"It's great to be young and a Yankee."

Arod left in the 1st inning. He couldn't make a routine play to his left. And worst of all, he sounded concerned.

Most of the time, a player's head will detach from his body or his feet will fold in half or his internal organs will start spilling out of his mouth...and in the post-game press conference, they'll say, "It's nothing. We're getting it checked out, but I just feel a little sore. I'm not gonna miss any games over it, if that's what you're asking."

But Arod? He wasn't as blase.

"The last two days it has felt the exact same way and once it got warm it was OK. Today, it cramped up right before batting practice," Rodriguez said.

He knew things were wrong when he couldn't move to his left to get an RBI single by Adam Jones in the first inning.

"Not only do I usually make that play, but it is a routine play," he said.

"I just locked up."A-Rod intends to see the team doctor Friday, but said, "I hope I play."

Good grief. Arod out of the order is just too awful to think about. What if this is some kind of symmetrical evil being played out by the baseball anti-gods? The Yankee haters who set up shop in Hades. Arod was out for the first part of last season, and when he came back, the first thing he did was blast one into the Camden Yards bleachers.

Now, 1 year 1 month 1 day, exactly 400 days later, he leaves in the 1st inning against the same team.

I don't want to think about it. But in the optimism school of thought, I figure, well Grandy was out for a groin thing, and I thought that was going to break us. Then he came back and was better than ever. So maybe the whole groin thing is like a cut on your tongue: you get it and you think it's the end of the world because it's the most irritating sensation ever, and it's aggravating as hell trying to get it to go away, but eventually it does, and then it's like food tastes better than ever.

Let's hope it's as innocuous as that, anyway.

From a defensive perspective, bad AJ was filling in for his counterpart tonight. Instead of the guy who's been 5-0 at Camden this year, and 11-2 against the O's lifetime, we got the lesser version: 4 runs, 8 hits in less than 7 innings. He's such a weirdo, for a couple innings he was mowing em down like he was on autopilot. Then inning 5 rolls up, and Scott Moore jacks one into right field.

Exactly 2 years 2 months and 2 days since his last homerun. Also of note: Scott Moore has the dubious role of being only a distance second in terms of fame to this Scott Moore.

The Yanks were all ready to win the game, holding onto a 3-2 lead for a while, Moore went deep. Adam Jones batted Luke Scott in to give the O's a 4-3 lead, and that was that.

(Also, why do all the Orioles have names that sound like characters in Young Adult novels? Luke Scott, Adam Jones, Jake Arrieta, Corey Patterson? Seriously. It sounds like a laundry list of the BMOC at some "Can't Hardly Wait" type of HS.)

On the O's mound, Arrieta made his major league debut, and I don't know if it was a good or bad situation to be in--the whole following Strasberg's rookie start. It's like no matter how good an outing he had, it would be nothing compared to Superberg's. But I guess that could also take the pressure off maybe, although I'd think pitching for the O's already means there is zero pressure to ever perform to any level even close to par.

But his 4-hit game was enough to beat the Yanks, and no one should be TOO surprised since historically the Yanks are dumbfounded when they face new pitchers. It's odd. I mean, you'd think the learning curve would diminish somewhat, but they're like adults with technology when it comes to rookie hurlers. Not only do they never figure them out, but, if possible, they manage to get less and less savvy with every opportunity.

Arrieta's alright, but I think the Yanks were expecting him to be worse and sat on pitches alllll night. They saw 50 more pitches than the Os did, and the kid's command apparently was not what they predicted. Theoretically, they should have been hitting him. Usually the Yanks are blanked by 1 thing and 1 thing only: off speed pitching. But this guy was just like a poor man's Phil Hughes. He's got a fastball, slider, curve, and changeup, but the last 2 are blah, and the first 2 are unexpectedly good.

But cmon Yanks, this is Baltimore. We need these wins.

Jeter, Swish, and Grandy were the lone RBI-ers of the day, and the Yanks were only 1-6 with RISP. Cervelli uncharacteristically struck out with runners on 1st and 2nd to end the 7th inning, and as Sterling noted, "that one move to pinch hit Cervelli cost the Yanks 3 players." Not really, John, but I see what you're saying.

Pena was hitting for Arod (yup, Ramiro Pena-cleanup batter). Then Cervelli came in to hit for Pena, which took out Chad Moeller and Posada. Kevin Russo moves to 3rd base to replace Pena.

Yeah, basically everything was confusing. Again. But no more. The boys are coming home tomorrow, and it's Sports Jersey Friday at the office, so I'm wearing my Mo jersey in honor of it being Mo figurine day at the stadium. All part of the "dress for the job you want" mentality.

Pettitte faces Brett Myers tomorrow, which should be a good matchup, though one that will undoubtedly be overshadowed by the nonexistent drama of it being Andy's first game against his old team. Really, the Astros shouldn't think of it like that. Because if anything, Andy was just ON LOAN to you. They're not his ex-team, because he never really left the Yankees.

I HATE interleague play, and I know I'm a jerk for saying this, but I do love watching the pitchers bat. It's like watching someone try to play guitar hero for the first time.

Back at home, Yanks. A sweep would really start a W momentum streak going.

Here we are now.

Entertain us.