AL East

The Oriole Way

Peter Angelos, the Baltimore Orioles owner, has no idea what that means. It is a term every baseball fan in Charm City is well aware of, and a methodology that Angelos has seemed bent on destroying since he bought the ball club in 1993.

The Oriole Way had been very successful before he bought the club. For over three decades, from the 1960's to the 1980's, the Orioles had the highest winning percentage in all of sports, and the winningest team in all of baseball. They won six American League Pennants and three World Series over that time.

By now, most of you have probably seen the video of younger Ariel Antigua and his extraordinary baseball talent. In case you haven’t, I’ve attached it to the post. The five year-old Lyndhurst boy can hit 85 MPH fastballs from both side of the plate and field like someone three times his age. Normally I’m not a fan of parents forcing their children to play sports, but it looks as if he really loves baseball.

Caption: From this point forward, bone-headed decisions by third base coaches that send baserunners home to be thrown out by a country mile will be referred to as a  “Bogar.” Wendell Kim is now off the hook.

Tonight’s game between the Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays was suspended by rain with the score tied, 1-1, after 8 1/2 innings. The game will be completed tomorrow night at 7:10 PM, prior to the start of the regularly-scheduled game between the clubs.

As expected, the Yankees have put relief pitcher Chan Ho Park on the 15-day disabled list after he pulled his right hamstring warming up in the bullpen yesterday. Taking his place on the roster is left-handed pitcher Boone Logan.

If you were a fan of the Yankees or Red Sox in the mid to late 90's, you no doubt took a side in the Nomar Garciaparra/Derek Jeter debate.

Jeter and Garciaparra were two of the new breed of shortstop. Shortstops were no longer defensive specialists and merely adequate with the bat—Jeter and Garciaparra were two of the premier hitters in baseball.

Both won Rookie of the Year awards, Jeter in 1996 and Garciaparra one year later.

The Yankees have won each of their first three series by a count of two games to one, and they'll hope to keep that success going this weekend as they welcome the Texas Rangers to town.

The Rangers are 5-4, tied in the loss column with first-place Oakland, and have received some solid pitching so far. Texas is third in the American League with a 2.95 ERA, fourth in batting average against (.238), fourth in WHIP (1.28), and third in quality starts at seven.

They'll put those solid stats to the test during these three games against the powerful Yankees lineup.

If you watched yesterday’s game and saw Chan Ho Park warming up in the bullpen , you might have been surprised when they didn’t see him in the game. No, he didn’t have another bout of diarrhea . This time, according to Bryan Hoch of MLB.com , he aggravated his right hamstring while throwing in the pen.

After two starts for every other New York Yankee starting pitcher, 23-year-old Phil Hughes made his first start of the 2010 season last night against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

Hughes got the win, pitching into the sixth inning. He was good, at times overpowering, and also inconsistent.

Hughes struck out six but also walked five. He gave up only three hits, one of them a home run, and finished the game having given up two earned runs in five innings.

Is Robinson Cano hot? SCALDIN'!

In last night's 6-2 victory over the Los Angeles Angeles of Anaheim Cano hit two home runs, had three RBI, and finished the night hitting .395.

In the first nine games Cano has four home runs and nine RBI and is a major reason the Yanks have won three straight series and sport a 6-3 record. 

From the time he was introduced at the major league level, Robinson Cano has drawn comparisons to great hitters. Former Yankee manager Joe Torre compared Cano to the great Rod Carew.

Francisco Liriano’s performance as a rookie in 2006 caused people to draw comparisons between him and teammate Johan Santana, but an August elbow injury sent him to the disabled list and ultimately led to offseason Tommy John surgery.

After missing all of the 2007 season, he returned to the major leagues in April 2008. He performed admirably in 2008 (6-4, 2.91), but last year was disastrous (5-13, 5.80).

He had lost his fastball and his ability to throw strikes. Most importantly, he lost his confidence.