Orioles 10, Yankees 5: I hate off-days after a loss

Especially a disappointing loss like this one.

Despite the pen failing, and the hitters not doing the job when it counted, the majority of the blame should fall on Sabathia. He was just wretched. Barely half his pitches (96) went for strikes (50). That won't get it done against most teams, let alone in the AL East in a hitter's park. His fastball command was poor throughout, yet he had decent feel for the slider and changeup - I'm surprised they didn't go with more of those.

Sabathia led baseball in strikeouts and innings last year, so of course he would pitch only 4.1 without a single K. It's Murphy's Law. Don't panic though, Sabathia normally doesn't pitch well until May. His April ERA the last three years is 5.43.

The hatred for Teixeira was admittedly surprising. Yes, he grew up near Baltimore, but so what? Manny Ramirez grew up in New York City, yet never received more vitriol than any other Red Sock. Can you fault a guy for wanting to play for the most storied pro team in American history?

You can hardly fault Phil Coke for that homerun to Izturis. It was a Camden Yards shot - an out in most any other park, though it does remind me of a line from Major League II when Rick Vaughan allows a homer to a weak hitter: "It's ok, he was due." "Why? When was his last?" "Never." (Or something to that effect.)

It's a good thing for that homer or Xavier Nady would be getting killed. He got picked off third base when he represented the tying run.

Defense also played a big part. Baltimore made just a few more plays in the field (namely by Izturis), while the Yankees, despite not committing any errors, made several mis-plays, notably the two wild pitches (that Posada could've caught) and the two grounders Ransom mis-played. Izturis saved his team at least one run while the Yankees' defense cost them several runs.

It will now take 48 hours to get this bad taste out of our mouths...

[sigh] Anyway, it's just one game. As Joe Torre used to say: "Don't get too high after a win or too low after a loss."