Orioles still unsure when O'Day will return (O's lose 8-6)

Orioles manager Buck Showalter isn't certain that reliever Darren O'Day will be ready to come off the disabled list when eligible after 15 days.

"It will be close, I hope, if things fall right, but don't hold me to it," Showalter said. "It could be longer."

O'Day reinjured his right hamstring Wednesday night while covering first base. The Orioles put him on the disabled list yesterday afternoon.

Because it's a high hamstring strain, the recovery period may last longer and delay his return to one of baseball's top bullpens.

"I'm hoping that he comes in in three days and says, 'You guys screwed this up. I'm ready,'" Showalter said. "After seeing the MRI, I don't think so."

Red Sox outfielder Chris Young led off the eighth inning with a home run off O'Day and he retired two batters before leaving the game. The leg had flared up initially when he warmed up before a May 24 game in Houston.

"Kind of hit me the other day with the flat breaking ball to Young," Showalter said. "That was about as flat .. Usually he sweeps that ball right out of the zone. I remember kind of looking at Wally (Dave Wallace) and going, 'Um. I haven't seen that pitch.' But then he got back on the horse and got a couple outs. I don't know."

Showalter knew the hamstring was hurting as he went to the mound to remove O'Day.

"I could tell by his body language," Showalter said. "He didn't fight me at all about bringing Zach in there. Usually, he's got that look of disgust at himself and at me, like, 'What are you doing out here?' But he's had little things along the way that we haven't talked about in here and he just pitches.

"He's had some forearm stuff that's gone away. He's had it for two years. It comes and goes. It's just like knowing your player and knowing who lets you know every ounce of discomfort they're feeling and what you should be concerned with and what you shouldn't. But every guy in there's got something wrong with him that shows up on the medical report."

The injury involves O'Day's push-off leg.

"Both are critical," Showalter said. "You can't have one without the other, landing and pushing."

Showalter never got a chance to meet legendary heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali, who passed away late last night at age 74, and it's one of the biggest regrets of his life. The opportunity was there and he didn't seize it.

"I was talking to somebody about that today," Showalter said. "I was from me to you from him at an event in Arizona, but real regret. I was a huge fan of his growing up at a time when it wasn't popular in a part of the country. It wasn't popular to be a Cassius Clay fan at that time. My father was a huge fan of him and I followed suit."

Showalter proved it by rattling off the names of Ali's opponents. He also has vivid memories of the night Ali knocked out George Foreman in Zaire in 1974 to reclaim the crowd, hanging on every word of the round-by-round reports.

"I can tell you every fight," he said.

"I can remember sitting around the radio when the delayed broadcast of the fight in Zaire came back. Everybody was expecting him to get ... a lot of people were going to shut him up. And it came back that there was a knockout. I remember I was in the athletic dorm in junior college back when you were allowed to have them and I was down with the basketball team listening to it because my baseball team, nobody wanted him to win and I didn't want to hear it. Everybody thought he had been knocked out when it came back, when they said there's been a knockout in the eighth round. And when they announced he had knocked out George Foreman, I rubbed it in pretty good. Enjoyed it.

"He took on all comers. I think as you get older and you see somebody you remember like that and they pass away ... I found out about it last night at home. Really tough. I didn't realize he was that young. He was something. The greatest heavyweight ever, but I'm biased. Would take on all of them."

Center fielder Adam Jones admits that he's too young to fully appreciate Ali's career and life. He doesn't know the man, but he's heard the stories.

"He was one of the (first) men to stand up for his rights, to stand up for what he truly believed in," Jones said. "He lived a pretty good life, a pretty good legacy that's going to be passed on for years and years to come."

Update: The Yankees took a 1-0 lead in the third on Chase Headley's leadoff double and fly balls to center field by Rob Refsnyder and Austin Romine. Jones made a terrific throw home, but it carried catcher Matt Wieters into Headley and he couldn't field the ball cleanly.

Update II: Wilson allowed four runs and five hits in the fourth inning and the Orioles are down 5-0. He's at 70 pitches, 42 strikes, and Dylan Bundy is warming again.

Update III: Dylan Bundy allowed a run on three singles in the fifth inning. Yankees 6, Orioles 0.

Wilson allowed five runs and seven hits in four innings, with no walks and one strikeout. He threw 70 pitches, 42 for strikes.

Update IV: Bundy allowed another run in the sixth when Jacoby Ellsbury and Brett Gardner singled with two outs and executed a double steal. Yankees 7, Orioles 0.

Update V: Mark Trumbo led off the seventh inning with his 18th home run of the season to reduce the Yankees' lead to 7-1. Matt Wieters reached on an infield hit and Pedro Alvarez lined a two-run homer to left field to make it more interesting.

Update VI: The Orioles had one more home run in them in the seventh, a three-run shot by Adam Jones off Nick Goody. Yankees 7, Orioles 6.

Jones has 370 career RBIs at Camden Yards, passing Cal Ripken, Jr. for first place.

Update VII: Vance Worley replaced Brian Duensing with one out in the ninth and gave up a double to Carlos Beltran and an RBI single to Alex Rodriguez that increased New York's lead to 8-6.

Update VIII: Aroldis Chapman retires the side in order in the ninth and the Orioles lose to the Yankees 8-6.

The Orioles are 31-23. Their rotation has posted a 6.68 ERA in the last 19 games.

The Red Sox won tonight and reclaimed first place.