The Orioles need a win tonight to avoid the four-game sweep

Maybe the New York Yankees just got tired of hearing about the Orioles beating them six out of 12 times when this series began. They stormed back to beat the Orioles in 10 innings Friday night and then bashed five homers in two wins on Saturday. The Yankees have won the first three in this series by 7-5 (10), 10-3 and 5-1 scores.

Before we lament the fact that New York has scored 22 runs and bashed eight homers in this series, the Orioles scored just four runs in two games yesterday. Their offense is back in the slow lane. The Orioles have scored nine runs the last four games, 14 in seven and 19 runs the past nine games, scoring two or fewer five times.

The Yankees tonight can complete their first four-game sweep in Baltimore since Aug. 14-17, 2003. While the Orioles have lost seven in a row, New York has won seven of eight and 14 of its last 19 games.

Right-hander Sonny Gray had an ERA of 5.56 in 21 starts this year before he threw 6 1/3 scoreless on three hits in Saturday's nightcap. He needed just 79 pitches to get 19 outs and the Orioles have been out-homered 8-2 in the series.

O's right-hander Andrew Cashner had base runners all over the place in the early innings last night. Somehow he managed to pitch seven innings and post a quality start, allowing three earned runs.

But the O's offense has been so erratic and often bad this year that the Orioles have 57 quality starts, yet they are just 24-33 in those games.

"I think obviously you want to pitch for yourself, too. But you want to try and pick guys up for the club. I think for me, it is just a grinder mentality of never giving in. Constantly grinding pitch-to-pitch, outing-to-outing. Whether you're in first or last, it doesn't matter. You're pitching for your team that day and trying to win," said Cashner after he made yet another start with little run support or in this case, none.

Meanwhile few Orioles are more accountable when they play poorly than Trey Mancini. He practically berates himself for his miscues, probably to a fault. We've seen pitcher Alex Cobb do this and I have to admit, it would be a nice trait for more players to exhibit. When you mess up, fall on the sword. Fans seem to appreciate this.

The Orioles did little on offense last night with seven hits and Mancini had three of them. Yet he crushed himself in the postgame interview for the errant throw he made from first base to home plate that allowed a run to score in the top of the second inning.

"The one when I threw home, I gripped it way too tight," said Mancini. "And then after that, I don't know if it got in my head a little bit, but I played a little timid. If you do that here, you will get eaten alive. Up to today, I feel like if I could hang my hat on something this year, I feel like I've played well over there. Today, definitely not the case. So it won't happen again. Just a tough day over there."

Yep, accountable - almost to a fault.

Orioles pitchers have had trouble keeping the ball in the park recently allowing 16 home runs the last six games and 30 in the past 15. The O's staff has allowed 184 homers this year to rank with the most in the American League and second in the majors to Cincinnati with 186.

The Orioles have lost seven in a row since Cobb pitched a complete-game a week ago yesterday in Cleveland. The Orioles have 10 losing streaks this year of at least five games. They now five of at least seven games. The season high is nine straight losses from June 7-16.

If the Orioles lose tonight on ESPN's "Sunday Night Baseball" at 8:05 p.m. they will have been swept in a series of three or more games for the 14th time. They have been swept three straight nine times and four straight four times by Toronto, Seattle, Minnesota and Boston.

On the farm last night: Triple-A Norfolk picked up an important win for its playoff hopes beating Durham 4-3 in 10 innings. The largest crowd of the year of 12,131 cheered them on at Harbor Park. With nine games left Norfolk (68-63) is one game behind in the International League wild card race. Anthony Santander singled home Mike Yastrzemski as Norfolk posted its 13th walk-off win. Earlier Yastrzemski hit a game-tying three-run homer. Over his past 11 games, Yaz has four homers and 13 RBIs.

Double-A Bowie edged Erie 2-1 as Aderlin Rodriguez went 3-for-4 and drove in both runs. Winning pitcher Brian Gonzalez allowed one run in six innings. Lefty Chris Lee threw two scoreless in relief and his ERA is 0.60. Righty Brandon Kline fanned two to record his 14th save and lower his ERA to 1.71. Ryan Mountcastle had two hits and Rylan Bannon extended his hitting streak to five games.

Carolina beat Single-A Frederick 5-1. Losing pitcher Michael Baumann gave up three runs in five innings to fall to 7-5 with a 4.20 ERA. Randolph Gassaway homered for the Keys.

Single-A Delmarva beat Greensboro 7-3. Winning pitcher Luis Perez had a no-hitter through 5 1/3 innings and finished allowing three runs over seven innings. Ryan Ripken had three hits including a three-run homer and Ben Breazeale had three hits, including a two-run homer.

Short season Single-A Aberdeen infielder Adam Hall had two hits last night to extend his hitting streak to 16 games. He's batting .421 (24-for-57) during the streak with four doubles, a triple, one homer, 14 runs, 13 steals and 12 RBIs. The streak has raised his batting average from .228 to .285.