TEAMS WITH BETTER REGULAR-SEASON RECORDS HOLD FORM AS. . . : Cream Stays on Top

Everybody loves an underdog, so the Baltimore Orioles embraced the label that was oddly bestowed upon them this week. They struggled in September, several starters were banged up, they had to face Seattle ace Randy Johnson twice in a five-game American League division series . . . yeah, sure, we’re the underdogs, they agreed.

Then came Wednesday night, and a 9-3 Baltimore victory provided a reminder for a record Kingdome crowd of 59,579 why the Orioles won 98 games and became only the sixth team in baseball history to lead their division wire to wire.

Right-hander Mike Mussina threw seven strong innings, giving up five hits and striking out nine, and the Orioles reduced the Big Unit to a mere mortal.

Geronimo Berroa and Chris Hoiles homered, Eric Davis, B.J. Surhoff and Mike Bordick had two RBIs apiece, and Mussina improved his record against Seattle to 9-1 with a sparkling performance tainted only by Edgar Martinez’s homer in the fourth and Jay Buhner’s homer in the seventh.

“I was happy the Big Unit was getting all the press,” Baltimore Manager Davey Johnson said. “Everyone was talking about Randy Johnson, and it was as if Mike Mussina was chopped liver. The greatest thing we had going for us was everyone thinking Mussina had no chance to beat Randy.”

The second greatest thing was the rarest of strategies--a formula to beat Johnson, the 6-foot-10 left-hander who is one of baseball’s most intimidating pitchers.

Baltimore roughed up Johnson for five runs on seven hits in five innings, and the Orioles now own the Big Unit so much they can take out a home equity loan against him--Johnson is 0-3 with a 6.38 ERA in four 1997 starts against Baltimore and 3-8 with a 4.92 ERA lifetime against the Orioles.

How do they do it?

“Those are our secrets--I’m not going to pass them along,” Davey Johnson said. “I knew we had to take him into deep counts and not swing at pitches out of the strike zone, and that’s what we did.”

The manager’s strategy is to stock his lineup with right-handed hitters, even at the expense of benching first baseman Rafael Palmeiro, the team leader in homers and RBIs, all-star second baseman Roberto Alomar and Surhoff, Baltimore’s clutch-hitting outfielder.

It worked three times in the regular season, but there were plenty of raised eyebrows Tuesday when Johnson said he would go with his downsized lineup--Jerome Walton at first, Jeff Reboulet at second and Jeffrey Hammonds in left.

“A lot of times you take a calculated gamble that you think is best for your team, and that may be at the expense of the manager,” Johnson said. “A lot of people felt I was putting my neck on the block, but I didn’t feel it was a risk until I came in [to the interview room] and everyone started asking me if I was crazy for not starting those guys.”

Indeed, Johnson proved he was sane when the Orioles tagged the other Johnson for four runs in the fifth inning, two on Davis’ single and one on Berroa’s homer, to break open a 1-1 game.

The five-inning, five-run, three-strikeout performance matched Johnson’s season low for innings pitched and strikeouts and season high for runs.

“These guys count on me to not put them in a hole, and that’s what I did,” said Johnson, who threw 100 pitches and fell behind on many counts. “But I’m a grown man. I’m not going to go home and tear myself up over it.”

Asked if there was any different way he might approach the Orioles, Johnson, who will start Game 4 on three days’ rest if necessary, said: “Yeah, tell all of them to wear Anaheim Angel or Toronto Blue Jay uniforms.”

Seattle Manager Lou Piniella said Johnson was not nearly as sharp as usual, but the pitcher also caught a bad break. Hammonds, who walked and scored the Orioles’ first run on Bordick’s third-inning double, walked to open the fifth, and Johnson promptly picked him off.

But Mariner first baseman Paul Sorrento slipped on the dirt cutout while pivoting to throw to second and was practically on the ground when he released the ball, which hit Hammonds in the foot and caromed into left field, allowing Hammonds to take third.

Bordick walked and Brady Anderson singled for a 2-1 lead. Reboulet dropped a perfect bunt on an 0-2 pitch, advancing the runners, and Davis bounced a grounder over third baseman Mike Blowers--one of those artificial turf specials--for a two-run single and a 4-1 lead.

Berroa homered to right-center for a 5-1 lead, and the Orioles unloaded on Mariner relievers Mike Timlin and Paul Spoljaric in the sixth, scoring four more runs to make it a blowout.