Yankees 2, Orioles 4

(Win Probability graphing by Fangraphs)
Yankees player of the game: (2B) Robinson Cano - WPA +.091
1/4, 0R, 0HR, 1RBI, 0BB, 1SO
Yankees lowest contributor: (C) Jorge Posada - WPA -.182
0/4, 0R, 0HR, 0RBI, 0BB, 2SO

Orioles player of the game: (C) Ramon Hernandez - WPA +.237
3/3, 0R, 0HR, 2RBI, 1BB, 0SO
Orioles lowest contributor: (SS) Miguel Tejada - WPA -.122
0/4, 0R, 0HR, 0RBI, 0BB, 1SO

Andy Pettitte: 7.0IP, 8H, 3R, 3ER, 3BB, 5SO, 0HR - L
Scott Proctor: 0.2IP, 2H, 1R, 1ER, 0BB, 0SO, 0HR
Ron Villone: 0.1IP, 0H, 0R, 0ER, 0BB, 0SO, 0HR

Jeremy Guthrie: 6.0IP, 6H, 2R, 2ER, 3BB, 4SO, 0HR - W
John Parrish: 0.2IP, 0H, 0R, 0ER, 0BB, 0SO, 0HR - H
Paul Shuey: 0.1IP, 0H, 0R, 0ER, 0BB, 0SO, 0HR - H
Jamie Walker: 1.0IP, 0H, 0R, 0ER, 1BB, 0SO, 0HR - H
Chad Bradford: 1.0IP, 1H, 0R, 0ER, 0BB, 0SO, 0HR - SV

Even as the New York Yankees traverse the ragged edge toward mathematical elimination from the playoffs this year there is a completely different energy at the ballpark when they take to the field. As I sat out by left field in the stands in Baltimore the Yankees jerseys and vocal fans outnumbered the local orange and black by a wide margin. Not exactly baseball's more introspective fan base, the bleacher creatures of Baltimore were loud, passionate, and prone to logic-free cheers at oddly chosen moments. My personal favorite is the one yelling "let's go, Yankees" as he's making an early departure from a losing effort. It came off as an invitation to abandon the game, as in "let's go back to Jersey."

On the field, the Bronx Bombers exude professionalism and as much as I cheer against them out of habit they are still one of the more impressive offensive lineups around.

Andy Pettitte isn't the devastating force on the mound he used to be. Yet even as his control gets away from him a bit he remains an above average major league starting pitcher capable of logging in quality starts and giving his offense a chance. And he'll eat up innings, which is a good thing for the Yankee's bullpen down the stretch.

From my perspective, Jeremy Guthrie seemed to be throwing fastballs about 95% of the time. And if the stadium radar gun is to be believed, they were all coming in around 94 miles per hour. While the ability to repeat pitches may be a virtue, the fact that the Yankee offense wasn't just squaring up and teeing off on his heaters indicates he must be spotting his pitches all over the place in and around the strike zone. He'll need to mix in more off speed offerings and sliders as hitters start to figure him out. But it's hard to argue with the effectiveness he showed in this outing.