What is it about the Baltimore Orioles that brings out the anger in the Texas Ranger hitters?

Wednesday's 30-3 beating by the Rangers was not the first time the Orioles suffered an extremely embarrassing loss at the hands of the former Washington Senators franchise.

I covered a Friday night game in April 1996 at The Ballpark in Arlington that ended with Manny Alexander pitching for the Orioles in a 26-7 loss.

The game lasted 4 hours, 15 minutes, only three minutes shy of the major league record for a nine-inning game at the time. The 26 runs were the most ever scored against an Orioles team -- until the 30 that the Rangers put on the board Wednesday at Camden Yards.

Alexander, the backup middle infielder, made his professional pitching debut, walking four and giving up five runs, four on a grand slam by Kevin Elster. All 26 runs were earned, on 19 hits and 13 walks.

Also, the 26 runs by the Rangers was a franchise record -- again, until Wednesday, as were the 16 they scored in the eighth inning -- only the third time in the 20th century that a team has scored that many and just one below the record set by the Boston Red Sox against the Detroit Tigers on June 18, 1953.

After the game, owner Peter Angelos sent the team a fax. "It was supportive of us," manager Davey Johnson said. "I passed it around to the players."

Angelos said he felt it was the right thing to do.

"They certainly have the talent and the class to go all the way," he said. "That doesn't mean it will happen, because there are always a lot of variables involved in doing that. But they are a very special group of players, and I just wanted to let them know how we feel about them."

On the day Angelos just made interim manager Dave Trembley his team's manager for next year -- setting the stage for yet another national embarrassment for the Orioles -- I doubt any faxes were sent about being a special group of players.

Here's another difference: Before the game, the Orioles were in first place in the American League East and remained so after the game.

And Manny Alexander is now part of the Washington Nationals, an infielder with the team's Class AAA club in Columbus. He hasn't taken the mound yet this season.