punishment -- a five-game suspension, to be served after the playoffs -- nearly resulted in a strike by major league umpires and threatened to overshadow the Orioles’ late-season surge to the American League wild-card berth and their first playoff appearance in 13 seasons.

This evening, Hirschbeck issued a statement from his home in Poland, Ohio, saying he forgives Alomar.

“I wish to state publicly that I forgive Roberto Alomar for his actions,” Hirschbeck said. “I am sure that he wishes as much as I do that this incident had never occurred.

“Denise (Hirschbeck’s wife) and I speak today with the hope of putting the events of this past week to rest, and to begin the process of healing and restoration. It is time to bring closure to this matter.”

The Orioles, given up on in late July as a pennant threat even by their own front office, dethroned the two-time defending league champions even as, almost unbelievably, they struck out a postseason record 23 times -- including four times each by Rafael Palmeiro, Bobby Bonilla and Pete Incaviglia. The Orioles, in the frustration that preceded their triumph, stirred bigger breezes with their wild-swinging bats than the gusts whipping off Lake Erie in Jacobs Field.

In this second year of major league play involving wild-card teams, the Orioles became the first wild card to win a series. Missing from postseason play since their 1983 world championship season, they advanced to face the Yankees, who won their playoff series Saturday against the Rangers at Texas, 6-4.

Orioles owner Peter Angelos’ decision to overrule general manager Pat Gillick’s late-July desire to trade either Bonilla or pitcher David Wells for young prospects paid still more dividends on top of the Orioles’ late-season drive that kept the team competitive and its fans flocking to Oriole Park at Camden Yards -- to Angelos’ delight.

Wells and Bonilla, who helped in the Orioles’ regular season comeback, helped pushed the Indians into an unexpected early winter. The Game 1 winner of this series, Wells delivered seven strong and stout-hearted innings to put the Orioles in position to win despite their own strikeouts and a number of wacky miscues during the 4-hour 41-minute marathon that left limp the Indians and their partisans among the record crowd of 44,280.

“We came together as a team,” Cal Ripken Jr. said. “We played well down the stretch. It gets more exciting with each step.”

“My guys got a little nervous at times but we got it done,” said Davey Johnson, who would not have been the winning manager without Alomar. “You almost knew, the script was almost written, when he had a chance, he’d win it.

“I don’t know how he does it. The tougher it gets, the keener focus he has.”

Losing Manager Mike Hargrove, asked if he believed Alomar should have been suspended during the postseason instead of the five-game penalty that will be enforced next season, replied, “I wished he had been,” but quickly added with a smile, “I say that facetiously.”