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Reboulet Takes Johnson Deep

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No one was about to elevate Jeff Reboulet to Brian Doyle status--Doyle, remember, was the anonymous second baseman who replaced the injured Willie Randolph and hit .438 for the New York Yankees in their 1978 World Series victory over the Dodgers.

But stars seem to materialize out of nowhere in the playoffs, and Reboulet was about as unlikely a hero as you could find in Camden Yards on Sunday.

Filling in for starting second baseman Roberto Alomar, Reboulet homered off Seattle ace Randy Johnson in the first inning of the Orioles’ division series-clinching, 3-1 victory over the Mariners.

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It was only Reboulet’s fifth homer of the season, but two of those have come against Johnson. Reboulet improved his season average to .364 (four for 11) and career average to .300 (12 for 40) against the Mariner left-hander.

“It was just one of those days when I got lucky,” Reboulet said. “I don’t hit a lot of home runs. I just put the bat on the ball and let Randy’s speed do the rest.”

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With his two victories, a 1.93 earned-run average and 16 strikeouts in the division series, perhaps Baltimore ace Mike Mussina will put to rest speculation that he is not a good “big-game” pitcher.

Though Mussina has been one of baseball’s best pitchers this decade, losses to Cleveland in the 1996 division series and New York in the ’96 American League championship series sparked some doubt as to whether he could handle the pressure of big games.

“I thought it was funny last year--there were comments in the media about Mike never having pitched well in a big game,” Oriole Manager Davey Johnson said. “Well, we had never won the pennant or been in postseason play since he had been here, so how could he not pitch well in a game?”

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As usual, the Orioles got outstanding relief pitching Sunday. Armando Benitez threw a hitless eighth and got Ken Griffey Jr. to ground out weakly with a runner on second, and Randy Myers struck out two of three in the ninth for the save.

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But going to his bullpen wasn’t an easy decision for Johnson, because Mussina had thrown only 101 pitches and looked strong after the seventh.

“Mike kind of looked at me when I took him out and said, ‘Are you sure?”’ Johnson said. “I told him I wasn’t really sure, and maybe I should leave him in. But this is the way we’ve won all year, with Benitez and Myers, so I didn’t have any qualms taking Mike out.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

SERIES AT A GLANCE

(Orioles win series, 3-1)

* Game 1: Baltimore 9, Seattle 3

* Game 2: Baltimore 9, Seattle 3

* Game 3: Seattle 4, Baltimore 2

* Game 4: Baltimore 3, Seattle 1

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