Orioles' measuring stick: Yankees come to town

As the Orioles begin another series versus the New York Yankees tonight, O's fans are probably quite aware of the Birds' struggles against this club. The Orioles are 0-2 this year and went 5-13 last season versus New York. They have lost 26 of the last 33 in this series and the Yankees are 16-6 in their last 22 games against the O's at Camden Yards. The Yankees' winning percentage all-time at Camden Yards of .644 is the best by any visiting team. If the Orioles are indeed improved this year -- and going 2-9 since the 6-1 start is not the way to show us -- playing better versus New York will go a long way with the fans. No matter how the O's do as they go around the American League this season, fans will likely measure the club most by its play against the Yankees and Red Sox. After Buck Showalter took over as manager early last August, the Orioles went 3-3 versus both the Yankees and Red Sox. Gotta believe that fans would be generally pleased with .500 ball against the beasts of the East. Showalter seemed to try and remind his players to not look at those teams as some incredibly tough-to-beat clubs and tear down any intimidation factor they might have once held over the Orioles. He reminded his team that "they have pretty good bubble gum cards too" and that "those clubs say a lot of nice things about you in their advance meetings." I think some of that has begun to work on his players. We all know they should be 1-1 this year versus New York, but instead are winless after blowing a 5-0 lead at Yankee Stadium. So as the Orioles begin another series with the New Yorkers and what figures to be an exciting weekend at Camden Yards is set to start, all they have to do tonight is beat CC Sabathia, who is 14-2 with an ERA of 2.86 in 20 career starts against Baltimore. The Yankees hit town at 10-6 and in first place. They are the only team in the majors not to lose two in a row yet and they lead the majors with 30 homers and a ML-high 14 games scoring four runs or more (10-4 record). So the O's now get set for six games in a row versus New York and Boston. Would wins over those clubs excite the fans more than O's wins over any other club?