If the Orioles had not caught the Yankees' distracted attention, they surely did after a 6-1 win at Yankee Stadium on Friday night. It was the Orioles who acted like a first-place team with years of playoff experience.
Baltimore has not had a winning record since 1997 and has not won 75 games since 2004, yet it seems to be thriving in its underdog role.
"I think we all know — it's a given — what the Yankees are about and what they can do," Manager Buck Showalter said. "We've got to continue to stay focused on what we have to do and stay in the moment, which our guys have done such a good job with all year."
For the first three innings, a tangerine-tinted moon peered over the right-field stands — a good premonition for Baltimore, which rushed to an early lead on starter Hiroki Kuroda. In the second, he allowed back-to-back singles to Adam Jones and Matt Wieters, and a sacrifice fly by Chris Davis put the Orioles on the board. The next batter, Mark Reynolds, blasted a 2-0 fastball into the left-field stands for a 3-0 lead. Shortstop J. J. Hardy added a solo homer in the sixth.
Kuroda, 9-5 with a 2.37 earned run average at home, gave up four runs in eight and a third innings, allowing eight hits and striking out four.
Baltimore's starter was a journeyman right-hander, Miguel Gonzalez, who retired the first nine hitters in order. A single by Derek Jeter to lead off the fourth did not disturb Gonzalez's rhythm. He promptly set down the next six consecutive batters he faced.
The Yankees did not get their first runner into scoring position until the sixth, but Gonzalez struck out Nick Swisher and got Robinson Cano to hit a foul pop out to end the threat.
The fans booed. Their impatience with the Yankees' offense, which has averaged just three and a half runs over its last 16 games, has been festering on this homestand.
"I think the effort's there," Girardi said. "I didn't see guys trying to do too much."
Gonzalez, a former Rule 5 draft choice by the Boston Red Sox whose career was nearly derailed by serious knee and elbow injuries, began the season pitching for Ciudad del Carmen of the Mexican League. But he has risen quickly, and has beaten the Yankees twice this season.
He allowed four runs in six and two-thirds innings against the Yankees on July 30 and was even better Friday, giving up four hits while walking one and striking out nine in seven innings.
"These games are all important for us," Gonzalez said. "I think the adrenaline gets me going. It helps me out."
Before the game, Girardi sought to ease the concern over his team's latest slump — the Yankees have lost nine of their last 14 — with a reminder that nearly a one-fifth of the season still remains. He largely stuck with that talking point after the loss, but bristled at a question about whether he would address the team about not panicking.
"There are going to be low points, and there are going to be high points during the season," Girardi said. "We've got to find a way to get out of this little rut we're in."
The players were even less eager to talk about their shrinking division lead.
"If you would've told me at the end of spring training that we'd be two games up to start September, I would've signed up for that," Swisher said.
Eric Chavez said: "It's that time of year; we know what's going on. We need to clean up what's going on here."
Baltimore last postseason appearance came in 1997, when they beat the Yankees to win the division by two games, and when their current starting third baseman, Manny Machado, was only 5 years old.
Since then, it has been a decade and a half of insignificance, a roulette wheel of players and managers (Showalter is their sixth since 1997), and a recurrent procession of meaningless Septembers.
That will not be the case this year. The Orioles won 18 games in August and are right in the thick of it, playing like they are planning to stay.
INSIDE PITCH
Andy Pettitte threw 20 pitches from a mound for the first time since going on the disabled list with a fractured left ankle on June 28. "It felt like I'm getting real, real close to getting over the hump with this thing," Pettitte said. ... Alex Rodriguez (broken left hand) went 0 for 3 as the designated hitter in his first rehabilitation appearance for Class A Tampa on Friday night.
