Yankee Stadium

NEW YORK - If the goal this week for the Orioles was to spend as many hours as possible in the lavish confines of the new Yankee Stadium, they can come home happy. If they were hoping to make a dent in the playoff hopes of the New York Yankees, they certainly took their sweet time about it. The O's were hitless in their first 12 at-bats with runners in scoring position Wednesday before Mark Reynolds finally singled home Matt Angle in the 11th inning to avert a three-game sweep with a 5-4 victory.

The Orioles were still talking Wednesday morning about Francisco Cervelli 's disputed home run, which broke a 3-3 tie in the seventh inning of the Yankees' ridiculously rain-delayed 5-3 victory the night before at Yankee Stadium. The play had Jeffrey Maier overtones, with a fan reaching over the fence to interfere with the ball and the umpires calling it a home run. This time, however, they were able to review the play before confirming the call, though that didn't really end the controversy.

Two days after joining the 3,000-hit club in about the coolest way imaginable, Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter will reportedly skip Tuesday night’s All-Star Game because of "emotional and physical exhaustion. " Jeter went 5-for-5 on Saturday, hitting his milestone on a home run and winning the game for the Yankees with a go-ahead single in the eighth inning of a 5-4 win over the Rays. Afterward, Jeter, the first Yankees player to get 3,000 hits, admitted that the pressure to reach 3,000 took a much bigger toll than he let on . “I’ve been lying to you guys for a long time, saying I wasn’t nervous and there’s no pressure,” an admittedly “relieved” Jeter told reporters on Saturday.

He is Mr. November, and every other month in which Major League Baseball is played. He has more hits than Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, a higher career batting average than Mickey Mantle and a higher postseason average than Joe DiMaggio. And it won't be long before Derek Jeter is a new lord of New York Yankees lore. With six more hits, the shortstop will become the first player to collect 3,000 hits while playing exclusively with the most storied franchise in baseball. He resumed his pursuit Monday against the Cleveland Indians after spending the last three weeks on the disabled list with a strained right calf.

Beware in Philly, Bronx Bill Kline The Morning Call When they say 99.9 percent of baseball fans are nice, they aren't talking about New York and Philadelphia. True, alcohol makes louts out of most of us. But when you couple booze with the ornery disposition most fans in those cities acquire by kindergarten, the combination is combustible. If you want trouble in New York or Philly, just pop on the visiting team's cap, settle into your seat, duck and cover.

Orioles legend Cal Ripken Jr. was a guest on "Boomer & Carton" on WFAN in New York this week. He talked about Orioles manager Buck Showalter and reiterated that the pitching staff will have to hold up for Baltimore to compete in the AL East. For me, the most interesting part of the interview was when hosts Boomer Esiason and Craig Carton asked Ripken if it was special to play at the old Yankee Stadium . "Absolutely," Ripken said. "I’ll preface it by saying it’s not good to play in it when you’re good and they’re bad because I’ve been there during the 80s when that was the case.

June 8, 1986: Lee Lacy hit three home runs as the Orioles beat the Yankees, 18-9, at Yankee Stadium.

Penn State was picky in choosing game film to study Indiana. The Hoosier horror flick that was the 83-20 defeat last week to Wisconsin was tossed aside to focus on what Indiana did right its two previous games, losses to Iowa and Northwestern by a combined eight points. That's the team coach Joe Paterno thinks the Nittany Lions (6-4, 3-3 Big Ten) will face when the schools meet Saturday at FedEx Field in Landover, Md. "I watched it when it was … Wisconsin was ahead 30, 40 points and then I didn't waste time looking at it," Paterno said.