A cold, rainy night in April does not equal much baseball fun, for the players or the fans in the seats. Such was the scene tonight in the Bronx but any discomfort was eased by a quick pace. The game zipped along, lots of strikeouts, and the Yanks held a 2-1 lead in the seventh inning. With a man on first, CC Sabathia was called for a balk by the first base ump. It was hard to detect, even after looking at a couple of replays. The pitcher certainly didn’t think it was a good call and when Sabathia gave up a single that tied the game, his frustration grew. He had a chance to turn a double play soon after–after already starting two earlier–and botched the throw to second. He got out of the inning without giving up another run and as he walked off the field the camera showed him saying that most fragrant of baseball words: “Horseshit.”

That was just the start of the real horseshit but the Yanks were on the good side of the stink. In the bottom of the seventh, they scored three runs on no hits–three walks and an error by Adam Jones. With two outs, the O’s center fielder went back on a well hit ball by Vernon Wells, tracked it down, and began to blow a bubble as the ball arrived and clanged off the heel of his glove.

The cycle of horseshit was complete in the eighth when the O’s put the first two men on base and then hit into a triple play. Cano fielded a ball on a short hop–it looked at first as if he’d caught it on a line–flipped to Nix at short for the first out. Nix and Youkilis ran down the lead runner for the second out and then the trail runner was caught between first and second. Youk threw to Overbay who then threw the ball to second for the triple play. The infielders jumped in the air and smiled as they ran back to the dugout. Rich men overcome with spontaneous, childlike joy.

A few hours after learning that Jonathan Winters is dead, the was appropriately knutty.

Mariano got the save as the Yanks steal one from the Boids. A fine way to beat the cold.

Final Score: Yanks 5, O’s 2.