The Baltimore Orioles knew that making the trek up north to the Big Apple would be tough; however, on Tuesday for about 2/3 of their contest against the Yankees, they stayed competitive but fell victim to an overwhelming New York offense.
New York scored seven runs in the bottom of the seventh inning — aided by two critical Baltimore errors (a throwing error by Andino and Jones) — and they wound up on top defeating Baltimore, 9-1. Brad Bergesen — who started the game for Baltimore and took the loss — changed his jersey number from 64 to 35 (Mike Mussina’s old number) and pitched well as he gave up four runs in 6 1/3 innings. In the first inning, Bergesen made a mistake and gave up a long two-run homer to Alex Rodriguez that gave New York a 2-1 lead.
Baltimore would hold them scoreless until the seventh inning, as Bergesen found himself out of the game after walking two to start off the frame. Sadly, Chris Ray would come into the game in hopes of getting the final two outs in the seventh inning, but he would torch that idea by giving up a two-run double to Derek Jeter, an RBI single to Johnny Damon, and then a two-run homer to Mark Teixeira.
Bergesen, who gave up only two runs before he was yanked, was charged with two more.
Meanwhile, C.C. Sabathia earned his pay on Tuesday night as he pitched seven innings, and gave up only a run on three hits. Baltimore’s only run came in the first inning off a Aubrey Huff RBI groundout that plated Brian Roberts.
The Orioles best chance to win in the three game series will probably come tonight as Jeremy Guthrie takes the mound for the black and the orange against Phil Hughes.
- For those of you who watched the game, Yankee Stadium did have a lot of empty seats, no? It does not make sense to beat on a dead horse topic, but the fact the so many of the primo seats — behind home plate and the dugouts — on Tuesday does not make such a favorable impression — right?
- Does Chris Ray not look right? I don’t think he’s hurt, but his mechanics seem to be way off and he’s nowhere near as effective as he was during Spring Training.
- Adam Jones looks fine, although I’m a bit concerned that he might re-injure the hamstring. He moved a bit slow in the first inning on the base paths; however, he made an amazing sliding catch last night, and got up fine. Therefore, I guess his hamstring is well.
- Finally, Peter Schmuck in his blog today touched upon the topic of Matt Wieters. He ponders if the catcher will be called up sometime in early June, particularly the 9th to start off a homestand at Camden Yards. As well, he also mentions that there could be another pitcher on the way — from Norfolk (maybe David Pauley or David Hernandez, but basically it looks like the Orioles are moving from playing veteran retreads to giving young guys a shot to hack it in the majors.
