Mariano Rivera is the Yankee of recent vintage that I respect the most. He quietly goes about his business year after year and is ludicrously good at what he does. Entering today's series finale, he had faced the Orioles 115 times in his career, more than any other opposing team. Believe it or not, his 3.07 ERA against the Birds is one of the highest marks he has against anyone; the Angels (3.43) are the only American League team that touches him up more frequently. That's not to say that Baltimore has Mo's number by any means. The New York closer has 65 career saves against the O's, and had blown five saves in sixteen years. Only ten of the 481 Oriole batters to face him had hit home runs (Rafael Palmeiro and Aubrey Huff each touched him up twice - Edgar Martinez is the only other hitter with two HR off of him), and only four of those were game-tying or go-ahead homers.Today the script was flipped from last week's series in Yankee Stadium. It was the Bronx Bombers who were trying to wrap up a road sweep, and who were undone by a ninth-inning homer. Luke Scott (1-for-12 in his career vs. Rivera) led off with a solo shot on a low cut fastball from Mariano to tie the game at three. Though he had blown his sixth career save against the Birds, he did not get the loss. The game pushed along into the 11th inning, at which point Luke did his best to single-handedly deliver the win. He led off with a double off of David Robertson, smartly hitting against the defensive shift to turn a routine fly ball to left field into extra bases. Ty Wigginton was the next hitter, and he delivered Baltimore's major league-best 13th extra-inning win with a wallop to the right-center field gap. 4-3, Orioles. Well done.
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