Have You Ever Seen The Run?

Bad puns come to mind when the Yankees lose, which is now somewhat habitual. Four losses in fives games to the "lowly" Oakland A's and Baltimore Orioles. Hurricane Irene went through Baltimore and sun shined on Sunday afternoon in the first game of a day-night doubleheader, but apparently the Yankees offense got swept out to see.

Credit has to be given though to Orioles starter Zach Britton, who didn't make it out of the 1st inning the last time he faced a team that more resembled the "Bronx Bombers". This time around Britton limited the Yankees to four hits over seven innings and the Orioles shut out the Yankees 2-0. Jim Johnson tossed a scoreless 8th inning before closer Kevin Gregg got Alex Rodriguez to bounce into a game ending double play for his 19th save.

Yankees starter Bartolo Colon matched Britton zero for zero until the Orioles broke through in the 7th inning. Nick Markakis led off the inning with a double off the right field wall and came home on Vlad Guerrero's base hit.

The O's added a big insurance in the 8th with some help from the Yankees. Mark Reynolds hit a pop fly to center that was too shallow for centerfielder Curtis Granderson and too deep for second baseman Robinson Cano. The two closed in on the ball and it appeared one of them would make the grab, but instead the ball fell between a lunging Cano and a sliding Granderson. Ryan Adams then followed with a single to put runners on the corners with no one out.

Colon looked like he might get out of the jam after retiring Adam Jones on a comebacker and caught Robert Andino looking at a called third strike, but J.J. Hardy delivered a two out single to put the O's up 2-0.

Britton and company were outstanding as not one Yankee reached second base safely. Mark Teixeira had three of the five Yankees hits and only one other New York base runner reached on a walk.

Notes

Derek Jeter broke another franchise record when he appeared in his 2,402nd game as a Yankee, surpassing Mickey Mantle's total.

The Wild, The Innocent, and The Eutaw Street Shuffle

Camden Yards in Baltimore was a crazy scene tonight man. The Yankees behind a dominant performance by Bartolo Colon looked like they were going to knock off the Baltimore Orioles in neat, fast fashion. Colon threw just 87 pitches and hit 97-mph in the 8th inning.

The Yankees had scratched across just a single run off starter Zach Britton with the help of an error. So you have Mariano Rivera in your bullpen with a 1-0 lead entering the 9th inning. What do you do? Unless you have a Roy Halladay on the mound you probably go to Mo. Girardi did and it backfired. Rivera gave up a pair of singles and a sac fly to Vladimir Guerrero to tie the game at 1-1.

So off to extra innings we went and went and went...the Yankees wasted opportunity after opportunity as did the Orioles. Rookie Hector Noesi made his Major League debut and threw the final four innings to earn his first big league victory.

The Yankees finally broke through in the 15th on back to back singles by Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez off Jeremy Accardo, and a gapper to right-center by Robinson Cano off left-hander Mike Gonzalez. Teixeira scored easily and Rodriguez followed when centerfielder Adam Jones double dribbled the baseball. It also allowed Cano to advance to third base. Then things got scary.

Gonzalez then drilled outfielder Chris Dickerson in the bill of his helmet. The helmet or the ball all glanced off his cheek and left a huge welt. Dickerson was removed from the game and sent to the hospital for a CT scan. Gonzalez was (seemingly) erroneously ejected by home plate umpire Dan Bellino. It appeared Gonzalez wasn't throwing at Dickerson- why would he? (Oddly though, Gonzalez did not argue.)

With no relievers left in the Orioles bullpen, Buck Showalter, whose emotions ranged from rage to exhaustion throughout the game, had to go to Thursday's starter Jeremy Guthrie. Next strange step- with Jorge Posada as the only position (without a position) player left on the bench, Joe Girardi sent A.J. Burnett in to pinch-run. Brett Gardner's sac fly brought in a big insurance run before Guthrie recorded the final two outs in the inning. That was a good thing since it kept Burnett from having to run the bases. Burnett wore a big grin though as he received numerous high fives in the dugout for his "contribution".

The drama wasn't over though. Nick Markakis led off the 15th with a single and Noesi then walked Brandon Snyder. Luke Scott, mired in a big slump, lined out to left for the first out and then the nuttiness struck again. Matt Wieters grounder struck Snyder for the second out and Wieters was credited with a hit. Noesi then retired J.J. Hardy on a fly out to end the 4:56 of baseball.

So much happened in this game, but I am way too tired to recount the rest.

FullCountPitch - The Full Count: Jen Royle

Jen Royle talks with Orioles starter Brian Matusz

After seven years covering the New York Yankees for the YES Network, MLBAM and SIRIUS/XM’s Baseball Channel, Jen Royle moved to Baltimore to cover the Orioles and Ravens on MASN and 105.7 The Fan.

You can catch Jen from 6-7:15 on “Baltimore Baseball Tonight’s” O’s pregame show with Jim Duquette and Joe Orsulak for Baltimore’s 105.7 The Fan, and you can also follow her on Twitter.

Today, Jen becomes the latest victim guest for “The Full Count”.

FCP: You were a Red Sox fan growing up, how did you put that aside when you starting working for other teams?

Jen Royle: YES! I was a huge Red Sox fan growing up. I literally grew up at Fenway Park. My parents were both born and raised in the city of Boston and my grandparents lived 10 minutes from Fenway Park when I was a child. So needless to say, I spent a lot of time at the ballpark. I vividly remember my father putting me on his shoulders so I could see Wade Boggs, Jim Rice, Mike Greenwell, Dwight Evans, etc. And I grew up watching Roger Clemens. Fast forward 20 years later, who would have thought I would end up covering Clemens with the New York Yankees.

In terms of the fan in me disappearing, it just sort of happened naturally. Once I started working for the YES Network in New York, I didn’t care at all about the Red Sox. I sort of just naturally turned into an unbiased, objective reporter. And let me make this clear, I didn’t care about the Yankees either in terms of winning or losing. I did, however, start to pull for certain people.

I think what most fans don’t understand is once you start covering ONE team on a daily basis, you start to build really nice relationships so it becomes difficult to hope they fail. So that also played a part in me not caring about the Red Sox anymore.

FCP: You came to Baltimore after working in the New York market for the YES Network. What’s the biggest difference you see in the way the Orioles and Yankees are covered?

Jen Royle: I mean, you can’t even compare. From a fan standpoint, a media standpoint and an organization standpoint, it’s just COMPLETELY different. In fact, to be completely honest, I think it was a culture shock for me my first month on the job. I started to question my decision to move to Baltimore because the team started off 2-16 and there were maybe 10,000 fans in the ballpark. Not to mention, I was the new girl in town and was under an abundance of scrutiny because of where I came from — Boston and New York. I had no friends in town and I was driving for the first time in 10 years. So I was a “Negative Nelly” at the beginning.

There are maybe six Orioles reporters in the clubhouse after a game, compared to 30-50 in New York. The Orioles organization doesn’t have the “win now” mentality that the Yankees have, mostly because they don’t have the financial resources and they know competing in the American League East is a much tougher task. Andy MacPhail is doing the best job he can, but he is certainly at an unfair advantage when competing with Brian Cashman.

When I covered the Yankees, we didn’t leave the clubhouse until the last player was one, we stayed on the field with them during batting practice and we went back into the clubhouse after batting practice. In Baltimore, with all due respect, the team isn’t as news-worthy. Things that may be a big deal in New York simply aren’t an issue in Baltimore. I can’t stress enough how different of an atmosphere it is.

Click here to read the rest of this free Q & A w/ Jen Royle at FullCountPitch.com