Yankees win, thanks to Trembley

The Blue Jays are winning 3-0 in the sixth inning, behind Brett Cecil, out in Oakland.

But the game I want to talk about now is the Yankees-Orioles contest.

Now, if New York comes back to win the AL East or claim the wild card (the Yankees began the day 14-16, 5 1/2 games behind the AL's best team, the Blue Jays, in the East standings), you'll have to look at this one on Sunday afternoon.

You can blame Orioles manager Dave Trembley for handing the victory to the Yankees.

34-year-old Japanese rookie Koji Uehara got the start for Baltimore, and was cruising along after giving up a first-inning home run to Mark Teixeira.

Aubrey Huff's three-run bomb gave the Orioles a 3-1 lead, and Uehara pitched five scoreless innings after the Teixeira home run.

The rookie pitcher retired the Yanks on seven pitches in the sixth inning, getting Teixeira, Alex Rodriguez, and Hideki Matsui (the No. 3, 4, and 5 hitters) in a 1-2-3 inning.

So, what does Trembley do?

The Baltimore manager sent in lefty Jamie Walker to start the seventh. Walker gave up a home run to make it 3-2, but also retired two batters.

Trembley then decided to bring in righty Jim Johnson to face right-handed batter Francisco Cervelli, the Yankees' third-string catcher who had only 12 major-league at-bats (and an .083 batting average) going into the game.

So, the O's manager wanted a righty-righty matchup, even though Walker had already gotten two outs in the inning, and there were two outs and none on. Talk about over-managing!

The Yankees made Trembley pay immediately.

Cervelli beat out an infield hit. Derek Jeter does likewise.

Johnny Damon, 0-for-3 on the day, simply redeems himself by belting a three-run shot, giving New York a 5-3 lead.

Damon had hit into a double play and struck out twice against Uehara. Was Damon happy the rookie pitcher was gone from the game?

“He had me guessing and chasing all day long,” Damon told the AP of Uehara. “I wasn’t too happy with that” (The Associated Press, May 10, 2009).

The Yanks won the game, 5-3, but look at Orioles manager Dave Trembley for this one.

Look at him pulling Uehara despite the rookie's great outing through six innings. Look at him pulling Walker with none on and two outs.

And it's not like Trembley doesn't know about his bullpen's struggles. An interesting stat courtesy the AP:

In 2009, Baltimore has outscored the opposition 79-59 in the first three innings. However, the Orioles have been outscored 57-35 after the sixth inning.

Thanks Dave, for giving this one to New York.