Wong, Get back to where you once belonged

Perhaps if the Beatles tune "Get Back" had been playing in Kolten Wong's head the Cardinals rookie would not have been picked off first base to end Game 4 of the World Series.

One night after the Cardinals won Game 3 on an a defensive obstruction call, the Red Sox evened the Series at two games apiece with the help of a boneheaded play. Down two in the 9th, Allen Craig came through in the clutch just as had in Game 3 with a 1-out, pinch-hit single.

After seeing Craig struggle to run on an injured foot the night before, manager Mike Matheny replaced him with Wong, the rookie who appeared in 32 games this season. After Uehara retired Matt Carpenter on a pop-up for the second out, Wong broke a cardinal rule of baseball and the game was over.

One of the basic tenets of baseball is knowing when your run is not important. In Sunday night's game the Cardinals trailed by a pair of runs, with the tying run at the plate. In this case the batter was post-season terror Carlos Beltran.

Beltran could have tied the game up with one swing of the bat or at least kept the game going by reaching base safely. Slugger Matt Holliday was in the on-deck circle when Uehara caught Wong leaning the wrong way. Worse than the play itself was Wong's reasoning, which totally flew in the face of logic (repeat after me, "you're run doesn't matter!")

"...I was just getting ready, getting aggressive," he said. "It was a hitting situation. Carlos, he can drive the ball. If that ball got down somewhere, I was hoping to go first to third, maybe score." ¹

You have to feel bad for the kid, who was fighting back tears when he spoke to reporters afterwards, but everything in the quote above shows that he wasn't follwing the directions he was given. Mike Matheny told reporters:

"He was reminded once he got on base, and also he was reminded that the run didn't mean much, be careful, shorten up. And he got a little extra, then he slipped and the slip cost him."

Wong also said his foot slipped as he went to retreat back to the base and "that's it". Should be interesting to see what oddity occurs tonight as Game 5 is played three days before Halloween.




1 - St.Louis Post-Dispatch

Game 3: Anatomy of Obstruction

Though this is not an Abby-like re-creation from NCIS, here's what happened in the 9th inning of World Series Game 3.

Dustin Pedroia's diving stop on Jon Jay

Yadier Molina tagged out at home for 2nd out

Jarrod Saltalamacchia's throw eludes Will Middlebrooks

Middelbrooks flops like a fish

Down goes Frazier Allen Craig; Joyce signals obstruction

Craig heads home; DeMuth signals obstruction

Salty tags out Craig

DeMuth signals safe

John Farrell is confused

There you have it. The best thing of all? The umpires apparently got a call correct without having to huddle up.

Cardinals Prevail; in Walk-Off Trip

I have seen a lot in over 40 years of watching post-season baseball - Jeffrey Maiers interference in the 1996 ALCS. The Bartman interference in the 2003 NLCS. Carlton Fisk's arm-waving extra inning game winning home run in Game 6 of the '75 series. Reggie Jackson sticking his hip out, much to the consternation of Tommy Lasorda in the '78 Classic, and of course Mr. October's 3-home run outburst in Game 6 to clinch the World Series the prior year.

But I don't think any of those memories come close to last night's Game 3 between the Boston Red Sox and St. Louis Cardinals for a one play World Series game decider. The Red Sox had rallied from 2-0 and 4-2 deficits to tie the game 4-4 in the 8th inning.

Yadier Molina reached on a one out single off Brandon Workman to start the 9th, so Sox manger John Farrell went to his closer, Koji Uehara, to face pinch-hitter Allen Craig. The Cardinals' 1st baseman/outfielder has been hobbled by a foot injury that led to manager Mike Matheny's decision to sit him at the start of the game and save him for a situation like the one that arose in the 9th.

Craig came through with a double to put two runners in scoring position and forced Boston to move the infield and outfield in. Center fielder Jon Jay's bouncer back up the middle was stopped by a diving Dustin Pedroia, whose throw home easily beat the slow footed Molina to the plate. Catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia tagged Molina for the second out of the inning, but that's when the mayhem began.

Craig broke for third as soon as he saw Pedroia throw home. A throw right at the bag would likely have nailed Craig but Salty's throw tailed away from  Will Middlebrooks ricocheted into foul territory. Middlebrooks, who should have caught the ball despite it being off course, did a belly flop and Craig slid into third. As Daniel Nava raced over from left field, Craig popped up from his head first slide and began the race to home plate, but fell over a prone Middlebrooks, who had inadvertently raised up both legs.

Third base umpire Jim Joyce immediately signaled obstruction, but the only one who saw the call was home plate umpire Dana DeMuth. Which is why everyone in the ball park was confused when DeMuth signaled safe after Salty grabbed Nava's throw home and applied the tag on Craig for an apparent third out. While the Cardinals and their fans celebrated, a confused Farrell, Pedroia, Uehara and all the other Red Sox argued and wandered in bewilderment until DeMuth and Joyce explained the call.

They might have to change the term walk-off to stumble-off for this one.

Umpires Meet the Press

Umpires John Hirschbeck, Jim Joyce, and Dana DeMuth, and league executive VP Joe Torre met with the media afterwards. Below is the transcript courtesy of mlb.com. You can view the video of the press conference by clicking here.

JOHN HIRSCHBECK:  I know you have a lot of questions, and we'll answer everything you have. But just to go over the rule quickly, obstruction is the act of a fielder obstructing a runner when not in the act of fielding a ball. It does not have to be intent. There does not have to be intent, okay? Once he has the opportunity to field the ball, he can no longer in any way obstruct the runner. That's basically the rule. So you want to go ahead and ask questions? 

Q. If you can just take us through how you saw the play develop and if there was, in fact, any incidental contact and whether or not Middlebrooks raised his legs, if you would just take us through how you saw the play develop, please.

JIM JOYCE:  Well, when the play developed after Saltalamacchia threw the ball at third base, after the ball had gone straight through, and Allen had slid into third and stood up to attempt to go to home plate, everything was off right there. And when he tried to advance to home plate, the feet were up in the air, and he tripped over Middlebrooks right there, and immediately and instinctually I called obstruction.

Q. I understand what John said, that there doesn't have to be intent, but the fact that his feet were up, did that play into it at all? And is there any wiggle room, like where else could he be after he dives for the ball, what else could he be doing but laying on the floor, if you do think there's intent?

JIM JOYCE:  No, as a matter of fact, the feet didn't play too much into that because he was still in the area where the baserunner needs to go to advance to home plate. And the baserunner has every right to go unobstructed to home plate, and unfortunately for Middlebrooks he was right there. And there was contact, so he could not advance to home plate naturally.

JOE TORRE:  And let me read, it gives the example on Rule 2, "An infielder dives at a ground ball and the ball passes him, and he continues to lie on the ground and delays the progress of the runner, he very likely has obstructed the runner."

Q. So does "very likely" mean there's interpretation?

JOE TORRE: Intentional or not intentional. He just has to clear the path. I know sometimes it's unfair because he's laying on the ground, but that's the way the rule is.

Q. Is there anything he could have done to avoid violating this rule in that position? Once he's down, what could he have done at that point?

JOHN HIRSCHBECK:  Just to get out of the way quickly and not obstruct the runner. It's really as simple as that.

JIM JOYCE:  Really, that doesn't play into that play. With the defensive player on the ground, without intent or intent, it's still obstruction. You'd probably have to ask Middlebrooks that one, if he could have done anything. But that's not in our determination.

Q. He said there wasn't anything else he could have done, that's why I asked the question.

JIM JOYCE:  But the rule is is that the runner has every right to go to home plate at that particular play unobstructed without any liability ‑‑ he doesn't have to get out of the way, he just has the baseline, and unfortunately the defensive player was there.

JOE TORRE:  And the fact that he impeded the runner, again. Didn't mean to, but it still doesn't matter, according to the rule.

Q. I know you guys obviously got the call right the other night when you all convened together on the second base play. Did you all even chat about it or have a quick conversation about it? Jim, did you ask the other umpires their viewpoint? It seems like you called it immediately and you were set with it. I was curious if I could get the other umpires' thoughts on if you thought it was the right call, done, and there was nothing else to discuss?

JOHN HIRSCHBECK:  I was on the leftfield line. Immediately after we got off the field into our locker room we congratulated Jim and said "great call." I could see it all in front of me as it happened. That was our first reaction when we got in the locker room. Mark Wegner made the comment he could see it developing from right field.

We're trained to look for these things. It's out of the ordinary, but when it happens, and it's the World Series, you expect to get it right.

Q. I'm just curious, is there any responsibility of the runner to make sure he's in the baseline? Did you guys check for that? Often a runner comes around third and circles around the third base coach's box. It seems like Craig was clearly on the inside part of third more toward shortstop. Is it the responsibility of the runner to make sure he's inside the baseline?

JIM JOYCE:  He was right on the baseline. He was right on the chalk. And so that never played into any decision, at all, because he was ‑‑ he had slid, stood up, and he was literally right on the chalk.

JOHN HIRSCHBECK:  Don't forget, the runner establishes his own baseline. If he's on second on a base hit and rounds third wide, that baseline is from where he is, way outside the line, back to third and to home plate, it's almost a triangle. So the runner establishes his own baseline.

Q. Just curious if any of you guys remember a game ending in this way, ending on this particular call in any of your experiences?

JOHN HIRSCHBECK:  Never.

JIM JOYCE:  Never.

JOHN HIRSCHBECK:  And again, Peter (Woodfork) pointed out to me to mention this, normally this play happens at second base on a steal play or something, where the ball goes into centerfield and the shortstop or second baseman obstructs the runner or stays there too long trying to hold the tag down or making believe he fell down or whatever. Not at third base.

Q. Once you make the call, he gets home and that's the end of it, right? Because there was still a play at the plate that developed. Obviously the players were playing out the play.

JIM JOYCE:  Our determination is whether or not he could have scored or not. And Dana immediately came up with, he saw me make the call. And as soon as Craig slid into home plate, Dana immediately pointed down at me knowing that we had obstruction and it impeded Allen to score the run, essentially. Dana did a great job on installing that right away. Dana did a great job signaling that right away.  

JOHN HIRSCHBECK:  And that's the last, most important part of this rule, is that the umpire has to determine ‑‑ if what you saw tonight happened and he's out by 20 feet, then the umpire determines that if the obstruction had not occurred, he would have been out, okay? But since it was right there, bang, bang play, obviously that's obstruction, definitely had something to do with the play.

Q. That's Dana's call right away?

DANA DeMUTH:  I'm going with Jim on it, so I determine when it ends at the end, about the obstruction, you know. It's Jim's call originally, but looking up there. I have to see the call, also, and agree with him. I have to know that it's obstruction.

JOE TORRE:  You remember a few years ago I think Tejada ran into a fielder and then stopped running, and even though he was pointing back, he's obstructed, but he stopped running, so he was out.

Red Sox Will Clean Their Beards With Champagne

The last decade has been full of ups and downs for the Boston Red Sox. There was the blown ALCS to the New York Yankees in 2003, followed a year later by their first World Series championship in 86 years. It would not have been accomplished had they not redeemed themselves by coming back from a 3-0 deficit to the Yankees in the ALCS to advance.

They grabbed another title in 2007, but a playoff bound team collapsed in 2011 and respected manager Terry Francona lost control of the clubhouse (Especially the eating and drinking habits of his pitchers.)

There were the horrible contracts given to Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford that helped to force out boy wonder GM Theo Epstein.  There was the childish behavior of Manny Ramirez and the ornery, expletive filled behavior displayed by one time ace Josh Beckett.  That was topped though by the one and done hire of Bobby Valentine, who alienated himself from most of the team with his behavior and remarks before the regular season was even a week old. Valentine’s squad managed just 69 wins in 2012, but the team was re-born, with some help from the LA Dodgers, when they jettisoned Gonzalez and Crawford and brought in guys like Mike Napoli and Shane Victorino. The result was a worst to first turnaround in the AL East and 97 wins under new manager John Farrell.

The current roster is led, of course, by veteran holdovers Dustin Pedroia and David Ortiz, who brought their usual consistency to the plate. It's a team that can rely on just about anyone in the lineup to come through with a big hit at a big time.

You still don’t without pitching, but with Beckett gone, so were the distractions to Lester and Buchholz, who got back to being two of the best young pitchers in baseball.  Veteran Jake Peavy was picked up from Chicago to solidify the rotation at the deadline, Ryan Dempster was free agent signee, and John Lackey bounced back from surgery to have a solid season.

All of it – the talent, some luck, and a never- give-up-attitude are what will lead the Red Sox to their third World Series championship since 2004.

Make no mistake though, it won't be easy. Their opponents, the St. Louis Cardinals, are nothing like the pushovers the Red Sox beat back in 2004. With veteran ace Adam Wainwright and red hot rookie Michael Wacha, the Cardinals have the starting pitching to hang with anyone. A strong bullpen anchored by closer Trevor Rosenthal should do a much better job of closing out games than the Detroit Tigers did in the ALCS.

I do believe in teams of destiny, however, and this Red Sox team is one of them. Whether you watch this series or listen to it on the radio, you will hear about the way the Red Sox grind out at-bats - they led the Major Leagues in pitches seen per at-bat this season. You will hear it so often that it may be prefaced by "I don't want to beat a dead horse, but..."  Most of the championship teams in the last 20 years did the same thing (see Yankees dynasty from 1996-2000.)

Backing up the rotation of Lester, a revived Lackey, Buchholz, Dempster and Peavy has been a solid, clutch bullpen. It was a bullpen that got even better when the pitching of veteran Koji Uehara said “this role is mine!”

The Red Sox dealt for closer Jack Hanrahan prior to the season, but he was felled by surgery and never pitched a regular season game. Often injured Andrew Bailey failed at the role that earned him the AL Rookie of the Year Award in 2009 and then was injured and out for the season as well. Uehara stepped in and stepped up. He is not your typical closer. He doesn't have an upper 90s fastball or a cutter that no one can hit. But he does throw a nasty splitter that has allowed him to strike out 10.4 batters per 9 innings for his career. (He had struck out a career high 12.2 this season).

A very pleasant surprise for Farrell has been the pitching of Journeyman left-hander Craig Breslow.  The eight year veteran was picked up at the 2012 trade deadline for Matt Albers and Scott Podsednik. Not exactly a head turning move. But Breslow, who was on the Sox in 2006, has done a great job on…right-handed hitters. That's no typo; Breslow has held righties to a .581 OPS and has faced more hitters in the right batter's box than he has from the left side. He’s mixed 90-mph two- and four-seam fastballs with a 75-mph cutter and an occasional changeup and slider to keep hitters honest.

There’s also 25-year old rookie right-hander Brandon Workman, who has struck out 10.2 batters per 9 innings in his first year in the bigs. Though he still has some control issues, Farrell does not hesitate to throw Workman into the mix in setting up the bridge to Uehara.

For all of the reasons stated up, that good old word, intangibles, and destiny, the Sox should be popping a cork or two after six games. Then maybe someone can hose them down and shave those beards off.

Boston Honors Mo...Kind Of

Perhaps it was for ruining their 100th anniversary celebration last year (Yankees won 6-2), or for being beaten to a pulp for so many years, or the 2004 idiots were in charge. No matter the reason, the Red Sox utilized a bit of tongue in cheek when they honored Mariano Rivera prior to the game.

It started with what Boston MC Dave O'Brien described as "...less of a toast and more of a roast." The video board then showed Bill Mueller, Dave Roberts, and Kevin Millar, who really still is an idiot, discussing Game 4 of the 2004 ALCS. Mueller and Roberts were pretty much factual, while Millar played up his clown act.

At the end the three congratulated Mariano on his fabulous career. So it wasn't so bad, but then they showed the 2005 Boston home opener when the Fenway faithful gave Mariano a standing ovation for blowing leads in the playoffs.

Mariano, ever full of class, smile, laughed and tipped his cap. I can't find anything to corroborate it, but I recall Mariano being annoyed by it a short time later. Basically, he said, okay, you had your fun; that's enough. Something to that affect.

The Red Sox then presented several gifts, including a portrait of Mariano from that 2005 opener. Really? You couldn't do better than that? There were nice gifts as well.

A signed (by the Red Sox) number 42 placard that  is put on the scoreboard whenever Mariano came on to pitch. A pitching rubber and a nice donation to Mariano's foundation were presented as well.

The Sox also brought in cellists to perform a class version of "Enter Sandman" and then went out and spanked the Yankees for the third straight night (as of the 7th inning).

Burnett, Bats Come Up Short

If I were a conspiracy theorist, I would think that the Yankees' hitters got together before each of A.J. Burnett's starts and agreed, "We will not produce offense tonight." (On the flip side of the coin they make up for it when CC Sabathia pitches.) Last night the offense again pulled up lame and Burnett was not good enough as the Baltimore Orioles beat the Yankees for the first time in seven tries this season, 4-2.

After scoring 21 runs in Burnett's first three starts this season, the Yankees have averaged just 3.2 runs per game in his 19 starts since then. Burnett has not helped matters by having an ERA that has gotten progressively higher as the weather has gotten warmer. (3.09 in April to 4.83 in July). Last night was a typical Burnett start, decent, but not great and not good enough to win. He threw a complete game, snapping a streak of three straight starts that he didn't make it out of the 6th inning, and limited the O's to five hits. He also struck out 10 batters for the first time this season.

But Burnett put the Yankees in a hole early, surrendering a 2-run home run to Mark Reynolds in the 2nd inning. Derek Lee added a solo home run, the 20th allowed by Burnett this season (he allowed 25 HR's in each of the last two seasons) and an RBI double. Conversely, Jeremy Guthrie was putting up zeroes on the scoreboard, despite being one of the Yankees favorite targets. With the victory, Guthrie is still just 4-9, 5.15 in 17 appearances (15 starts) against New York.

Guthrie had everything working last night though and the Yankees couldn't take advantage of what little opportunities they had. Guthrie retired the first seven Yankees hitters before Jorge Posada and Russell Martin reached on back to back singles in the 3rd, but Brett Gardner and Derek Jeter couldn't produce in the clutch. Robinson Cano and Nick Swisher drew two out walks in the 4th, but Eric Chavez to grounded out to end the inning.Mark Teixeira finally got the Yankees on the board in the 6th inning with his 29th home run of the season.

Guthrie limited the Yankees to four hits over seven innings and Koji Uehara tossed a scoreless 8th, before the bats finally woke up in the 9th.Consecutive doubles by Cano and Swisher off of Orioles' closer Kevin Gregg cut Baltimore's lead in half. Posada drew a one out walk to put the tying runs on base, but Martin bounced into a force out and Gardner struck out swinging on a full count to end the game. The prior pitch was outside, but was called a strike by home plate ump Mike DiMuro. After he swung and missed at Gregg's final offering, Gardner expressed all of the Yankees' frustrations by smashing his bat on the ground.

Notes

As expected, Rafael Soriano was activated before the game and Steve Garrison was sent back to Trenton. Sergio Mitre was placed on the 60-day DL to make room on the 40-man roster.

The Yankees and Orioles play a day-night doubleheader today. Both Orioles starting pitchers are being recalled from the minor leagues. Chris Tillman faces Bartolo Colon in the opener, while Zach Britton goes against Ivan Nova, also being recalled from Triple-A, in the nightcap.

The Yankees held a moment of silence prior to the game for Hideki Irabu, who committed suicide on Wednesday. Jorge Posada called Irabu's death "devastating".

The Yankees' HOPE week concluded with a very emotional reunion of two friends who were orphans in Russia at one time. Read all about it here.

Yankees Blast off from Baltimore

Damon Gives Yankees a Sunday Blast

Filed Under: Yankees

Tags: Aubrey Huff • Breast Cancer awareness • jim johnson • joba chamberlain • Johnny Damon • Koji Uehara • mariano rivera • Mark Teixeira • Robinson Cano • Susan G. Komen • Yankees 5/10 recap • Yankees vs. Orioles

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
NY Yankees	1	0	0	0	0	0	4	0	0		5	11	0
Baltimore	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0		3	10	0

WP - Chamberlain (2-1) SV- Rivera (6) LP - Johnson (2-1)

One of the few positives to come out of this season to date is the Yankees propensity to hit home runs. On the negative side, most of them have been with no one on base. But that hasn’t been the case for Johnny Damon, whose 3-run home run was the difference yesterday in the Yankees 5-3 win over the Baltimore Orioles.

It was Damon’s 5th home run in his last 7 games and 9th of the year. He’s 13-31 in a current 7-game hitting streak with 15 RBI and 4 doubles. Oh what a contract year can do for your numbers. Yesterday, he came up with two on and two out in the 7th inning and the Yankees down a run.

Robinson Cano had homered off Jamie Walker earlier in the inning to cut the Orioles lead in half, and Francisco Cervelli and Derek Jeter singled off of hard throwing right-hander Jim Johnson. Damon hit a shot deep into the seats in right-center field to give the Yankees their first lead since Mark Teixeira hit a solo home run off of O’s starter Koji Uehara in the 1st inning.

Damon’s home run made a winner of Joba Chamberlain, who survived a shaky first inning to pick up his 2nd win of the year. He gave up back to back singles to Brian Roberts and Adam Jones in the home half of the 1st, and one batter later surrendered a 3-run home run to Aubrey Huff for a 3-1 Orioles lead. Chamberlain allowed two more hits in the inning, but got some help when Melvin Mora was caught stealing.

But just as he did against the Red Sox on Tuesday night, Chamberlain settled down after the 1st inning. He allowed just four hits over the next five innings and finished with a quality start (6IP 3 ER). Phil Coke tossed a pair of scoreless innings and Mariano Rivera nailed down his 6th save with a scoreless 9th inning.

Game Notes

Rivera walked Felix Pie in the 9th inning to snap a streak of 24 straight innings without a walk, dating back to August 24 of last season.

Ironically, August 24 is also the day Johnny Damon hit his 9th home run last year.

Derek Jeter is back in the business of stealing bases. He swiped his 7th yesterday after having only 11 all of last year. He has yet to be caught stealing this season.

Xavier Nady is expected to begin hitting off a tee at the end of this week.

The Yankees and all of MLB once again celebrated Mother’s Day with the “Going to Bat Against Breast Cancer” initiative. All Yankees wore pink wristbands and some used pink bats which will be auctioned off to raise money for breast cancer research.

Milestone Monday

Nick Swisher pitching for the Yankees was just one of the memorable things that took place yesterday. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Swisher became only the third non-pitcher since divisional play began in 1969 to both pitch and hit a home run in the same game. The Pirates Keith Osik (May 20, 2000) and the Rangers Jeff Kunkel (May 20, 1989) are the other two. Apparently Swidher is the first player not to do it on May 20.

Jermaine Dye and Paul Konerko became the first teammates to reach a "double zero" milestone in career home runs in the same game. Not only did Dye and Konerko both hit their 300th home runs in Monday's game, but they also hit them back to back.

Orlando Hudson became the first Dodger since Wes Parker in 1970 to hit for the cycle. Hudson's Dodgers beat Randy Johnson's Giants. It marked first time the Big Unit has ever lost a game in eight decisions at Dodgers Stadium.

Jody Gerut led off the Padres-Mets game with a solo home run off of Mike Pelfrey. It marked the first time that a lead off man christened a brand new ball park (Citi Field) with a home run in the first at-bat.

Finally, Koji Uehara was awful for the Orioles yesterday, but still improved to 2-0 in the Orioles 10-9 win over the Rangers. He joined Kaz Ishii and Hideki Irabu as the only two Japanese imports to win their first two decisions. Hopefully for his sake he has a better career than either one of them.

It's not supposed to be like this

Here's my recap for Baseball Digest of Wednesday's 7-5 loss to the Orioles.

Yankees have no magic Wang

April 8th, 2009 •

Filed Under: Yankees

Tags: chien-ming wang • Derek Jeter • George Sherrill • Koji Uehara • Mark Teixeira • Nick Markakis • Robinson Cano

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
NY Yankees	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	3		5	9	0
Baltimore	2	0	0	5	0	0	0	0	X		7	9	1

WP - Uehara (1-0) SV - Sherrill (1) LP - Wang (0-1)

That thud you hear is the start of the Yankees regular season. After winning 18 of their last 20 exhibition games, the Yankees were pumped to start the regular season. The Baltimore Orioles have quickly let the air out of the balloon.

It was a different day and a different pitcher, but the results were the same- a loss. Chien-Ming Wang made his first start since his Lisfranc injury last June 15 in Houston. He’d like to have a do over. The Orioles smacked Wang around Orioles Park at Camden Yards and came away with a 7-5 victory.

Wang’s pitches were up in the strike zone all night and landed in the gaps and over the wall as a result. He struggled right from the start of the game, giving up consecutive one out doubles to Adam Jones, Nick Markakis, and Aubrey Huff to put the Yankees in a 2-0 hole after one inning. He pitched an easy second inning, but allowed three base runners in the third, before escaping unscathed.

Cody Ransom cut the deficit in half with an RBI double in the top of the fourth, but the wheels came completely off for Wang in the bottom half of the inning. Luke Scott opened the inning with a single and Felix Pie worked a walk. Gregg Zaun ripped a ground rule double to center field for a 3-1 O’s lead. Huff’s RBI ground out pushed the margin to 4-1 as Edwar Ramirez got up in the Yankees pen.

After a Brian Roberts single, Jones brought in the fifth run with a sacrifice fly and then Markakis sent Wang to the showers with a 2-run blast into the right field seats. It was Wang’s shortest non-injury outing since June 5 of last season when Toronto knocked him out in the box after 4.1 innings.

Orioles Rookie, and former Japanese star, Koji Uehara looked nervous when he walked Derek Jeter to start the game, but he settled down thereafter. The Yankees put a man on second base in four straight innings, but save for Ransom’s RBI double,Uehara got out of the minor jam each time. He nearly saw his first major league win go by the boards though when the Yankees rallied against the Orioles bullpen in the ninth.

The Yankees were down to their final out, when Jeter took Dennis Sarfate deep with a man aboard to cut the Orioles lead to 7-4. When Sarfate walked Johnny Damon, Orioles manager Dave Trembley sent for his closer George Sherrill to face Mark Teixeira, who was struggling through another bad night at the plate and hearing plenty of boos from the Baltimore “vengeful”. But Teixeira, batting from the right side for the first time this season, drilled a double up the gap in right-center to plate Damon and give the Yankees a chance with the tying run at the plate.

Uehara’s former teammate Hideki Matsui had the chance to be a hero, but fouled out to third baseman Melvin Mora to end the game.

Game Notes

Derek Jeter (5-9) and Robinson Cano (4-7) have both started the season with multi-hit games. They each also stole their first base of the season as did Johnny Damon.

Jeter’s home run was his 207th as a Yankee, putting him two behind Jason Giambi for 10th place on the franchise’s all-time home run list.

Nick Markakis was 3-3 with a walk, falling a triple shy of the cycle. He’s 5-7 in the two games.

The loss marked the first time the Yankees have lost two straight to start the season since 1998 when they lost their first three games.

The Yankees will try to salvage the finale of the series on Thursday (1:35 pm EDT start) when A.J. Burnett makes his Yankees debut against rookie right-hander Alfredo Simon.

Tonight's Lineups (4/8)

Yankees
Jeter SS
Damon LF
Teixeira 1B
Matsui DH
Posada C
Cano 2B
Nady RF
Ransom 3B
Gardner CF

P Chien-Ming Wang.

Orioles
Roberts 2B
Jones CF
Markakis RF
Huff 1B
Mora 3B
Scott DH
Pie LF
Zaun C
Izturis SS

P Koji Uehara.

Yankees vs. Orioles - 4/8

The Yankees and Orioles go at it again tonight at 7:05 pm. Chien-Ming Wang makes his first start since shredding his right foot last June against the Astros. Koji Uehara makes his first major league start after a successful career in Japan.

One player that knows Uehara very well is his former teammate Hideki Matsui. The Yankees DH and the Orioles starter won two championships as members of the Yomiuri Giants, including Matsui's last year in Japan (2002). That same year, Matsui (MVP) and Uehara (Japan's version of the CY Young) won the top individual honors.

Tyler Kepner of the NY Times has more on the former teammates who are still friends.

The Yankees used their day off on Tuesday to visit the White House. The trip was arranged by former press secretary, and Yankees fan, Ari Fleischer.

Players Joba Chamberlain, Xavier Nady, Nick Swisher, Jonathan Albaladejo, Phil Coke, Ramiro Pena, Edwar Ramirez, Cody Ransom and Jose Veras, and coaches Kevin Long, Dave Eiland, Mike Harkey, Mick Kelleher and Rob Thomson were in attendance.

And finally to all of our fellow Yankees fans who think the season is already over...shut up..seriously..shut up.

Orioles Opening Series Pitchers

The Yankees and Orioles open the season on Monday at Camden Yards. It'll be a 4:05 EDT start with CC Sabathia going against Jeremy Guthrie.

Tuesday's an off day and then the two teams meeting on Wednesday at 7:05 pm. Chien-Ming Wang will face Japanese rookie Koji Uehara. The series concludes Thursday at 1:35 pm with A.J. Burnett facing an undetermined pitcher.