Here’s a shocker. The Yankees and Orioles got together at Camden Yards on Tuesday night and took four hours and thirty-eight minutes to get to the point. I’d love tell you that the first four and a half hours were filled with scintillating baseball, but that’s not quite how it happened.

That is, however, how it started. Japanese import Wei-Yen Chen was making his major league debut for the Orioles, and young Derek Jeter welcomed him to America with a 421-foot home run to straight-away center field. Two pitches later Nick Swisher pounded a ball off the wall in right center, and it was looking like the title of this recap might end up being “Everybody Wei-Yen Chen Tonight!” (And wouldn’t that have been clever?) But Chen settled down and didn’t give up another hit until the fifth inning.

As the Orioles came to bat in the bottom of the first, Freddy García took the mound for the Yankees and that’s when things really got interesting, especially if you’re betting on Michael Pineda and Andy Pettitte to claim spots in the starting rotation later this season. García yielded a game-tying home run to J.J. Hardy with one out in the first, but unlike Chen, he was never able to regain control of the game. He walked Nick Markakis, then later walked Matt Wieters to put runners on first and second with two outs.

With former Yankee Nick Johnson at bat (and just a step away from the disabled list), García bounced a wild pitch to the backstop, allowing the runners to move up to second and third. Four pitches later García’s second wild pitch plated the Orioles’ second run. (Pay attention; this will become a running theme.)

García skipped his way through the second and third innings but found trouble in the fourth, much of it self-induced. Adam Jones pounded a double to left center to open the frame, and then — you guessed it — advanced to third on García’s third wild pitch of the game. Jones would eventually score two batters later on a Johnson groundout, and even though García would uncork his fourth wild pitch later in the inning, it wouldn’t bring any further damage. But stay tuned.

In Shakespearean tragedies the fifth act serves as resolution, but you know the ending before you get there. And so it was with García’s fifth inning. Robert Andino led off with a ground rule double over Curtis Granderson’s head in center field and was pushed to third on a sacrifice bunt from Endy Chavez. With the infield in, Derek Jeter was able to snatch a ground ball from Hardy to keep Andino at third and give García a chance to get out of the inning, but we all knew better.

Baltimore’s best hitter, Nick Markakis, came to the plate with a chance to give his team an important insurance run, and Yankee manager Joe Girardi had three options. He could’ve chosen the intentional walk, as he sometimes likes to do, or he could’ve brought in lefty Clay Rapada to face the left-handed Markakis, but instead he chose option number three and let García pitch to him. After putting Markakis into an 0-2 hole, García tried to put him away with a diving curve ball, but the ball dove too hard and landed in the batters box before spinning to the backstop for his fifth wild pitch of the night. Andino scored easily.

(In case you were wondering — and really, could there be any doubt? — the good folks from Elias have confirmed that García’s five wild pitches — in less than five innings, mind you — tied the American League record.)

David Phelps recorded the final out of the fifth inning, starting an impressive string of six Yankee relievers who were simply dominant. Phelps, David Robertson, Boone Logan*, Cory Wade, Clay Rapada, and The Great One combined for this line: 7.1 IP/2 H/0 R/2 BB/12 K. That’s serious. (* Logan gave up a single but didn’t record an out.)

As soon as García came out of the game, the Yankee hitters came in. Robinson Canó and Mark Teixeira singled and Curtis Granderson walked to the load the bases with one out. The Yankees hadn’t gotten a bases loaded hit during their first four games, and they still hadn’t after Andruw Jones lofted a sacrifice fly to short right, but at least they had another run. Third baseman Mark Reynolds booted what should’ve been the third out of the inning, allowing Teixeira to score, and Brett Gardner followed that with a line drive single to right to tie the game at 4-4. The Yankees looked alive for the first time since Swisher’s double in the first.

That momentum carried over into the seventh inning when Swisher found himself on first base after being hit with a pitch. Canó followed that by bouncing a double over third base and down the left field line, potentially giving the Yankees runners on second and third with no one out and Alex Rodríguez, Teixeira, and Granderson due up. Instead, third base coach Robby Thompson waved Swisher home where he was tagged out. It wouldn’t have mattered if either A-Rod or Tex had come through, but both struck out.

Five innings later, Canó again found himself on second base, again hoping that either A-Rod or Teixeira would plate him with the go-ahead run. Those two would disappoint once again (two ground outs to second; A-Rod’s pushing Canó to third, Teixeira’s doing nothing), but Raúl Ibáñez would not. The announcers made much of Buck Showalter’s decision to walk Granderson ahead of Ibáñez, characterizing it as a challenge being issued to the new Yankee, but what else could Buck have done? It was clearly the right move, and it wasn’t his fault that Ibáñez bounced a ground rule double over the wall to score Canó and finally give the Yankees their first lead of the game. Yankees 5, Orioles 4.

The Great One struck out Chavez looking, popped up Hardy, and froze Markakis for the final out. Have you seen this part before? As he unleashed his final pitch, a pinpoint fastball on the outside corner, Rivera’s follow through flowed smoothly into a quiet walk towards his catcher for a simple congratulatory handshake.

[Photo Credit: Rob Carr/Getty Images]

The Yankees notched their first victory of the 2012 season at the expense of the Baltimore Orioles by a score of 6-2. Perhaps the opening sweep made me uneasy in anticipation of the first win, because this game was not the walk in the park the final score indicates.

Ivan Nova mixed in lots of hits, whiffs and double plays in just the right order to hold the O’s to two runs over seven innings. David Robertson picked up where he left off and had a scoreless but shaky eighth. Mariano got the final three outs but allowed another booming extra-base hit and the final out was a low screamer that almost cut Gardner off at the knees in left. Mo’s pitches were in the 88-90 mph range and mostly not that impressive.

After the two teams exchanged runs in the first, the Yankees grabbed the lead for good in the fourth. The Yankee offense generated pressure all night long, but untimely inning-ending, bases-loaded double plays by Robinson Cano and Alex Rodriguez in the sixth and eighth kept the score close.

Matt Weiters and Derek Jeter each had four hits. The only time either of them failed to reach base was when Derek Jeter got out on purpose in the sixth.

The unwashed masses might think the idea of getting out on purpose runs contrary to the goal of scoring as many runs as possible, but what they fail to realize is that the sacrifice is as much a gift to the gods as it is a gift to the other team. Pious managers and devoted players – nobody has to tell Derek Jeter to get out on purpose – offer up these gifts not so much to score runs or to win baseball games, but in deference to the mystic forces of playingtherightway. Amongst the observant, this is not a strategy but a mark by which they can declare themselves saved.

Back in the game where people were trying, each team was drilling the ball all over the park. The Orioles out hit the Yankees 13 to 11 but were terrible with runners on base. The difference was that Nova, Robertson and Rivera didn’t walk anybody and the O’s issued seven free passes. Two of them scored in the fourth inning rally and the Orioles never caught up.

Ivan Nova bagged the victory, and, though he wasn’t dominant or anything, he’s the latest example of why we shouldn’t give a flying fig about spring training stats. Are you healthy? Is your velocity at or near an expected level? Great, the rest is meaningless.

The middle of the order isn’t doing much thus far so hopefully they kick in gear and start up a winning streak. For now, here’s # 1, courtesy of a man called Nova.

Phil Hughes pitched well. Jeremy Helickson pitched better–changed speeds beautifully and had control–to the tune of 3 hits over 8.2 innings. Nice way to celebrate his 25 birthday.

Rays 3, Yanks 0.

The Yankees hit the ball hard again but without any luck–right at fielders. Then bupkis the few times they had runners on base. Bum luck and it’s just one of those things, man. It won’t last.

Raul Ibanez made an error that led to a run, Hughes and Boone Logan gave up solo dingers. And that was that.

So, a lost weekend in Tampa to start the year. Drag.

At least the Knicks won an exciting game against the Bulls at the Garden. Forty-three for Melo, including two huge three pointers, one at the end of regulation, another near the end of overtime.

Yo, where’s the holiday candy at?

There are two ways you can manage a game, I suppose. You can manage in a vacuum, simply making moves based on the game in front of you without considering the context of the standings or the number of games left in your season, or you can manage according to the calendar, knowing that games in April or May don’t carry the same importance as those in September or October.

Yankee manager Joe Girardi appears to have chosen the latter method, which is fine, except that he seems to be working from a calendar that says September instead of April. On Friday night he made one of the most curious managerial decisions of all time when he ordered his staff ace to issue an intentional walk in the first inning of a scoreless game (the first game), a move that produced a grand slam off the bat of Carlos Peña.

On Saturday night he confirmed his inability to read the calendar by choosing to give Derek Jeter a half-day off as DH. You know, because he must’ve been so exhausted after playing shortstop for one consecutive game without a single day off. How long did it take for that decision to bite Girardi in the ass? Not long.

Desmond Jennings, the first Tampa Bay hitter in the bottom of the first inning, grounded a ball out to shortstop where Eduardo Núñez was waiting. Núñez booted it, and Jennings reach base safely on the error. It could’ve been a meaningless play in a meaningless game in the first week of April, but it wasn’t. Hiroki Kuroda was on the mound for the Yanks, and he could’ve made the error forgettable by zipping through the next three hitters, but he didn’t. He took about ten minutes to strike out Carlos Peña, but Jennings stole second on strike three, then advanced to third on an Evan Longoria ground ball.

With two outs and a runner on third, Kuroda seemed to feel the moment a bit. He walked Matt Joyce and Ben Zobrist to load the bases, and for the second straight day a Yankee starter found himself facing a game-changing moment with two outs in the first inning. Just as Sabathia had the night before, Kuroda failed here. Scott laced a single up the middle, and the Rays had a 2-0 lead.

The Rays would add a run in the second on an RBI single from Peña, and another in the third courtesy of a large home run from Matt Joyce, and the Yanks were staring down a 4-0 deficit against lefty David Price. A tall order, to be sure, but after they scraped together two runs in the fourth on RBI singles from Andruw Jones and Eduardo Núñez, it looked like they might be able to make a game of it.

They wouldn’t.

By the time the game moved into the ninth inning, the Rays held a comfortable 8-2 lead. Curtis Granderson led off with a triple and came home on a sacrifice fly from pinch-hitter Raúl Ibáñez, but that was only important to those keeping score or playing fantasy baseball. When Russell Martin walked and pinch-hitter Eric Chávez singled, however, there was something close to hope. When Nick Swisher launched a no-doubter into the right field seats to cut the lead to 8-6, there was actual hope. When Robinson Canó followed that with a gritty seven-pitch walk to bring the tying run to the plate in the form of Alex Rodríguez, there was possibility.

Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon had made one quirky defensive decision after another through the first two games, but finally he found himself in a position where there was only one move he could make. He brought in his closer, Fernando Rodney. As the stadium awoke to the drama and Michael Kay’s voice rose to a fever pitch, the Rodney-ARod confrontation lasted all of five seconds. A-Rod pounded a grounder just to the left of second base, the type of hit that rockets into center field against most American League defenses, but the Li’l Professor had his infield positioned perfectly, and second baseman Sean Rodríguez only had to take a couple steps to his left to field the ball easily and throw to first for the final out. Rays 8, Yankees 6.

Let’s get one thing straight here. It’s not time to panic. I mean, what are we, Red Sox fans? Even if the worst-case scenario plays out and the Yankees lose on Sunday to drop to 0-3, it will only serve to remind us of 1998, and that season worked out fine. Even so, it would be nice to get a win. No pressure, Mr. Hughes. No pressure at all.

[Photo Credit: Al Messerschmidt/Getty Images]

Rumors of Opening Day have fluttered around town for what seems like weeks. I heard there’s an opener in Japan. Are you sure it counts? There’s a premiere in Miami. A game in Queens. They still have a team? Something must have happened, the Red Sox are already in last place.

Our season doesn’t start until the Yankees play. They’re the closer of openers. The Yankees played today, against the Rays in Tampa, and lost in a fashion that is only salvaged by the knowledge that there’s 161 more games to go.

For seven innings, specifically innings two through eight, today’s game had all the ingredients of a breezy, 6-1, opening-day jaunt for the Yanks. But they play nine at this level and their wound-way-too-tight manager botched the first and their savior gacked the ninth.

With two outs and two on in the very first inning of the very first game of the year Joe Girardi called for an intentional walk. None of Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Barry Bonds, or Jesus H Christ deserve an intentional walk in the very first inning of the very first game of the year.

Sean Rodriguez might deserve an intentional walk under some convoluted circumstances that I’m unable to fathom right now, say if the rest of the Rays were all dead and they would forfeit the game for being unable to send up another hitter after the walk. But, as you can probably guess, that wasn’t the case in the very first inning of the very first game of the year. 

Girardi’s colossal stupidity was greeted by Carlos Pena’s grand slam and the Rays had a four run lead in that same first inning of that same first game. Who could have seen that coming? (If haven’t read the game thread, here’s a hint: everybody.)

Alex Rodriguez shrugged off Girardi’s tight-assed, brain-dead move and had himself a nice day. He knocked a double to put some wind back in the Yanks’s sails and was part of two rallies that gave the Yanks the lead by the third inning. Trailing 4-3, Raul Ibanez cracked a two-out three-run job to stake the Yankees a 6-4 lead.

Neither starter was any good. Though Sabathia can thank Girardi for his final line looking so terrible, he still served up two gopher balls. And Shields was a hot mess and deserved a fate far worse than a no decision.

The Yanks handed Mariano a 6-5 lead and I gathered my boys around to watch the final frame. Mariano looked good for three pitches, setting up Desmond Jennings perfectly at 1-2, and then he missed high over the middle on the fourth pitch. It wasn’t the kind of high heat that gets whiffs and pop ups, it was a bail out for a guy down in the count. Jennings guided it right back up the middle for a hit.

What was the worst pitch of the inning, the bail out for Jennings or the next one to Zobrist? Mariano might have been counting on Zobrist taking a pitch, but whatever the reason, he threw a flat cutter and Zobrist tagged it for a triple in the right-center gap. The pitch didn’t have much action and Zobrist jumped on it.

Girardi must have been thrilled however, because he got to order two more intentional walks. During the second walk, my three-year old said, “Look Daddy, the wheels are off.” I was about to say, “No shit Henry,” when I looked down and saw he was holding one of those cars that has interchangeable parts. No wheels.

With five in the infield, Mariano struck out the terrifying Sean Rodriguez. He looked like he might also have a chance to get Carlos Pena. Pena sets up so far from the plate, Martin and Rivera went hard after the outside corner. After three almost identical pitches, maybe Pena was ready for one out there. He got the barrel on the fourth one and sent it back to the wall for the game winning hit. 7-6 Rays.

I missed the post-game press conference, but I’m sure Girardi has some regrets. I bet if he could do it over again, he’d just have Mo intentionally walk Sean Rodriguez with the bases loaded in the ninth to force in the winning run. When in doubt, go for symmetry.

The loss stings, but not so bad as it would in May, June, July, August or September. Not even a shadow of the wounds we’ve accrued in Octobers past. There are 161 games to go and probably about 157 of them will be better than this one.

Photo via vaguehowie

Would you believe the sun rose in the east this morning? It’s true. One of the great things about living in New York at a time like this is that you can find someone to commiserate with no problem. But also, there are so many New Yorkers that don’t care, not even a little bit, about what happened to the Yankees last night. And not because they are Mets fans or Yankee-haters but because they don’t know from baseball.

So it’s easy to lose yourself back in life. Yeah, I had some hard feelings trying to get to sleep last night–Alex Rodriguez striking out to end the game, Swisher whiffing with the bases loaded, Russell Martin on his tippy-toes after getting called out looking, man, how many fat pitches did they miss?–but soon they will fade away. Maybe not today or next week but soon enough. And of course, there is reason to be worried about Ivan Nova. But then, there is always something to worry about.

And we do have the memory of Mariano Rivera throwing nine pitches in the ALDS. And all of them were right on the money, weren’t they?