Chen Defeats Yankees and Their Fans, 5-2

Few things in life give me as much pleasure as watching the Orioles beat the Yankees. It doesn't happen often enough and frankly it shouldn't happen with the talent level that the Bronx Bombers put on the field--even with a revitalized Oriole team, the Yanks have a few more weapons.

But it happened tonight, despite a Yankee fan interfering with a ball that ended up being a home run by Curtis Granderson and could possibly have been caught.  It might have also changed the complexion of the game if the Orioles hadn't pitched well and made a couple of sharp double plays to seal the victory. The play wasn't reviewed--but it should not be tolerated.

There was the Jeffrey Maier incident in the playoffs in 1996 and one a few years before that with Ben McDonald on the hill and Mark McLemore in right. I was at Yankee Stadium that day and had a clear view of the fan reaching over to deny McLemore the chance to make the catch on a Mattingly blast. Yanks win 2-1 on that play. A few weeks ago, interference was called and it hurt Tampa Bay when a person wearing a Yankee jersey interfered with a Yankee outfielder reducing a Ray home run to a double.

I don't attend baseball games to make plays but to watch my favorite sport. I'm not interested in altering the outcome.

It wasn't enough to deter the Taiwanese phenom Wei-Yin Chen from winning his 4th game. Adam Jones continues his monstrous season with his 11th home run and J.J. Hardy slammed a double to extend the lead.

The message boards lit up today with posts about the Yankees getting more than their fair share of calls during this series. Usually, the umps are dismal for both sides and this year is no exception but a scenario exists that would suggest that baseball needs the Yankees to excel.

They are baseball's bank--the Goldman Sachs of the major leagues. If you include the YES Network, the Yankees are worth $5 billion. A bad Yankee team significantly tilts the scales of revenues for the entire game. A bad Yankee team denies your city a solid stretch of revenues when they come to town with their glove-wielding, entitled fans. Baseball can't exist on Dodgers and Red Sox fans alone. The game desperately needs the Yankees to do well--because as the largest bank in baseball--they cannot fail.

I would like to think they are Derek Jeter's team but more and more to me they are a dispassionate collection of smug and arrogant athletes personified by Alex Rodriguez. As for the baseball side of it, there is plenty to admire in their pursuit of winning but they are store bought and boring.

And remember, it was a baby-faced behemoth from Baltimore that put them on the map.