The story of Travis Driskill's first season with the Orioles will be filled with chapters that chronicle his rise from the minor-league shadows to the brightest lights of his professional career. How he went from unwanted to unbeaten as a 30-year-old rookie. Nothing he does from this point can change these pages.
He also might turn in the occasional performance that makes for some difficult reading. It took a while - perhaps longer than anyone could have reasonably expected - but it finally happened.
Looking to stay perfect in his seventh start with the Orioles, Driskill gave up four home runs in his worst outing of the year, a 6-2 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies last night before another sellout crowd of 48,937 at Camden Yards.
A 2-0 lead disintegrated in the fourth inning when Pat Burrell hit a three-run homer. And the night was just beginning to go bad for Driskill, who was attempting to join former No. 1 draft pick Ben McDonald as the only Orioles rookies to begin a season 6-0.
They played another round at the U.S. Senior Open at Caves Valley yesterday, but it seemed as if everyone was teeing off on Driskill.
Jimmy Rollins took him deep in the fifth inning, and Jeremy Giambi and Scott Rolen hit back-to-back homers in the sixth, bringing loud groans from the stands that often were muffled by the large contingent of red-clad Phillies fans who made the trip down Interstate 95.
Lacking command of his fastball, which allowed the Phillies to lay off the splitter, and unable to keep his slider down, Driskill became vulnerable for one of the few times since signing in November as a minor-league free agent.
"I just didn't throw quality pitches," he said. "I didn't feel any different. Bad things just happened."
The Phillies and Mariners are the only teams to get a second look at Driskill as a starter. Seattle also had better success in the rematch, scoring five runs in six innings.
"If this happens the next four or five times, you might have a case for that," manager Mike Hargrove said when asked if these teams had solved Driskill. "I don't believe it to be the case. ...
"How many starts has Travis had, six or seven? And this is his first bad one. I think we'll probably take one out of seven starts."
It's fortunate that Joe Torre already left town. As the manager responsible for choosing the American League's pitching staff for the All-Star Game, it's better that he didn't witness the beating.
No team had scored more than five runs off Driskill in any of his starts. He allowed three runs or fewer in all but one of them, but his ERA climbed last night from 3.51 to 4.12. He's given up 12 homers in 54 2/3 innings, tied with Calvin Maduro for the second-most by an Orioles pitcher behind Sidney Ponson.
Chris Brock replaced him to start the seventh inning, after Driskill was charged with six runs and seven hits.
"I'll just take it as a bad outing and go into my next one and get ready for Anaheim and hope good things happen there," he said. "I think every pitcher would like to go undefeated, but you have to realize that sometimes the ball's not going to bounce your way."
Melvin Mora hit his second leadoff homer in eight days for the Orioles (37-40), who took two of three games from the Phillies earlier this month at Veterans Stadium. Jose Leon added his first major-league homer in the second inning, but Driskill couldn't hold the lead.
It must have been from the Phillies ripping it out of his hands.
The last time Driskill faced them on June 16, he allowed two runs in 6 1/3 innings and picked up a huge assist from relievers Willis Roberts and Jorge Julio in a 4-2 victory. But no help was forthcoming last night. It was much too late to be rescued.
Burrell jumped on Driskill's first pitch after an infield hit and walk. Pitching coach Mark Wiley came to the mound after another walk with one out. Travis Lee singled to center field - with Chris Singleton almost making a sliding catch - but Mike Lieberthal struck out on a full count and catcher Geronimo Gil completed the double play by throwing out Rolen at third base.
Rollins homered on a 1-0 changeup in the fifth after Driskill had gotten the first two outs routinely. Giambi, whose brother, Jason, homered twice for the New York Yankees in Thursday's 3-2 win over the Orioles, cleared the scoreboard in right field in the sixth. Rolen carried the next pitch, a slider, 418 feet to center field.
The barrage was ample support for Phillies left-hander Randy Wolf (4-6), who had lost his past four decisions. His most recent win had come May 19, but he often had the Orioles flailing last night at a 68-mph curveball that made an average fastball seem more imposing.
"Every single fly ball is a home run in this park," Wolf said.
Mora connected on an 88-mph fastball from Wolf on a 1-0 count for his 10th homer. Leon, starting again at first base against a left-hander, hit his homer in the same count, on the same pitch clocked at the identical speed.
"Both teams hit the ball hard tonight," said Hargrove, who watched all the scoring come on home runs. "They just hit theirs higher and farther than we did."