Huge Weekend At Camden Yards

A-Rod and Granderson need to perform down the stretch.

Tonight the Yanks will head into Baltimore for a 4-game set with the second place Orioles. The Bronx Bombers are currently 1 game ahead of the streaking O's, and this will be the last series played between these two. Good old September baseball, where there is no room for error. You play the teams in your division, and it usually the month that determines who's playing in October. Who would have thought the Orioles would still be relevant at this point?

The Orioles have nothing to lose. They're the underdogs, and they haven't made the playoffs since 1997! Skipper Buck Showalter has them playing inspired baseball and they're starting to believe in one another. They clearly aren't the most talented group, but they still have closed the gap on the Yankees 10 game division lead to only 1. Now the Yankees need to play perfect baseball during this series in order to create some separation.

The Oriole crowd will be fired up tonight because the beloved Cal Ripken Jr. received a statue outside the stadium in his honor. On top of this, their team actually matters for once. Camden usually is the Yankees home away from home because no one goes to the Orioles games when they aren't good. Tonight, and throughout the weekend, this won't be the case.

Hopefully Joe Girardi can get these boys going after a big win in Tampa Bay last night. They need to hit the ball and provide the pitchers with some run support, because runs have been at a minimum recently. This is especially true tonight with the youngster David Phelps on the bump. Swisher, A-Rod and Granderson need to get their heads on straight for this series because Jeter and Cano can only do so much. It's time to perform.

One Last Thing: This is one of my favorite times of the year. Every game of baseball is so critical as the playoffs are around the corner, and football season has just begun. Yanks and G-Men baby! Let's do this.

PS I started this in the top of the 1st inning of tonight's game, it's now the bottom of the 1st with 1 out and the Orioles are already leading 4-0...