Game 30: NY Yankees at Baltimore Orioles

Greetings! Elizabeth here from Blogging the Mystique to pinch-blog for Rebecca, who's at her brand-new nephew's snip-snip bris.

I missed the top of the 1st because my Firefox was refusing to load, so let's start things off with the...

Bottom of the 1st
Alex Rodriguez did not homer in his first at-bat today, so the masses can start booing him again.

Important Yankee notes:

Brett Tomko is at Oriole Park at Camden Yards after being called up today in place of David Robertson, who must be racking up the frequent flier miles this season. I still say don't sleep on the kid. He's got good, strikeout stuff. Meanwhile, Brett Tomko will get another chance to prove himself after struggling with multiple teams.

Two hard-hit balls so far for Hughesy. Man, that Adam Jones can hit. My brother's the world's biggest Orioles fan and the kid was on the moon after Jones came to the Orioles for Mr. Disabled List Erik Bedard.

I'd like to see a lot more of Nick Markakis popping out this season. The right-fielder my brother called a "Greek God of Baseball" is quickly becoming an elite player. Watch for him in St. Louis this July.

(How goofy is Cervelli's throwing motion back to the pitcher?)

Nice inning for Hughes, despite the double over the bag. He threw 16 pitches.

Top of the 2nd
Nice to hear Michael Kay backpedaling about his "driven deep to right field" calls on mid-range pop flies.

...Except he just did it again.

It's pretty clear that tonight's HP umpire (Jeff Nelson--no relation) isn't going to call that ridiculous inside pitch tonight. Pitch FX tells me that at least three of the Yankees hitters' strikeouts last night were on balls in the hitter's own batter's box.

I'm puzzled as to why an umpire's never whacked Robbie in the head for tapping his shin guards.

The Yankees really shouldn't be helping out Eaton. Newsflash, Bombers: he's not a good pitcher.


Bottom of the 2nd
Hey, there's Luke Scott. I was wondering where he was last night.

Kay and Singy talking about Girardi's unpopularity in the Bronx lately. Kay mentioned Girardi hoping he'll be embraced--"turn the team around," he said. It's been my opinion that Girardi is creating a toxic atmosphere for his team--that his weakness is not in his in-game managing but in how he manages the personalities on his team. I hope he can release some of the pressure he appears to put on his ballclub, but I'm not sure how someone like Girardi would go about doing that.

Big error by Swisher. Luke Scott had stopped at third and Swisher inexplicably decided to throw all the way to home plate, missed every single cutoff in the process. Now the Orioles have 2nd and third and no one out. 1-0 Orioles

Phil Hughes is in big danger of the wheels falling off his start, here. I really love that phrase, don't I? And I always use it incorrectly.

Bases loaded. Still no one out.

Sac fly for Brian Roberts. 2-0 Orioles. The Yankees should be able to make these runs up against Eaton. Should being the operative word.

Oh for goodness sakes... 3-0 Orioles. Who are these Yankees?

4-0 Orioles. I need to stop live-blogging here. I'm really bad luck. I still think the Yankees can make the runs up, though. The next inning or so should give us a clue about whether or not the offense shows up. Meanwhile, how soon is Wang coming back?

I'm assuming the rest of this eight-year contract isn't going to be so cringe-inducing. Right? Right?

Is Aceves warming up yet? 7-0 Orioles on Aubry Huff's 3-run home run. I don't think the Yankees should be able to make up this deficit, but it would certainly be nice if they did.

Why is Edwar warming up and not Aceves? In case he has to come in mid-inning?

I'm going to interrupt this lovely evening of baseball to pimp out my newest blog post: Thank You, Selena Roberts

Classy. Boo a 22 year old kid off the mound.

You know how sometimes you're watching your favorite team play and the opposing team sends in reliever after reliever and every single one boasts phenomenal numbers? Yeah. I wonder what opposing fans think when they see the Yankees bullpen door open?

Thanks, Ramirez. I'm sure that Hughes could have done that. 8-0 Orioles

Cue the sarcastic claps and the YES music....

Top of the 3rd
In case anyone is unaware, I'm the world's biggest Melky Cabrera fan. To that end...

That was a brilliant pitch by Cy Young contender Adam Eaton. Melky was just a little bit late on it.

The Yankees are really making a statement with their bats, aren't they?

Bottom of the 3rd. Seriously? That's all?
Nice play by Cano. Coulda used a few of those last inning.

I really do love Baltimore. The inner harbor is beautiful. Camden Yards is beautiful, too.

How great is the Yankee pitching this year? 9-0 Orioles. The good news is the Yankees only need 10 straight solo home runs to take the lead!

Top of the 4th
Rebecca will be back in a few.

Leadoff walk to Tex. Hey, if Teixeira and Alex get really hot at the same time, do you think the nickname "Tex-Rod" will catch on?

No? Well I'll try it.

So why is Brett Gardner on the Yankees' website under All-Star voting? How can I change this? Do you think I could start a grassroots "Vote Melky" campaign?

Hey! Tex-Rod walked! (It's catchy, right?)

Ducks on a pond!

Remember when everyone thought Swisher could hit for average? 9-1 Orioles on the sac fly by Swish.

Remember when Cano was hitting? GIDP. End of the inning.

Bottom of the 4th
Is it me or does Edwar often look completely clueless on the mound? Veras gets the same look on his face. It certainly doesn't make me feel great.

This game is virtually unwatchable. See what I do for you guys? Do you see? This is called sacrifice. 11-1 Orioles

Top of the 5th
Melky! Hey, Melky! Hi! That was a nice hit!

*ahem* Sorry. I get a little bit carried away. Double by Melky. He's now hit in 12 out of his last 13 games.

Little bit of comic relief there as Cervelli scares the bejeezus out of himself by letting his bat fly against the wall.

A fun little Melky stat for you: As a starter this year, Melky is now hitting .348 going into today's game.

2-run homer for Damon as the Yankees baby-step closer. 11-3 Orioles. And that was made possible by Melky's double. I'm just saying.

Well, I'm out, guys and gals! Rebecca will take her blog back. Enjoy the rest of the massacre game!

9.26 PM: Well now, that was a long day. I feel bad for my nephew...today was the bris, if you know what I mean, and now this! But if you'd like to see a picture of aunt and nephew you can see so here.