Yes, Mark Teixiera was booed for the second consecutive game; however, the Orioles thanks to timely hitting downed the Yankees, 7-5. Koji Uehara made quite the debut in Baltimore, going five strong innings, giving up one earned run on five hits. He had pretty good control, and while he ran into a little trouble in the fourth inning, his defense helped him out and he was able to send Yankee bats to the bench when he needed to. He threw strikes and that’s been a welcome change from the past several seasons.
It seems that $200 plus million doesn’t buy you much as the Yankees are 0-2 to start the season, and one has to imagine what the New York rags will conjure up in the morning to put on their covers.
Meanwhile, the Oriole offense jumped all over Chien-Ming Wang in his first start of 2009, as he only lasted 3 2/3 innings and gave up seven runs — all earned — on nine hits. Baltimore scored twice in the second inning, and five in the fifth. Nick Markakis was 3-for-3 with a two-run homer in the fifth and 3 RBIs. As well, Gregg Zaun, Adam Jones, Aubrey Huff and Cesar Izturis each drove in runs
New York’s runs came off a Cody Ransom RBI in the fourth, and a Robinson Cano RBI in the seventh.Well, the Yankees — who are always hard to kill — made it 7-4 late as Derek Jeter hit a two-run homer off of Dennis Sarfate. They scored again as Mark Teixiera plated Johnny Damon with two outs in the frame with a double to the gap off closer George Sherrill, but Hideki Matsui would fly out to end the game.
- For all my negative talk about Danys Baez during spring training, he was bringing it in the seventh inning with some heat and fanned the most-hated man in Baltimore, Mark Teixiera to end the frame.
- Does Adam Jones look confident at the plate or what? He looks nothing like the guy we saw in 2008. Well, we have only played two games; however, Jones’ approach is much, much different at his at bats, and he’s hitting the ball hard, plus his pitch selection seems to be so much better than it was in the past. Terry Crowley must be working his magic, and it’s a good thing.
- The attendance was only 22,856 — less than half of the park’s capacity. After Opening Day there was going to be a dropoff considering it’s only April, cool out, and with the poor economy.
