Yanks lose to Orioles for first time all season

Felix Hernandez throws a pitch during a game against the Yankees on Friday, July 29, 2011 (AP Photo/Paul J. Bereswill)

I missed most of tonight’s 4-2 loss, not tuning in until the bottom of the sixth, at which point I was absolutely baffled that Orioles starter Jeremy Guthrie was not only still pitching but hadn’t yet yielded a run. Mark Teixeira quickly changed that with his 29th home run of the season, but holy hell Yankees: you were facing Jeremy freaking Guthrie. Maybe Felix left some of his deity dust on the mound, although if he did A.J. Burnett couldn’t quite find it, as he turned in what wound up being a pretty decent outing — 8 innings, 4 runs, season-high 10 strikeouts — but the Yankees played from behind nearly the entire game, which is always a tall order for the offense.

I suppose I’ll begrudgingly tip my cap to Guthrie for pitching a great game, but as someone who the Yankees have previously throttled about a trillion times, I’m pretty disappointed that they were only able to muster one measly run. Especially when you consider that Baltimore is throwing Zach Britton — who pulled a vintage guy-the-Yankees-haven’t-seen-before in his first start against them back in May — in tomorrow’s nightcap. You know that Britton, despite getting pantsed by Boston a few weeks ago, is going to destroy the Yankee offense, which is why it would’ve been nice if the bats had decided to show up against Guthrie. At least they get perennial punching bag Chris Tillman in the opener.

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