By Richard Justice
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 5, 1999; Page D03
"I'm just going to forget Monday," Manager Ray Miller said. "I hope everyone will write it off."
Write-offs are coming almost daily for a team that began the day with a 7-17 record. And that record didn't include Monday's 12-6 exhibition loss to a group of Cuban all-stars that was played in front of a sold-out ballpark and a national television audience. With a chance to gain a measure of self-esteem, the Orioles instead played as badly as they have all season, falling behind by nine runs before staging a meaningless three-run rally in the bottom of the ninth inning.
"We played horribly," left fielder B.J. Surhoff said, stating the obvious.
If there was anything worse than the Orioles, it was the game's timing. Off to their worst start in 11 years, the Orioles were forced to play an exhibition that the team's front office wanted them to treat like a playoff game. The only concession to it being an exhibition game was that Miller didn't use any of his five starting pitchers, or his top three relievers. Scott Kamieniecki was the starting pitcher.
Kamieniecki's outing was part of his rehabilitation program for a hamstring injury that has sidelined him all season. He struggled in the first inning, but didn't allow a run. Then, after sitting out a 56-minute rain delay, Kamieniecki allowed three quick earned runs and turned over the game to the bullpen.
It went downhill from there. The Cubans collected 18 hits; third baseman Omar Linares, long considered the best of the Cubans, was on base six straight times with four hits and two walks. They struck the final blow when designated hitter Andy Morales hit a three-run home run in the ninth and celebrated with a mad dance around the bases.
"I don't think anybody really appreciates the guy running around like an idiot around the bases," Surhoff said. "It's not exactly our style."
Surhoff said the Orioles were in "a no-win situation. If we won, we were just doing what we were supposed to do. But we weren't going to sacrifice one of our starting pitchers to pitch in this game, especially in our situation."
A lot of the Orioles agreed with that assessment.
"I'm not making excuses -- we lost," Kamieniecki said. "But it was two different teams with two different points of view. I had nothing to prove out there. If that's wrong, I'm sorry."
Not everything went right for the Cubans. Several members of their traveling party missed the return flight to Havana, and at least one member of the delegation -- Coach Rigoberto Herrera Betancourt -- defected and sought asylum this morning. Six others were said to have overslept.
Meanwhile in Havana, a happy Cuban President Fidel Castro and hundreds of screaming children greeted the players as they returned home.
"This was a truly historic event," Castro said during a three-hour speech on the steps of the University of Havana. "For a long time we have wanted to measure the advances in our sport, to know what would happen if such a game was held."
Castro said his players had "the spirits of lions, of tigers."
Thousands of baseball fans jammed the streets leading to the university to greet the players as they arrived from the airport in open Jeeps.
"Cuba! Cuba!" the fans chanted, some waving the red, white and blue Cuban flag.
Linares thanked Castro for his support during a ceremony at the university.
"Dear commander in chief, the mission you gave us has been completed," Linares said before hugging the dictator. "Socialism or death! Patriotism or death! We will overcome!"
In an apparent reference to defections, Castro criticized sports agents who attempt to lure Cuban athletes out of their native country.
"They go around the world buying athletes, they go around buying scientists, and artists. It is very difficult to compete with that," Castro said. "We have to fight against these attempts to buy off our athletes."
© Copyright 1999 The Washington Post Company