Suspend Your Disbelief

The Yankees finally had a lead late in a game last night. And then the rains came and did not want to stop. It was as if God was saying, "Thy shall not win just yet". The game, thanks to baseball's new rules, was suspended and will be completed the next time the Yankees are in Baltimore (July 27). The old rule would have had the game revert back to the previous inning, which would have meant an Orioles victory.

Chien-Ming Wang was cruising along with a 4-2 lead in the 7th when the Orioles and the first waive of rain struck. After Nick Markakis singled, Kevin Millar hit a slicing fly ball to right that fell in front of a semi-lunging Bobby Abreu (you will NEVER see Abreu dive for a ball) and rolled to the wall for an RBI triple.

The Yankees brought the infield in and Wang retired Aubrey Huff on a ground out to Robinson Cano. But Melvin Mora walked and the struggling Jay Gibbons lined a double up the gap in left-center to give the Orioles a 5-4 lead. Corey Patterson pinch ran for Gibbons and immiedately stole 3rd. To make matters worse, Jorge Posada's throw sailed into left field for a run scoring error. A walk to Paul Bako finally got Joe Torre to summon Luis Vizcaino from the bullpen.

Vizcaino struck out Jay Payton before Brian Roberts singled. Then the rains came. After a lengthy delay, Mike Myers came on to retire BrandonFahey on an inning ending ground out.

The Yankees came right back in top of the 8th, before another wave of very heavy rain would suspend the game. Orioles reliever John Parrish issued back to back walks to Posada and Abreu to start the frame. Melky Cabrera drove home Posada with a double, and Cano's RBI ground out tied the game.

Orioles' closer Chris Ray came on to retire Andy Phillips for the 2nd out, but Johnny Damon hit a tapper up the middle for an infield single, Cabrera moving to 3rd. After Damon stole 2nd, Derek Jeter singled back up the middle to bring both runners home and give the Yankees the lead back 8-6. That's when umpires decided it was time to build an ark or call the game. Melvin Mora got into a heated argument with home plate ump Tim Tschida, feeling (and probably rightly so) that the game should have been stopped sooner.

The game will replayed prior to the Yankees-Orioles regularly scheduled game on July 27 in Baltimore.

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Andy Phillips homered in the 3rd inning, his first since returning to the Yankees. He also laid down a nice sacrifice bunt in the 7th that helped lead to a run. Unfortunately, he also popped out to end a bases loaded rally.

Over his last 2 starts, Wang has allowed 10 earned runs in 12.2 innings.