Prior to the game the buzz was all about Joe Girardi and that funky, Tony LaRussa lineup he threw out for Wednesday’s tilt with the Rockies. Starting pitcher David Phelps was in the eighth spot, and catcher Austin Romine was ninth. Girardi’s explanation made a little bit of sense — he anticipated using a left-hander to pinch-hit for Phelps at some point, and with Brett Gardner and Robinson Canó at the top of the lineup, he didn’t want to have three lefties in a row. Also, he said he liked that after the lineup turned over, he’d have two hitters in front of Canó. Of course, he could simply bat Canó third like any sensible person would, but none of it really seemed to matter as much as the media wanted it to.

What did matter, was that the top of the lineup produced two runs early and young David Phelps pitched one of the best games of his brief career. Gardner led off with a bloop single down the line in left and — brace yourself — stole second on the first pitch to Canó. Canó later flied out, but when Vernon Wells followed with a shot into the seats in left, the Yanks were up 2-0.

As for Phelps, he found some trouble in the second inning when rising star Wilin Rosario (the loan bright spot on my struggling fantasy team, by the way) smacked the first pitch he saw into the gap in right center for an easy double and first baseman emeritus Todd Helton followed that with a homer to right to tie the score at two. After that? Smooth sailing for Phelps as he retired thirteen of the next fifteen batters, yielding just a walk and a single to finish six strong innings. No one will ever see Phelps as a top of the rotation guy, but I’d love to pencil him as the fourth starter for the next five years.

I have to admit that I fell asleep for the bottom of the seventh and top of the eighth, so wasn’t until a few minutes ago when I looked at the play-by-play that I missed something eventful. First, the Yankees have someone named Preston Claiborne; he pitched a scoreless seventh. Second, and this is the big news, the Rockies took the unorthodox step of using two pitchers at once, bringing in the Rex Brothers for the eighth. Not surprisingly, they used their advantage to set the Yankees down in order.

The ninth inning was all about Vernon Wells. He led off with an infield single, then took for second a few pitches later on what looked to be a busted hit and run. He should’ve been out by about a yard, but shortstop Juan Herrera dropped Rosario’s throw, and Wells was in scoring position with no one out. Lyle Overbay worked a walk, Ichiro bunted them over to second and third, Lance Nix walked to load the bases, but Travis Hafner struck out, leaving things to pinch-hitter Brennan Boesch with two outs. Boesch hit a grounder to third, apparently ending the threat, but Nolan Arenado double-clutched before making the throw, and Boesch was able to beat the play by an eyelash, allowing Wells to score the go-ahead run.

The Great One came on to pitch the ninth, which means the recap would normally end here, but Girardi was up to his old tricks again. When he sent Hafner to hit for Chris Nelson in the top of the ninth, he lost his third baseman. He could’ve kept Hafner at third, except that the Pronkster hasn’t thrown a ball in a major league game since 2007, nor has he played anywhere in the field aside from first base. So with Jorge Posada retired and Francisco Cervelli on the disabled list, Girardi did the only thing he could do — he put Wells at third. (If he doesn’t play Rivera in center before the year is out, I’ll be sorely disappointed.)

Naturally, the second batter of the inning bounced a ball to third. From the upper deck, I’m sure Wells looked like any other third baseman as he ranged comfortably to his left, fielded the big hop, and fired to first for the out. Perhaps he’ll get the start on Wednesday afternoon.

Rivera did the rest, notching his twelfth straight save. Yankees 3, Rockies 2. (Here’s something to watch for. It’s early, but the way this team is constructed, it wouldn’t be a surprise if Rivera actually topped his career high of 53 saves from back in 2004. Then he’d walk off into the sunset with a Cy Young Award, just like Koufax. Wouldn’t that be poetic?)

[Photo Credit: Dustin Bradford/Getty Images]

I live smack in the middle of the N.L. West, but it’s still a complete mystery to me. There’s nothing at all impressive about the San Francisco Giants, except that they’ve won two of the past three World Series. For all the talk of the Dodgers and their cable deal (and their payroll) becoming the Yankees of the West, they’re floundering in last place. There’s no more beautiful city in America than San Diego, and yet the Padres haven’t been able to reel in an interesting free agent since they bagged Garvey in 1983 and added Gossage and Nettles in ’84.

And then there are the Colorado Rockies. With a lineup devoid of superstars, unless you count Todd Helton, who seems to have been playing since the Jurassic era, the Rockies have somehow found themselves at the top of this, the strangest division in baseball.

In many ways, the Rockies must’ve felt like they were looking in a mirror when the makeshift Yankees trotted out onto the field on Tuesday night. Remember when Jim Leyland famously referred to the Yankees’ fearsome 2006 lineup as Murders’ Row and Robby Canó? Well, last night’s group looked like Robinson and the Seven Dwarves, with starter Hiroki Kuroda batting ninth in the National League park.

With Derek Jeter, Mark Teixeira, Curtis Granderson, and Alex Rodríguez all in Tampa and Kevin Youkilis also on the shelf, it’s a wonder the Yankees haven’t simply raised the white flag for the season. It’s been an admirable effort, and at times it’s even been fun to watch, as they’ve kept things together through these first six weeks. On Tuesday, though, they raised the white flag.

Kuroda wasn’t exactly brilliant, but he was certainly good enough to win as he cruised through the first five innings, allowing just three base runners over those opening frames. The Yankees, meanwhile, weren’t doing much more than pestering Rockies starter Jorge de la Rosa with more stolen bases (4) than hits (3), and the game was a scoreless tie as Colorado came up in the home half of the sixth.

The inning started innocently enough as Kuroda needed just two pitches for the first two outs, and when he gave up a single to Jeff Rutledge with his fourth pitch of the frame, there was certainly no cause for concern. Some people might have questioned my earlier statement claiming the Rockies had no superstars, and they would’ve cited Carlos González in their argument. But since I wouldn’t have recognized González if he had been watching the game with me from my living room couch, I’m not ready to elevate him to that elite level. Even after he deposited a Kuroda fastball into the right field seats, I still won’t do it. He’s a good player, I’ll give him that.

And that, essentially, was that. Sure, there was some hope when Brett Gardner pinch hit in the seventh and led off with a walk, but that hope started to fade as Gardner sat on first, refusing to steal second even though he had already watched Lance Nix and Chris Stewart (Chris Stewart!) pull off the trick. It disappeared completely when Colorado’s prodigal son ended the inning by grounding into a double play.

There will be games like this for these Yankees, and if we’re really honest with ourselves, we should be less surprised by games like this than when they somehow rack up seven or eight runs. But who knows? Maybe that surprise is coming tonight.

Rockies 2, Yankees 0.

[Photo Credit: Justin Edmonds/Getty Images]

It was uncommonly beautiful in New York today, one of those days that the weatherman likes to call one of the ten best days of the year. Watching the Yankees on an HD TV, the colors and sharpness created an almost surreal hyper-realism.

Another pretty good game in a good series, too. The A’s won 5-4.

Tough day for Andy Pettitte as Brian Heyman reports:

“It’s a struggle,” Pettitte said. “The issue is everything. Everything I’ve got to do as a starting pitcher, I’m not able to do right now. … My release point is floating around a little bit. … It’s been a long, long time since I haven’t had a feeling for my pitches.”

Pettitte is good at being brutally frank when it comes to self-assessments.

“My cutter is nonexistent right now,” Pettitte said.

Joe Girardi said he wasn’t going to make a big deal out of two bad starts. Pettitte is just hoping to find a steady release point in a hurry.

“I wish I could tell you something hurt,” Pettitte said. “But I feel good.”

I wish I could be more expansive but I kept nodding off which added to the dreamlike quality of the afternoon. I was up in time to watch the end of a thrilling OKC-Memphis game and plenty awake to watch the Knicks take one in the nuts against the Pacers at the Garden.

Then I stretched, took a shower, changed clothes and took a good, long walk.

[Photo Credit: J. L. Russell]

Phil Hughes pitched his best game of the year, Chris Stewart and Lyle Overbay hit solo home runs (Overbays was a bomb) and Mariano Rivera was the last man standing–though he didn’t earn a save–as the Yanks beat the A’s yesterday afternoon, 4-2.

Smiles all around.

Today gives another afternoon game and Game 1 of the Knicks-Pacers, which proves to be dramatic, dumb, aggravating, and other clumsy adjectives to describe hardship and pain.

But first, listen to this:

“Fallin'”–Teenaged Fan Club with De La Soul

[Photo Credit: Katherine Squler]

The Yanks were ahead by a run in the bottom of the eighth when Brett Gardner lead off with a single. The game slowed down considerably as he plotted to steal second, which he eventually did, and made it. Then he stole third, too, but still, the Yanks couldn’t bring him home. The inning seemed to take forever–pitch-outs, visits to the mound, failed bunts–and all the planning and counter-planning didn’t amount to a thing.

In the ninth, Mariano Rivera gave up a single to start the inning. The next batter hit a line drive up the middle as the runner on first took off for second. Watching on TV, I saw that the ball was well struck, and knowing that the runner was moving, I sighed, seeing the inevitable: first and third, no out. Instead, Robinson Cano, who was shaded up the middle, caught the ball and walked casually to second where he tagged out the helpless runner. Dumb luck is all. Dumb luck.

Mo struck out the next guy–the ending was routine at that point–and the Yanks had an unspectacular but pleasing 5-4 win.

Not a bad way to start a day off.

[Illustration via Rotomangler]

The sun hung up through the early evening begging for some baseball to be played. Anyway, that’s what I thought. One boy wanted to race scooters with a legion of cohorts. The other wanted to dig for buried treasure – gold, jewels, something ancient. “If it’s valuable, we can sell it and become rich and famous.” I stood with the bat on my shoulder. Baseball had to wait.

We heard the bracing cough before we came through the door. Pregnant to popping and sick with cold and fever, my wife was holed up in bed. We shut her door and proceeded towards bedtime with the boys taking advantage of me when they could, as always. The Yankees were already in the second inning, I guessed.  Baseball would have to wait some more.

“The laundry bag looks like a ghost,” Henry said. He has chosen a bedtime story about a boy who imagines monsters for three nights in a row and he’s mastering the racket. Last night is was a painting of a giraffe that’s been stationed on his wall since before he was born. The Yankees must be halfway to a win by now.

When I came out to warm up Chinese food and watch the game, I found my wife stretched out on the couch. “All I want to do is to fall asleep with the TV on,” she said. I didn’t have the heart to suggest a ballgame and I figured I would try to catch the ninth if Mariano was pitching. But to my surprise, she already had the TV switched to the Yanks and Astros.

I came in just as Kuroda found his groove and the Yanks scored some runs. Kuroda was as terrific as you can be after being terrible for a few innings. The first part of the game must have been a sluggish affair with all the base runners and walks.

David Robertson had one of those innings where he looks like the best pitcher in baseball but lets up two runs including a big homer. He absolutely blew the Astros away except for when the Yankee shift turned a ground out to short into a single. He had his chance to strike out Chris Carter, just about any kind of pitch in any spot would have done it, but the one Robertson threw unluckily hit Carter’s bat and ended up 20 rows deep.

Mariano had a night a little bit like mine. He was all set to go when Robertson hit Carter’s bat, but then the Yanks added a whole bunch of insurance in the ninth. Eduardo Nunez had an especially nice game and Ichiro and Hafner chipped in as well. Mariano sat back down, figuring it wasn’t his night. But Shawn Kelley got touched up and the score got close enough for Mariano to earn a save with one sweet strikeout, 7-4.

Winning is always worth the wait.

Photo by Elsa/Getty Images via ESPN

And sometimes you just get your ass kicked…which is how he went down last night.

Final Score: Astros 9, Yanks 1. 

Mac’s got the details if you’re interested.

The Wife an I celebrated our anniversary this weekend so I was away from a computer for the past day. We did watch a bunch of the game yesterday–as well as most of the exciting (and exasperating) Bulls-Nets game.

You know, what? The Wife is the love of my life. We had a great time.

Here’s a Yankee thought: C.C. Sabathia’s got a ton of heart, man. Maybe there’s a better word for it, maybe “heart” is a cliche, but he’s had a couple of starts this year where he hasn’t had his best stuff but he’s still given the team length. Hasn’t complained about it, just gone out there and emptied the tank for his team. Yesterday, he went eight innings and got the win. He’s the man.

Today, we missed the game entirely but caught the highlights and hot damn–a four-game sweep of those upstart Jays? Sheeeeeit. Not bad for a bunch of broken-down, overpaid chumps, huh? Just enough hitting–how sweet is it when you win a game with just four hits? And a nice job by the pitching staff capped off by another tidy outing for The Great Mariano.

Final Score: Yanks 3, Jays 2.

A fine weekend, indeed.

“Talkin’ Bout Hey Love”-De La Soul

[Photo Via (the ever great) This Isn’t Happiness]

Well, it didn’t start well. In fact, it was an upsetting evening for the Yankees. In the first inning, Francisco Cervelli–the Wife’s favorite player on the team–was hit in the right hand by a foul tip. He left the game and when the news arrived it wasn’t good–broken hand, and for the Wife, a broken heart. They say he’ll have surgery and be out for at least six weeks. And he was playing so well.

“It’s just not fair,” said the Wife.

Drag.

Then in the third inning, Ivan Nova walked off the mound and out of the game; he’ll have an MRI on his elbow to see what’s wrong.

The good news is that David Phelps, that most trustworthy of utility pitchers, was terrific. Struck out a ton of guys and only allowed one run–a long home run to Edwin Encarnacion, who has developed a right douche bucket home run trot.

The other Toronto Tough Guy, Jose Bautista hit the holy hell out of fastball by David Robertson in the eighth but a solo shot by Brett Gardner in the bottom of the inning earlier gave the Yanks a welcome two-run cushion.

There was a little drama for Mariano in the 9th. He got the first two men out and then you have to credit to Brett Lowrie–who looks like an MMA fighter–who’d been caught looking twice this season by Rivera’s outside cutter for a third strike. This time, down two strikes, he got the same pitch and slapped it into right field for a single. Another cheap single followed by an infield hit loaded the bases for Cody Rasmus, Bautista on deck. And Mo fell behind 2-0. But he evened out the count…

…the crowd took pictures, stood and cheered…

 …and the pulse quickened…

…then Mo struck Rasmus out to end it.

More injuries for the Yanks, but in the short term it was comforting that they at least got the win.

Final Score: Yanks 6, Jays 4.

As a side note, YES showed a cool shot of Mo holding court before the game with a group of Blue Jays. How many times do you see a scene like this?

Yeah, he’s a special one.

One trip through the Blue Jays’ order and Hiroki Kuroda did not look long for this April Night. The first eleven batters racked up six hits, all bullets. Kuroda rolled a double play and stranded some runners, or else Toronto’s two homers would have accounted for more than the three runs they got. The Jays could be forgiven if they thought they were going to romp.

But Kuroda worked through his early-bird specials and began serving up the good stuff by striking out Jose Bautista to end the second. That began a string of 13 of 14 Jays who wouldn’t reach base – the only runner safe on Lyle Overbay’s error in the 4th. It was a resilient performance and the Yankees didn’t waste it.

Robinson Cano again tested the breadth of his back and found it stout enough to carry the team to victory with a three-run shot in the third. Francisco Cervelli and Vernon Wells bookended Cano with solo blasts and the scoring held at 5-3 for a satisfying Yankee win.

Cano’s homer came on a 3-1 “fastball” from Mark Buehrle. Buehrle seemed to hit his spot on the inside corner, but he had two problems – he threw it 86 MPH and he threw it to Robinson Cano. Cano’s so quick on the inside pitch that he can get the barrel to a much faster pitch in the same location. Say what you will about his hitting approach, he doesn’t often get jammed.

Flip to the ninth inning and consider what Mariano Rivera, pitching as well at 43 years old, I’m pretty confident, as any pitcher in Major League history, did to Colby Rasmus with pitches is the same vicinity. Obviously, the cutting action of Rivera’s pitch separates it from Buehrle’s, but even more telling than the pitch action and velocity is the swing path.

As Rasmus whiffed at two of Rivera’s insidious cutters and scragged a bat on a true devil, I drifted off imagining a match-up between Cano and Mo. I think Mariano would be able to use Robbie’s aggressiveness and get him to chase high pitches. But I bet Cano would fair better against the inside/outside cutter gambit than almost any other left-handed batter.

I snapped out of it just in time to witness a true “Mo-Classic” (I woke up realizing that this should be a “Mo-fecta”) – three up, three down; strike out swinging, broken bat, strike out looking. I wonder how many times he’s done that in his career?

Photo by Kathy Willens via AP/ESPN

It wasn’t much of a rally but it was enough. Andy Pettitte was throwing well again and even though he hit Jose Molina in the foot to start the fifth and gave up a single after that, there was every reason to believe the Rays wouldn’t score. This despite Brennan Boesch’s error on the base hit that put runners on second and third. Pettitte struck out the next two batters and boy was it was a pleasure to watch. The veteran craftsman plying his trade.

But he fell behind Ben Zobrist 2-0 and then Zobrist slapped the ball into center field to drive home both runners. Sean Rodriguez led off the next inning with a solo home run and those three runs were more than enough for Alex Cobb who mastered the Yankees for 8.1 innings. His best pitch is a change up but he spotted his fastball and a nifty curve ball for strikes, too. Worked quickly and the game zipped along. The Yanks had three hits against Cobb and never really posed any kind of threat.

Until the ninth that is. With one out, Brett Gardner singled off Cobb ending the young starter’s evening. Fernando Rodney, he of the cap cocked side-a-ways, replaced Cobb and served up a single to Ichiro! That brought up Robinson Cano as the tying run. Cano got ahead 2-1, looked at a change up down-and-in. It missed, but boy was it ever close to Robbie’s Happy Place. Cano fouled off an outside fastball to make it 3-2. The cowbells clanged away at the Trop and suddenly it was a game.

But not for long. Cano rolled over an outside fastball and hit it softly to second base. It was too slow to turn a double play but good enough to get the out at first. So…runners on second and third and two out for Travis Hafner, who couldn’t check his swing at Rodney’s first pitch–a change up–for strike one. He waved at another change and looked bad doing it. Didn’t jump at the next one, which sailed away for a ball, and fouled off the one after that. Four pitches, all change ups.

More cowbells and people standing and whistling and yelling.

Then 98 mph in on the hands, a cheap pop fly, and Rodney shoots his invisible bow.

Final Score: Rays 3, Yanks 0.

Phil Hughes pitched a good game last night. Twice, he walked the lead-off runner and both times that runner came around to score. But that was all he gave up and the Yanks got two runs against David Price so the score was 2-2 in the ninth. With two men out and the bases loaded, and ace close Fernando Rodney looking less than sterling, Ichiro! swung at the first pitch he saw and singled home two runs.

Enter Sandman, pictured above a few innings earlier holding court in the bullpen. Evan Longoria disposed Rivera’s first pitch over the wall for a home run but the next three batters weren’t as fortunate. Mo got the save, and the Yanks got a most satisfying win.

Final Score: Yanks 4, Rays 3.

C.C. Sabathia virtually repeated his previous performance last night, except he was a little worse. Instead of giving up two runs in the first, he gave up four, and instead of pitching eight innings, he pitched seven. And on a night when Matt Moore was dealing–the Yankees only had two hits–welp, that was all she wrote.

Final Score: Rays 5, Yanks 2.

Nah, you don’t need to know too much about this one (Chad Jennings has the notes, as always, if you’re interested).

Like the third game against the Diamondbacks this was one the Yanks had control of but then let it slip away.

Final Score: Blue Jays 8, Yanks 4.

The Yanks were on their merry way to another tidy victory this afternoon when things suddenly went bad. They were ahead 3-0 and Hiroki Kuroda had quieted the Jays all afternoon. Never mind that the Yanks blew a bases loaded chance with one man out in the middle of the game, they had a three-run lead with one out in the eighth inning. That’s when Lyle Overbay made an error and David Robertson replaced Kuroda. And before you knew it the Jays tied the game–sombitch Melky Cabrera had the big hit.

I figured that was it for our boys but the Jays made a critical error themselves which led to a couple of runs in the top of the 11th and Mariano Rivera worked around a lead-off double by Jose Bautista and a loud out by Edwin Encarnacion to earn the save. Struck the last two men out to end it.

Hot Damn.

Yanks 5, Jays 3.

Chad Jennings has the notes.

What’s more–the Knicks put the clamps on the Celtics in the second half at the Garden and took the first game, 85-78.

And the Nuggets-Warriors game was a hell of a lot of funski, too.

[Photo Via: Lomography]

The Yanks beat the stuffin’ out of the Jays tonight as Andy Pettitte had another solid outing.

Smile.

Final Score: Yankees 9, Blue Jays 4.

[Photo Credit: Joel Zimmer]

Another night and again the Diamondbacks get an impressive performance from their starting pitcher. This time it was Patrick Corbin, a slinging lefty with a nice fastball and a nice slider. Phil Hughes was good too. He allowed two solo home runs and that put the Yanks in a 2-1 hole (they scored their run on a solo homer by Robbie Cano).

In the eighth, Eduardo Nunez was robbed of an extra base hit by Martin Prado to lead off and then Travis Hafner, pinch-hitting walked against reliever David Hernandez and Brett Gardner singled. It was only the third hit of the game for the Yanks.

Wells walked on four pitches, the crowd was alive, and for the first time this season, my pulse quickened. Cano took a fastball low for a ball and then fouled off a good fastball–oooooh, just missed it. Another fastball, this one upstairs, probably not a strike, but Cano swung at it anyhow and fouled it off. Next pitch was a wicked breaking ball, Cano, couldn’t check his swing even though the ball hit him in the left foot. The initial call was that Cano did not swing but the appeal–to the first base ump, not the third base ump who is responsible for the call–had Cano out. It was the correct call, too.

So it was up to Kevin Youkilis, who took a fastball for a strike–too low, Blue, too low–and then fouled off a breaking ball, waved at another slider, barely fouling it off, and took a fastball high. He got another fastball, this one just inside enough and Youkilis fouled it off. The next pitch was a slider up and Youk leaned his elbow out but it missed him (and you wonder why opponent’s don’t like him). He swung and missed at the next pitch, a breaking ball and the inning was over.

And for the first time this season I was irked.

That quickly changed to fuggin annoyed when Gardner overran a fly ball for a two-base error to start the ninth–he ran a long way to make an error. A bloop single over Cano’s head (did he mis-time his jump?) put runners on the corners with nobody out, Joba on the mound. He struck out Eric Chavez and then got a little tapper hit right to him, chased down the runner at third, got him in a run down, and Youkilis tagged the runner out. Youk spun, threw the ball to Nunez, who was covering third and they had Cody Ross out, but Ross slid in under the tag and was safe. Catcher’s interference on Frankie Cervelli loaded the bases and left our catcher smarting. But wouldn’t you know it a fly ball ended it. Lots of weirdness, but no runs.

And a good performance by Joba.

J.J. Putz–pronounced “Puts,” as only a Putz would do–hung a 1-2 splitter to Cervelli with one man out and the little guy planted one into the first row of the left field stands: tie game. It was no bomb but it had a nice ring to it. Sure sounded sweet.

We might as well leave there because soon enough the irritation I mentioned earlier returned when David Phelps worked out of a jam in the 11th. And resignation set in after Nunez ended the bottom of the 11th with a well-struck ball that almost took off on Cody Ross in right field. Yeah, the winning run was on second and would have scored easily. Cervelli had another catcher’s interference in the 12th and Ross came up with the go-ahead RBI; our old friend Eric Chavez collected three RBI with a long double.

Final Score: Diamondbacks 6, Yanks 2.

Two-of-three was good but the Yanks should have swept ’em.

Yanks down 3-0? No fuggin’ problem.

C.C. Sabathia gave up a couple of runs in the first but then toughed it out for eight innings. Meanwhile, Young Wade Miley dominated the Yankees until the seventh inning. That’s when he got shook and loaded the bases. Had two outs too when he walked Eduardo Nunez to load ’em up and you could see his frustration building. He followed that by walking Jayson Nix and that was it. His night, done. Then Brett Gardner singled to tie the game.

Bottom of the eighth, Travis Hafner hit a 95 mph fastball for a pinch hit home run and Mariano Rivera retired the side in order in the ninth for the save. Fell behind Cody Ross 3-0, but got him to pop out to Ichiro! in right. Our old pal Eric Chavez grounded a 2-2 pitch to short and Gerrado Parra rolled one over to Robbie Cano–cue Sinatra.

Yanks 4, Diamondbacks 3.

Hey, not bad for these suck-ass 1965 Yankees, huh?

[Picture by Grégoire Guillemin]

Robbie Cano hit a three-run homer which was enough to give the Yanks a lead and on a night where every player wore the number 42. Mariano Rivera recorded the save and the final score was 4-2.

Works for me.

Rivera worked a perfect ninth and watching him perform like this is the thing of beauty that we’ve come to cherish, never more than now, this being Mo’s final season and all.

This is a time to appreciate.

[Photo Credit: Nick Laham/Getty Images]

Hiroki Kuroda worked quickly tonight, the Oriole hitters swung early to a most pleasing result: ground balls to Yankee infielders. Robinson Cano made several graceful plays, especially a double play to end the eighth inning. Kuroda had his back-door slider going, the splitter splitting, and, of course, his sinker sinking. Gave up five hits and didn’t walk a batter.

Staked to a 3-0 lead highlighted by a 2-run home run by Brett Gardner that hit high off the right field foul pole, Kuroda took a shutout into the ninth inning. Jason Nix made a one-our error and in the bullpen the TV cameras showed Mariano Rivera roll his eyes and give a little smile. Then Adam Jones tapped out to Kevin Youkilis at third and the hot-hitting Chris Jones, who’d already struck out twice, whiffed to end the game.

Tidy, efficient, satisfying.

Yanks 3, O’s 0.

[Photo Credit: Virginia Woods-Jack]