Harlem Shuffle (Yankees 10, Orioles 7)

Good teams find ways to win and bad teams discover new ways to beat themselves. Today, the Orioles uncovered yet another way to lose to the Yankees. We've seen the Yanks come back to beat us many times before, leading me to the conclusion in years past that the Orioles were like the Washington Generals--the team the Harlem Globetrotters played and defeated every time. But we've never seen it like this so early in the season. On the verge of taking the first two games of the series with two outs in the ninth, the Birds handed one back to the Bombers today. The Orioles challenged the Yankees and then they backed off. Chris Ray busted Derek Jeter inside for strike two with two outs in the ninth, albeit nearly hitting Jeter, but he never went back after him. Jeter walked to load the bases. Instead of making A-Rod chase a bad pitch on a 1-2 count, Ray went down the middle and Rodriguez sent it over the centerfield wall for a grandslam. You need to do something to win the game. For the past several losing seasons, the Oriole Way has been to win a few games and lose a few more. The organization seems content with that approach. The players don't respond well to pressure and they don't honestly believe they can beat the Yankees, and haven't for the past nine seasons. It's too much to ask of them. These birds are happiest when they are not in playoff contention and they can focus on playing baseball. I've seen them fold in any number of ways in the Bronx or in Camden Yards against New York. It was cold in the Stadium today and the Yankees could have easily folded. A winning mystique allows them to be in every game no matter the deficit. They keep coming at you. Suddenly in the late innings we don't believe we can hit Rivera or retire Jeter or A-Rod in clutch situations. If we get a lead, our hitters retreat and wait for the Yankees to wake up. Instead of trying to score more runs, we swing at first pitches to shorten the game because we don't want to be there. Losing breeds more losing. Only champions beat other champions (e.g. Yankees vs. Red Sox). We don't believe.