Fending off the birds

             For the first time since 1997 there was going to be meaningful baseball played at Camden Yards after Labor Day. The Orioles have been on a roll since the All-Star break and have caught up to the slow-footed Yankees to be only one game back in the AL East standings. Knowing the usual large groupies of Yankee fans would make their way down to Baltimore, the Orioles braintrust slipped in a special Cal Ripken Jr. celebration day for the first game in hopes their fans would remember how to get to Camden Yards.



              With a large crowd behind them, mostly with orange shirts this time, the home team didn't disappoint and jumped all over Yankee starter David Phelps for 4 runs in the bottom of the 1st, with the big blow a 3-run opposite field homerun from Matt Wieters. Phelps was only able to go 4 innings, meanwhile the Yankees were only able to scratch one measly run off of Jason Hammel. Joba Chamberlain allowed a homerun to Mark Reynolds, who has destroyed the Yankees these past two months, in the 6th that pushed the score to 6-1 and it was looking like the Orioles were winning the game easily. It wasn't until the top of the 8th that the Yankees made their bats heard. With two outs, Nick Swisher walked and Alex Rodriguez brought him in with a RBI double. After that, a barrage of singles and walks, mixed in with a passed ball, ended up bringing four more Yankees across home plate and amazingly, the game was tied!! Then in the bottom of the 8th, something else amazing happened; David Robertson of all relievers, was knocked around for three runs from two homeruns. Boone Logan would be responsible for another Baltimore run in the inning and the home team had their big lead back at 10-6, which is where the score ended. Four runs cometh, four runs goeth, and both teams were tied for first place in the AL East.



             Remembering what offense was like from the 8th inning the night before, the Yankees got to their style of baseball once they reached the 4th inning of a scoreless game. Phil Hughes and Wei-Yin Chen put up zeros through the first three innings, but the the Bombers finally struck soon after. Russell Martin got it started with a 3-run homer, then newcomer Steve Pearce touched off on a 2-run. In the for good measure in the 5th inning, A-Rod crushed a 2-run shot of his own and the Yanks were up big 7-0. Big leads mean nothing in Camden Yards and the Orioles were back in it in the 6th when they finally got to Hughes on a 3-run homer from Alex Jones that cut it to 7-3. Hughes would finish the 6th and earn his 14th win of the season. The Orioles poked two more homers, the last coming from Manny Machado in the bottom of the 9th which put it at 8-5 Yankees, but Rafael Soriano kept it there and put the Yankees back up by a game in the standings. There was no save for Soriano since he entered the game when the score was 8-4.



            The Yankees had their slumbering ace, CC Sabathia, on the mound trying to build upon the one game lead they had on the Orioles. Also back in action was first baseman Mark Teixeira, back from his calf injury that had him sidelined for a few weeks. The Yanks' bats kept on rolling early with runs scored in the 1st and 2nd inning that gave CC a 2-0 lead to work with. In the bottom of the 4th, CC turned it back on over; giving up solo homers to Mark Reynolds (why do they keep pitching to this guy?) and Lew Ford (what a disgrace!). The Yankees weren't able to get to Joe Saunders beyond the 2nd inning and the Orioles would eventually take the lead in the 3rd thanks to a RBI double from JJ Hardy that made it 3-2. Sabathia wore down as the game went on and was tagged for a homer from Hardy in the 6th, and then a RBI single from the scrapheap Lew Ford which had the O's up 5-2. The one Oriole reliever the Yankees have been able to get to has been Pedro Strop, and Buck Showalter put him out there in the 8th. Alex Rodriguez greeted him with a monstrous  homerun to deep center that made it 5-3. The Yanks continued to walk and hit their way that set up a bases loaded situation for Curtis Granderson, but the struggling Yankee center fielder popped up on a pitch from the next O's reliever, Brian Matusz. The closer for the Orioles, Jim Johnson, has been one of the game's best in 2012, but the Yanks didn't go quietly against him. In fact, two singles, and a bunt for a single made the bases loaded again with no outs. Under normal circumstances this should've been an inning to tie the game and even take the lead. With the way the Yankees hit with runners on, this was to be expected. A weak groundout to shortstop from Nick Swisher cut the score to 5-4 Orioles, and the very next hitter, Mark Teixeira, also hit an infield grounder that was turned for a game-ending double-play. Not only did Teixeira run hard down the line to beat out the play which caused him to re-injure his calf that'll sideline him now for another couple of weeks, but video replay shows he was safe at first by a large margin. The game should've been tied at 5 at that point with Alex Rodriguez coming to the plate with a runner on base.



              Perhaps testy after the way they lost and the blown call from the ump on Teixeira's game-ending out, Yankees manager Joe Girardi had a screaming match in his office with New York Post reporter Joel Sherman concerning Girardi's favorite subject to discuss: Yankee injuries. The spark was ignited after Sherman asked regarding Sabathia's health as a reason for his lower velocity and poor control lately, unknowing the question was already asked twice before and Girardi insisted his ace was fine health-wise. Girardi took it as Sherman wasn't buying his original answer on Sabathia, but it was just a case Sherman didn't know Girardi already spoke about it. Things got hot tempered on both sides, and this is just week after Girardi made a loud tirade against a fan heckling him in Chicago while he was trying to have his press conference. Needless to say, the way the Yankees have looked like anything else but a playoff club must be getting to #28.



             Back tied for first in the AL East, the Yankees needed Freddy Garcia (add name to list of terrible Yankees in recent weeks) to get them out of Baltimore with a lead in the standings. Up against Garcia was Zach Britton, who unlike Garcia, has been good lately for the Orioles, but Britton would blink first. Already down 1-0 in the 4th, Britton would himself with the bases loaded and would walk Steven Pearce to bring in the second run of the game for a 2-0 Yankee lead. More hits would come and by the end of the inning, Britton was gone and the Yanks were up 5-0. As usual, Garcia was good early, but ran out of gas by the 4th as well and gave three runs back to the Orioles. Joba Chamberlain came out of the bullpen to clean Garcia's mess and keep the score at 5-3 for the Yankees. After a scoreless inning from Chamberlain, the Yankees started to pour it on. Curtis Granderson launched a solo homer in the 6th, his first of three hits on the day. Another homerun ball went out in the 8th from Derek Jeter, his 15th jack of the season, which also scored Ichiro. With the Yankees still batting, Granderson doubled in two more runs and the score was convincingly 13-3. The win went to Joba to put his record at 1-0, and it was his best performance to date as he continues to work his way back from the surgery. He also slipped in a tiny fist-pump for old times sake. Plus, Cory Wade made an appearance with two scoreless innings that brought him three strikeouts.



              The Yankees left Baltimore the same way they came, ahead one game in the AL East. Despite the split of a four-game series, the Yankees had opportunities to win all four game (including the blown call on Teixeira) against the hottest team in baseball in their own ballpark. Ivan Nova is officially back with the team and available for long-relief for the moment, and Andy Pettitte is one more simulated game away from rejoining the club. A-Rod has his power strong and number of the hitters woke up at Camden Yards. Next stop is up at Fenway for a last time in 2012 to face who knows what type of Red Sox team is left.....

Can't beat Buck

             The Orioles hopped over the Rays in the standings and came into New York looking to bite at the heels of the AL East-leading Yankees. Only three games ahead, the Yankees were looking push the O's further down in the pack, but Buck Showalter's troops for the third time this season, came into the Yankees' backyard and took two of the three games and narrowed their deficit to a tiny two games.



             Licking their wounds from the miserable Blue Jays series, the Yanks were hoping Hiroki Kuroda could get them started in the right direction. For the first inning he did, but in the second frame after a sacrifice fly to Chris Davis, the strikeout-prone Mark Reynolds connected on a 2-run homer to increase the early lead to 3-0 Orioles. Their starter, Miguel Gonzalez, chewed through the exposed and decimated Yankees line-up as if he was Sandy Koufax. He would go seven full innings for the win and only give away four measly hits while striking out 9. Kuroda received no run support for the second straight game, but at least pitched into the 9th inning to give the bullpen a longer break after the off-day Thursday. Derek Lowe came into the 9th and gave up a hit and a homer, as he is looking less-reliable lately, that gave the O's a 6-0 lead. In the bottom of the 9th, Curtis Granderson gave some sign he's alive by popping a solo homer, but that was all for the Yanks as they fell 6-1.



            The rookie David Phelps was asked to hold off the surging Orioles for the following game and had perhaps his sloppiest outing since moving back into the starting rotation. Thanks to walks, hits, and even a hit-batsman, Phelps found himself down 2-0 after the 2nd inning and it actually could've been alot worse. Matt Wieters homered to lead off the 4th to make it 3-0 Orioles, and it was looking like another lethargic effort out of the Yankee lineup that has been injured and unable to score in recent weeks. It didn't help either when Curtis Granderson had to exit the game with tightness in his hamstring, but tests came back negative. Robinson Cano finally got something started with an opposite field homer off of lefty starter Wei-Yin Chen that cut the lead to 3-1. Phelps couldn't finish the 5th inning and needed to be lifted after only going 4.2 innings and giving up 3 earned runs with a terrible six walks allowed. Luckily the for the Yankees, the rosters were expanded with September call-ups from the minors and a familiar face, Eduardo Nunez, delivered with a RBI hit in the middle of a 7th inning rally that ended up eventually tying the game on a Jeter walk. The Orioles made their one big mistake of the weekend a batter later when JJ Hardy mishandled Nick Swisher groundball up the middle that let the Yankees seize a gift 4-3 lead. David Robertson looked sharp in a 1-2-3 8th inning, and Rafael Soriano helped push the Yankees AL East lead back to 3 games by closing out the 9th for this 35th save for the 4-3 Yankees win.



            With Hiroki Kuroda coming back to Earth a little, it has been Phil Hughes lately (and surprisingly) who has served as the Yankees best starter during the segment of the season. He backed it up by taking a 2-0 Yankees lead into the 5th inning, both runs coming from a Chris Dickerson 2-Run shot earlier on, and gave up to his first run from a Mark Reynolds solo homer. The Yankees would get that run back in the bottom of the 5th, but then that was it as far as Yankee scoring was for the rest of the afternoon. Randy Wolf, picked up by the O's recently from the recycling can, was inserted to start the 4th after Chris Tillman needed to leave the game with shoulder discomfort. The Yankees never got to Wolf, but the Orioles finally got to Hughes. In the top of the 6th, Hughes would get smashed for four runs, including a 3-Run bomb from Reynolds, his fourth homer of the series, and Hughes wasn't able to record one out in the inning. Joba Chamberlain made an appearance in the top of the 7th with two outs and facing Adam Jones. Jones hit what looked to be a sure homerun with a runner on, but Chris Dickerson, playing center for the hamstrung Granderson, leaped up against the wall and caught the ball, saving Joba from giving up a 2-run homer. In the top of the inning the Yankees put two runners on with one out and trailing 5-3, but O's reliever Luis Ayala got Derek Jeter to ground into the inning-ending double play. The Yankee bullpen totally fell apart in the 8th and a mix of Derek Lowe and Boone Logan would help three more Orioles to cross the plate and the game was put away at 8-3 Orioles.



           The Yankees lead in the AL East has shriveled down to 2 games and now the Baltimore Orioles have been given a dangerous vote of confidence that they're for real in 2012. Heading out on a long road trip starting in Tampa Bay, the Yankees lost their 20-games over .500 mark at 76-57, but will gain the return of Alex Rodriguez who is sorely needed in the lineup that has struggled to score runs....