The Mets’ Grapefruit League loss to Baltimore Sunday afternoon wouldn’t ordinarily be a big deal back in Charm City, but it might’ve attracted less attention than usual. As the New York Post’s Bart Hubbach explains, O’s fans following the contest on the radio might well have believed the game was rained out (link culled from Baseball Think Factory)

The Orioles’ flagship radio team of Joe Angel (above) and Fred Manfra quietly left the stadium here today during a 90-minute rain delay and didn’t come back for the final eight innings, telling their bosses at 105.7 The Fan in Baltimore that the game had been canceled.

“Yes, the rest of the game was not on the air back home and we don’t know why,” a baffled Orioles PR rep said later. “We looked over during the game and they weren’t there.”

What if, for example, All-Star reliever George Sherrill — who ended up pitching this afternoon when the game resumed — had hurt himself?

All you would-be announcers might want to get your resume tapes ready, because there could be an opening or two in Baltimore very shortly.

The Baltimore Sun’s Ray Frager took the time to contact Angel, who insists the decison to vacate the premises was made by his radio paymasters (“Fred Manfra and I would much rather have preferred to stay and finish
the broadcast after the rain delay”).  Angel’s version of events has been corroborated by Dave Labrozzi of CBS Radio, so perhaps those audition tapes Hubbach refers to might well be sent elsewhere.