masn-baseballs-orioles.jpgThe Orioles’ magic number holds at five after today’s 3-2 loss to the Yankees before a sellout crowd of 44,261 at Camden Yards.

Miguel Gonzalez allowed runs in one of his six innings. The Yankees scored three times in the second and never trailed.

“I’ve got to tell you, in a lot of ways that’s one of the more impressive outings of the year from him, because he wasn’t carrying much,” said manager Buck Showalter. “He may not admit it. But I think that’s the difference in major league…The Orioles’ magic number holds at five after today’s 3-2 loss to the Yankees before a sellout crowd of 44,261 at Camden Yards.

Miguel Gonzalez allowed runs in one of his six innings. The Yankees scored three times in the second and never trailed.

“I’ve got to tell you, in a lot of ways that’s one of the more impressive outings of the year from him, because he wasn’t carrying much,” said manager Buck Showalter. “He may not admit it. But I think that’s the difference in major league pitchers, guys who can have success out there and keep you engaged in a game. That was impressive, because they were searching first two or three innings to try to find something he could do to keep us engaged in the game, and he did. That was impressive.

miguel-gonzalez-orange.jpg“He gets some extra rest next time out. But that’s what you like to see in pitchers. They’re not always going to go out there and everything’s going to be perfect, but he spoiled us with a real high level of pitching for a while. Today, I think to keep us engaged in that game when he wasn’t carrying his normal stuff was impressive for me. Dave (Wallace) and I were talking about it in the dugout. That’s what you like to see in pitchers.”

The Orioles would like to see someone other than Yankees starter Shane Greene, who’s held them to two runs in 14 1/3 innings.

“He’s good,” Showalter said. “He was their minor league Pitcher of the Year. You can see why they’re so high on him. A lot of cutters, a lot of command, a lot of different looks. You can tell he’s pitching with a lot of confidence. I can see why they like him. He’s a good-looking pitcher.

“When a guy, you kind of know what he’s going to do and he still does it, that’s a challenge. That’s going to be a challenge down the road.”

The Orioles rotation continues to challenge opponents, with 10 quality starts in the last 12 games.

“It’s kind of in general,” Showalter said. “You look around. Let’s face it, pitchers get days off. They pitch every fourth, fifth, sixth day, depending on what you do. Bullpen guys, you can rest them. I think this time of year, some of the fatigue of the position players comes into play, too. I’m not trying to take anything away from the pitching for us, but baseball in general. If you look at scores and you get into August and September, it’s tough.

“The later it gets in the season, the more it plays, I think. But what do I know? I don’t know if Miggy three months ago could have gotten by today, but he did. And we got some quality innings out of our bullpen. I wasn’t going to pitch anybody who pitched yesterday, so it was good to see Mac (T.J. McFarland) and Ryan (Webb) and Evan (Meek) get some work. If we had tied the game up there, Joe (Saunders) would have pitched.”

One of the key moments in the game occurred in the second inning, when the Yankees executed a double steal. Chris Young raced home as Caleb Joseph threw late to second in an attempt to nab Antoan Richardson.

“The bottom line is, if you think you have a legitimate shot at throwing him out, you’ve got to be fairly sure,” Showalter said. “Problem is, with a left-handed hitter, I don’t know how good of a look you can get at him breaking. And with you playing off the line at third base, the primary lead is big of the guy at third, so you’ve got to be sure you can throw him out.

“Some teams will go, some teams won’t. They did and they picked right. As good a break as he got, J.J. (Hardy) couldn’t come and get the ball and relay it to the plate, so kind of a tip of the cap to them for the footspeed at first and the read at third. The other way you go is get your third baseman closer to the bag and shorten him up and then you can’t defend the batted ball, or you just eat it. But then you may have walked the guy intentionally.

“So, there’s a lot of what-ifs there. But we’ve had that play quite a few times, and usually when we put it in the middle, we get an out at second. That’s usually the thought. And there are some other ways you can defend it, which we have worked on. Today, it didn’t work out.”