Fremont, CA.  The O’s made sure they brought their big sticks with them for their first meeting with the Yankees since the 2008 playoffs, in which the Yanks stunned the O’s by eliminating them in the semifinals.  Not having very many pitchers available, Yankee manager, Jose Mendoza, was forced to absorb the O’s relentless heavy metal pounding all by himself during the day's first game.

The O’s drew first blood in the morning’s contest by pushing across two runs in the top of the first.  Leadoff hitter, Seth Goodman, got on-board with a single and quickly stole second and third on the next two pitches.  He was later brought home by sacrifice grounder to short by Frandsen.  Consecutive singles by Chris Cooper and Chavez produced the O’s second run.  However, the Yankees were able to respond in the bottom half of the first by scratching across a run of their own with a couple of hits and some aggressive base running.  With the score at 2 – 1 after one inning of play, it certainly looked like the game was turning into another classic dog-fight between the two rivals.

After that first inning, O’s starter Skipton was able to smother Yankees’ hitters the rest of the way, while his O’s hitters went to work on Mendoza.  The Orioles were able to plate five additional runs in the second, and one more in the third.  By the fifth inning the O’s were enjoying a comfortable 10 – 4 lead.

The O’s added four more runs in the sixth to extend their lead to the game-shortening 10-run lead.  The inning was capped by a 2-run Home Run by O’s slugger J. Chavez that seemed to break the Yankees’ spirit.  Forced to play an additional inning, the O’s relentless attack added three more runs in the seventh and extended the lead to 17 – 4, which proved to be the final score.

The afternoon game, however, proved to be quite different.  A determined Yankee squad tallied three runs in the first and followed them up with an additional four runs in the second.  Timely hitting, three errors, and some wild pitching had the Yanks jumping out to a 7 – 0 lead in just two innings.  A clearly stunned O’s team needed to regroup.  Skipper, Angelo Cordero, was forced to make some defensive adjustments and provide a motivational speech to his team.

The defensive adjustments along with Cooper's strong pitching seemed to work, as the Yankees did not score another run the rest of the game.  However, O’s hitters needed to come up with an antidote for McKellar’s pitching quickly, as they were starting to run out of time.  Inning after inning O’s hitters were kept off balance and they were unable to mount any kind of threat.  The O’s were finally able to break through in the fifth by stringing together some hits and scoring three runs, closing to within 7 – 3.

With just another run added in the sixth, the O’s were still facing a 3-run deficit that seemed insurmountable heading into their final at-bat in the bottom of the seventh.   If the O’s were to mount a comeback, they now had to do it against the Yankees’ fresh closer.  However, the O’s had the very dangerous top of their order due up.  Immediately it was evident that the new pitcher was not able to find the strike zone, hitting the first hitter he faced, Goodman.  Goodman would later score on a wild pitch.  After walking the number two hitter, Matt Frandsen, Chris Cooper, also got hit by a pitch.

With Cooper, the game-tying run, now at first, the Yankee top brass decided that they were better off with McKellar after all, so they summoned him back to the mound to get his own save.  McKellar was asked to get three outs.  Only, this time he needed to do it after sitting in the dugout for at least thirty or so minutes without throwing a warm-up pitch, with the tying-run on, and Chavez (who homered in the first game) at the plate.

The first pitch to Chavez went to the backstop allowing both runners to advance and putting the tying-run in scoring position at second base.  Chavez drove the next pitch he saw an estimated 395 feet over the left-center field wall driving in three.  The game-winning, 3-run, walk-off HR proved to be the final lethal blow in the latest chapter of this rivalry.  After the ensuing celebration at home plate, a jubilant O’s manager, Cordero, commented in Spanish: “Jodimos a los que nos jodieron a nosotros.  ¡¡Puñeta!!”

O’s spokesman, Al Spector, explained: “This is a huge win for us.  Whenever you can win a game in walk-off fashion, it’s special.”  “… You have to be willing to tighten your nuts when you play the O’s my friend.”

With Chavez’ home runs, the O’s have now homered in each of their last four games.  With the sweep of the Yankees the O's now have a modest 4-game winning streak.  The O’s will next go back to San Jose for two games against the expansion Rays before the Father’s Day holiday.