Yankees

Baltimore fans always show support for the Orioles on Opening Day. Then the optimism fades as the losses mount. But at Camden Yards stadium Monday, fans, players and team management said they had every reason to feel good about the direction of the Orioles - and not just because of a 10-5 victory over the New York Yankees, their biggest rival. In many respects, the Orioles' future appears brighter than it has in years. The club has signed its two best players, Nick Markakis and Brian Roberts, to long-term contracts.

Tommy Byrne, a Baltimore-born southpaw who pitched in four World Series as a member of the New York Yankees, died of congestive heart failure Thursday in Wake Forest, N.C. He was 87. A 1979 inductee into the Maryland Sports Hall of Fame, Mr. Byrne was a star athlete at City College from 1935 to 1937 - leading the school to state baseball championships in his last two years. As a major leaguer, he was an All-Star whose reputation for wildness on the mound led to several years of exile from Yankee Stadium and had hitters ducking for most of his career.

Tomorrow, @Yankees 7:05 p.m., MASN/Ch. 13 Saturday, @Yankees 1:05 p.m., MASN Sunday, @Yankees 1:05 p.m., MASN Monday, Tigers 3:05 p.m., MASN/Ch. 13 Tuesday, Tigers 7:05 p.m., MASN [ Radio: All games on 105.7 FM]

Japanese outfielder Kosuke Fukudome and the Chicago Cubs reached a preliminary agreement yesterday on a four-year, $48 million contract. The deal is subject to a physical, according to a person familiar with the negotiations who spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity because no announcement had been made. The agreement could be finalized as early as today. Fukudome, who is expected to play right field, was considered one of the best outfielders in Japanese baseball. He had surgery on his right elbow in August but has 192 homers and a .305 batting average over nine seasons with the Chunichi Dragons.

When the Milwaukee Brewers have the winningest record in baseball and the best that the New York Yankees can do after a dismal April is fire their fitness coach, it's pretty apparent that we've been transported again into the sports version of the Bizarro World. I'm not taking anything away from the Brewers, who have waited a long time to be the surprise team of the National League, but we did the Detroit Tigers thing last year and it really wasn't all that satisfying, so I was kind of hoping that this year's feel-good baseball story would involve scrappy little Sam Perlozzo and his merry band of misfits.

Today, @Yankees 1:05 p.m., MASN Tomorrow, Tigers 3:05 p.m., MASN/Ch. 13 Tuesday, Tigers 7:05 p.m., MASN Wednesday, Tigers 7:05 p.m., MASN Thursday, Royals 7:05 p.m., MASN [Radio: All games on 105.7 FM]

On the New York Yankees' pitching Whereas the Yankees may have the most vaunted offense in baseball, their pitching is not shaping up very well at all and is creating a lot of angst among [fans]. They have yet to have a starter who has gone more than six innings. No way the Yankees' starting pitching staff stays this way. George "Shop till you drop" Steinbrenner will go and get what is needed. He has consistently done so in the past.

Today, Angels 7:05 p.m., MASN Tomorrow, @Blue Jays 7:07 p.m., MASN2 Saturday, @Blue Jays 1:07 p.m., MASN Sunday, @Blue Jays 1:07 p.m., MASN Monday, @Yankees 7:05 p.m., MASN2

The New York Yankees' Alex Rodriguez is just one of those guys made for the limelight. But forget those 19 homers and 45 RBIs. What we want to know is what did Rodriguez really say to Toronto Blue Jays third baseman Howie Clark and who is that blonde he's with on the cover of the New York Post. Let's start with the game. The Blue Jays (who cushioned New York's free fall Wednesday by losing to the Bombers, 10-5) are accusing A-Rod of unsportsmanlike play when he distracted Clark on an infield pop-up in the ninth inning.

Today, Devil Rays 7:05 p.m., MASN Tomorrow, Devil Rays 7:05 p.m., MASN2 Thursday, Devil Rays 12:35 p.m., MASN Friday, Yankees* 7 p.m., MASN Saturday, Yankees 7:05 p.m., Ch. 13, MASN2 *-Includes completion of June 28 suspended game. [Radio: All games on 105.7 FM]

NEW YORK -- The mismatch that people most expected here over the weekend never materialized until the eighth inning Sunday, when the New York Yankees turned a close game with the Orioles into a humbling 13-3 rout. The Orioles' chances of their first three-game sweep in New York since June 1986 and their first winning road trip of the season evaporated in an unsightly eighth in which the Yankees sent 14 batters to the plate and scored eight times. "It was two different games," Orioles manager Dave Trembley lamented.

All eyes will be on shortstop Derek Jeter, who is one hit away from passing Lou Gehrig to become the Yankees' all-time hits leader. Jeter had three hits in New York's 4-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday night, giving him 2,721 for his career. Jeter has 267 career hits against the Orioles and is batting .262 against them this season. Orioles pitchers have had no answer for second baseman Robinson Cano and outfielder Nick Swisher. Cano is batting .474 (27-for-57) with six homers, 17 RBIs and seven doubles in 15 games against the Orioles this season.

The New York Yankees officially said goodbye to Camden Yards for another baseball season but not before providing one more display of dominance over an Orioles team whose annual late-season freefall is at full throttle. In an unsightly top of the ninth inning for the home team that could serve as a microcosm for the Orioles' season series against their American League East rivals, the Yankees turned a one-run game into a rout by scoring seven times. It got so bad that even the Yankees fans, who made up most of half-empty Camden Yards on Wednesday night, started to file out of the ballpark early.

BOSTON - -After what had transpired on this nine-game road trip, there was very little that was going to allow the Orioles to board a plane here Sunday night feeling good about themselves or the future of their organization. But over seven innings Sunday afternoon against a lineup that has doomed so many Orioles pitchers before him, rookie right-hander David Hernandez delivered the finest and longest start of his young career and provided the organization with one positive to take home from an extremely difficult trip.

NEW YORK - -During batting practice before Monday's series opener at Yankee Stadium, Orioles manager Dave Trembley walked to the outfield to deliver a message to struggling starters Rich Hill and Jason Berken. He reminded them of the extended opportunities they've had, ones that probably would not have been afforded elsewhere. He told them to stop over-thinking things and get back to what had gotten them into the big leagues in the first place. There were no threats made, but the situation should have been perfectly clear: If Hill and Berken didn't start pitching better, changes would be made.

NEW YORK - -He didn't even turn around to give it a courtesy glance. Orioles reliever Jim Johnson figured there was no point in doing that. So as soon as the ball left Hideki Matsui's bat, flying toward the right-field seats, Johnson put his head down and started his slow walk off the field, oblivious to the New York Yankees that had started to gather at home plate. "I knew as soon as he swung the bat, it was out of there," Johnson said. "There's no sense in turning around. Game over."

NEW YORK - -Before his major league debut last week, Orioles outfielder Nolan Reimold talked with teammate Lou Montanez about the possibility of hitting a home run in his first major league at-bat, a feat Montanez accomplished last season against the Los Angeles Angels. Reimold was unable to do that, but his first major league homer proved significant nonetheless. When Reimold sent Mariano Rivera's cut fastball over the center field wall and off the netting that protects Monument Park in the ninth inning of the Orioles' 11-4 loss Wednesday, he became the first player to hit his first career home run off Rivera during his distinguished career.

THREE'S COMPANY In his first 86 appearances, Orioles starter Jeremy Guthrie had never given up three home runs in a game. On Wednesday, he did it in one inning against three straight batters. Nick Swisher, Robinson Cano and Melky Cabrera hit back-to-back-to-back homers off Guthrie in the second inning, all three landing in the right-field seats. It was the 11th time in Yankees history that they had three consecutive batters hit home runs, and the first time since June 2005. MARKAKIS SCUFFLING Orioles right fielder Nick Markakis went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts on Wednesday, the 10th time in his career he has struck out three times in the same game.

NEW YORK - -It isn't even July yet, though the past two nights here have certainly had that bitter feel to the Orioles, for whom lopsided losses and long swoons have become an annual rite of late summer. The Orioles are still not a quarter into their season, but things are getting progressively worse as May unfolds. In another humbling defeat to the surging New York Yankees, this one by an 11-4 score Wednesday night, Orioles starter Jeremy Guthrie gave up three consecutive home runs in the second inning before steadying himself to get through seven innings.

Virtually the same Orioles lineup that was completely overpowered 24 hours earlier by New York Yankees ace CC Sabathia was practically lining up at the bat rack Saturday, the players eager to get their swings in and see what they could do next. A night after managing just five base runners in a shutout loss, the Orioles had 10 men reach base and eight of them score in the second inning alone. There were a few anxious moments that followed, as there always are when the Orioles try to close out a game against the Yankees.