Good Things Come in Threes

I promise I won't make all of my posts about the Baltimore Orioles (sorry Reece), yet they continue to pop up.   This afternoon, the Orioles again were a part of baseball history when they led off the first inning with three consecutive home runs.  Ryan Flaherty started things off with his first career home run on the second pitch of the game from Colby Lewis.  J.J. Hardy followed in his footsteps only three pitches later, and Nick Markakis would hit a home run after another three pitches.

This is only the fourth time that a team had hit a home run in their first three plate appearances of a game.  Previously, the Milwaukee Brewers did it in 2007, coincidentally with J.J. Hardy hitting the second home run in the game as well (between Rickie Weeks and Ryan Braun).  Before that, Rafael Furcal, Mark DeRosa, and Gary Sheffield had accomplished the feat in 2003 with the Atlanta Braves.  The first occurrence was not quite as recent, in 1987, with the San Diego Padres' Marvell Wynne, Tony Gwynn, and John Kruk beginning a game that way.

It's was a nice result for the Orioles who came out on top at the end of the game 6-5.  Of course, fans will be much happier to see their first winning team on the field since 1997.  It may be a good sign that the two previous teams that accomplished this (Braves and Brewers) went onto winning seasons, finishing first or second in their respective divisions.  On the flip side, the Padres, who were the only team to lose a game after beginning the first inning with three home runs, went on to finish dead last in their division in 1987.