One strike away...

By Roch Kubatko

Orioles

September 17, 2010, 6:10pm

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Koji Uehara just blew another save to the Yankees, and it almost brought him to his knees. Actually, it caused him to squat in front of the mound, his back turned to home plate, as catcher Matt Wieters tried to console him. Uehara served up a three-run homer to Alex Rodriguez on a 2-2 pitch with two outs in the top of the ninth, giving the Yankees a 4-3 lead. Rodriguez unloaded on a 90 mph fastball one pitch after Uehara thought he had a called third strike on another fastball. Plate umpire Ted Barrett ruled that the pitch was inside. It sure looked like it caught more of the plate than anything Derek Jeter took while twice striking out looking. Luke Scott pounded his fist on the railing in front of the dugout when Uehara wasn't given the strike. Rodriguez has 57 career multi-homer games and 53 two-homer games. You could almost anticipate what was going to happen when the count grew to 2-2. The Orioles still have another at-bat coming, but Mariano Riviera has emerged from the bullpen. This one's going to hurt if Rivera's up to his usual standards.