Guerrero continues to own Nova (O's down 4-3)

Vladimir Guerrero's presence in the cleanup spot is a major irritant to fans here, but the matchup clearly favored him today. Guerrero has two more hits off Yankees starter Ivan Nova, including his 12th home run and a leadoff double in the fourth inning that led to another run. Yankees 4, Orioles 2. Guerrero is 6-for-8 with two homers lifetime against Nova. He just missed clearing the fence in right-center field in the fourth and settled for a double after slowing up as he rounded first base and barely beating the throw. He moved to third on Matt Wieters' grounder and scored on Mark Reynolds' grounder. I guess that's one way to manufacture a run. Nolan Reimold walked with two outs and took third on Chris Davis' single into right field. Davis went 0-for-6 with five strikeouts and stranded seven runners yesterday. He flied to left in his first at-bat today. Davis is starting at third base again as the Orioles continue to evaluate him. They also want to make sure the tear in his right shoulder doesn't limit him in the field or at the plate. "I want to challenge him physically and make sure that we feel like this will hold up," manager Buck Showalter said. Davis will do some early hitting tomorrow with Jim Presley, and it sounds like he'll be out of the lineup. "I'll probably let that be more of his work day tomorrow, so I wanted to play him today and get him back out there and continue to evaluate where we are at third and where he is physically, as much as anything," Showalter said. "I think we're educating ourselves a little bit. Chris as a person, a player, a competitor, whatever you want to say, as much as it is a pure player statistically." Alfredo Simon is done after four innings. He allowed four runs and six hits, issued a career-high six walks and struck out three. He threw 88 pitches, 43 for strikes. Jo-Jo Reyes has replaced him. Showalter was asked earlier how he envisioned using Simon next season. Of course, that's assuming Simon makes the team. "I think he presents the potential to pitch in a lot of different roles and we'll see where it takes us, depending on what we do with some other people," Showalter said. Jim Johnson's expected move into the rotation further increases the chances that Simon pitches in relief next season if he remains in the organization. Update: Guerrero batted with runners on second and third and one out in the bottom of the fifth, and he fouled out to first baseman Mark Teixeira. Matt Wieters grounded to second, and the Orioles squandered an excellent opportunity to tie this game. Update II: Reimold doubled with one out in the sixth, forcing Nova out of the game, and Davis greeted reliever Boone Logan with an RBI double to reduce the Yankees' lead to 4-3. Reimold's speed and hustle out of the box got him the double. I thought it would be a single into right-center field when he made contact. Jeremy Accardo is replacing Reyes with a runner on first base and one out in the seventh.