Orioles-Yankees: Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad for Baltimore

I work with a pretty intense Yankees fan. Life’s been good for him the last ten years or so. He told me in passing that this past weekend’s O’s/yanks series would be an incredible mismatch leading to many Yankee HRs and easy blowout wins.

And of course, this is why they play the games.

The O’s dominated the Yankees through the first two games before dropping Sunday’s rain-soaked contest by the scores of 8-2, 6-0, and 1-7. The O’s outscored the Yanks 15 - 9 over the course of the series and now sit in second place in the AL East. There’s plenty of things to be excited about but mostly the starting pitching of Daniel Cabrera, Brian Burres, and Steve Trachsel. Even though Trachsel got the loss, he pitched great ball, mirroring Andy Pettitte through four innings and keeping the Birds in the game. Cabrera pitched out of trouble and Burres combined with Jim Johnson to shut the lights on the Yankees on Saturday. Other than Bradford giving up the bomb to Damon and Sherrill looking off in some mop up work Sunday, the arms really did their job. That is huge for this club as they enter a three-game set against Seattle and Chicago.

In other MLB news, the Jays released Frank Thomas. I’m not sure who’s going to pick up the Big Hurt but I think it will happen soon. I can think of a few teams who might have use for a high-upside DH. The Rays, Mariners, and Twins come to mind. I’m not sure what the Jays are thinking, in general. They do not have a championship caliber club and haven’t. They lack dominant starting pitching and a deep lineup. They continue to release fairly useful players in favor of AAA guys who aren’t regarded as impact players. I’m not MLB professional but for the life of me I don’t get why you drop a future hall of famer who is in a slump in favor of Robinzon Diaz. You’d have to think that when Frank is picked up by a team that he’s going to be very, very determined to prove the Jays were all wrong on him. From what I’ve seen in my life, you don’t bet against guys like him. They usually make you pay.