A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, there was a team called the Baltimore Orioles.
They couldn't cut it in Charm City so they pulled up stakes in 1903 and headed north to a toddling town by the name of New York. With the move came the need for a new name and after trying on the Highlanders for a few years they settled on the Yankees.
As Paul Harvey might say, now you know the rest of the story.
Maybe that claim on the name Orioles is what accounts for the way the Yankees are treating the current Baltimore nine this season. Thursday's 13-2 rout of the O's was the sixth win in six tries for the Yankees against Buck Showalter's gang this season, a clutch of wins that are pretty significant in the standings.
Take those Orioles games out of the schedule and the Yankees are 17-19 on the year. Imagine the level of panic that we would have seen in the last couple of weeks without these games?
In other words, we finally have something other than "The Wire" to warm our hearts when we think of Baltimore.
The game itself was the kind of contest that you probably expected to see a lot more of from the Yankees this season. They pounded a modestly talented pitcher in Brad Bergesen from the opening at-bat and kept the fires burning against a series of mediocre relievers.
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Everybody hit so we'll merely point out the highlights. Nick Swisher hit a three-run double, his first hit with two outs and runners in scoring position all season, and cause celebre Jorge Posada had an RBI double.
Posada also played first base for the first time this season, handling the position perfectly well with one nice scoop of a low throw. It has been quite a week for the old fellow, but it is hard to deem him anything other than a winner given his spot in the lineup and on the diamond after a fair bit of grousing about each over the weekend.
A cynic would note that the 13 runs were 12 more than CC Sabathia actually needed to back up his eight shutout innings. It is in pretty poor taste to complain about an offensive explosion just after tearing your hair out about the lack of big hits, however.
Alas, the season can't be all Orioles and laughers. Three games with the Mets await the Yankees this weekend and it won't take much for the three straight wins this week to fall out of everyone's memory.
Let's hope that doesn't happen. The next games with the Orioles aren't until the end of July, so it is now officially time to step it up against everybody else.
Josh Alper is a writer living in New York City. You can follow him on Twitter and he is also a contributor to Pro Football Talk.
