MLB News | June 9 2010

Yankees feast on Orioles, 12-7

By Ben Shpige
June 9, 2010


Baltimore, MD — The lone suspenseful moment at Camden Yards on Tuesday night came during a seventh-inning pitching change. With the bases full of Yankees, the video screen played highlights from Stephen Strasburg’s major-league debut. As Strasburg struck out batter after batter, Derek Jeter and Nick Swisher stood beside each other near the on-deck circle watching and waiting, with the rest of the crowd, for his pitching line to appear.

Their curiosity satisfied, the Yankees turned their attention back to demolishing the Baltimore Orioles. Swisher cleared the bases with a double, Mark Teixeira followed with a two-run homer, and the Yankees scored six runs that inning to roll to a 12-7 victory. They have won nine straight games against the Orioles, who drew 23,171 fans — many clad in pinstriped jerseys or navy blue T-shirts — on the rare night with the Yankees in town when the most captivating event was playing out 35 miles to the south.

Being the undercard did not seem to bother the Yankees (36-22), who had 15 hits, or especially Teixeira, who reached base in his first five plate appearances. He singled twice and walked twice, and his home run, which landed in the right-field seats, seemed to release a week’s worth of tension.

“You see him smile a little bit more between at-bats,” Manager Joe Girardi said.

The day off Monday allowed Teixeira, a native of Severna Park, Md., to spend time with his family, talking politics with his grandfather and bragging about his children to his grandmother. The time away from the ballpark did not necessarily refresh Teixeira, who, despite going 1 for 14 in a weekend series in Toronto, maintained that he was having better at-bats. He stayed back longer on pitches, and he and Girardi said they saw evidence of improvement.

“Any time you help your team win, it feels good,” Teixeira said.

Swisher never worries about his production at Camden Yards, where he is hitting .449 with 5 homers, including a two-run shot Tuesday, and 18 runs batted in over 13 games here since last season. His contributions overshadowed a third-inning grand slam by Curtis Granderson; three more hits for Robinson Cano, whose average soared to .370, the best in baseball; and a solid if unspectacular outing from Phil Hughes, who allowed three runs and nine hits over six innings in improving to 8-1.

“It looks better at the end of it, but I really felt like I wasn’t on at all,” Hughes said. “I feel like if I was to evaluate myself without even knowing how many runs I gave up, just by the pitches I made, I shouldn’t have won this game.”

Taking the mound with a 6-0 lead usually has an empowering effect on pitchers, helping them to relax and throw strikes. Hughes, if anything, looked less comfortable. Facing the Orioles for the second time in less than a week, Hughes said he was somewhat surprised by their change in approach. The hitters swung early, apparently unwilling to run long counts and let Hughes unleash his full repertory. He did not have as much late life on his fastball, either, and the Orioles had four singles in a two-run fourth, and two more in the fifth, when they closed to 6-3.

“I’ve seen him sharper,” said Girardi, who could have pointed to most of Hughes’s starts this season. Hughes has been the Yankees’ most consistent starter, lasting deep into games while issuing few walks and striking out loads. In his last 10 starts, Hughes has walked nine and struck out 50. Only once has Hughes left a game with the Yankees trailing, and he was not about to let it happen again. His pitch count rising, Hughes retired the last four batters he faced and settled in to watch Swisher and Teixeira.

“You have those days where you might not pitch well enough to win,” Hughes said. “But you do because we have such a great offense.”

INSIDE PITCH

Jorge Posada resumed catching activities Tuesday for the first time since being activated from the disabled list, but Joe Girardi said he did not expect him to return behind the plate until next week. Posada practiced blocking balls, caught Andy Pettitte’s bullpen session and made 10 throws to second base without feeling any discomfort in his right foot, which has a hairline fracture. He said he would rest Wednesday before working out at an increased intensity Thursday. ...Josh Paul, the manager of Class A Staten Island, joined the Yankees as their interim bullpen coach, while Mike Harkey assumes the pitching coach duties of Dave Eiland, who is on an indefinite leave of absence. ...The right-hander Angel Rincon, a member of the Yankees’ Dominican Summer League team, was suspended for 50 games after testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs.

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