Tonight’s rubber game in Baltimore brings to an end one of the Yankees longest road stands of the season (they have another nine game swing in September). With a win, the Yankees would not only get back into the business of winning series, but also return home with a winning road trip. In order to accomplish both goals, the Yankees will need another strong outing from AJ Burnett, who looks to start the season at 3-0 for the first time in his career.
The Yankees lineup, which is without Jorge Posada and Nick Johnson, will go up against Orioles rookie Brian Matusz, the #4 pick overall in the 2008 draft. Matusz is still a rookie because the Orioles intentionally pulled the plug on his 2009 season with 44 2/3 innings, 1/3 shy of the cutoff for rookie eligibility. Among his handful of starts from the 2009 season, Matusz matched up against and beat AJ Burnett on September 12. In the game, Matusz yielded only four hits in seven innings.
Francisco Cervelli gets another start as Posada is still feeling the effects of being hit by a Jeremy Guthrie pitch the night before. Another changed to the lineup involves Marcus Thames taking over the DH slot from Nick Johnson. By keeping him out of the field, Girardi seems to have finally realized that Thames poor defense mitigates the benefits of his right bat against lefties. Filling Johnson’s #2 slot in the lineup is Nick Swisher. Girardi has previously batted Swisher second, but the latter’s prolific numbers at Camden Yards make the move particularly appropriate.
| vs. Brian Matusz | PA | BA | OBP | SLG | HR | RBI |
| Derek Jeter SS | 4 | 1.000 | 0.250 | 0.250 | 0 | 0 |
| Nick Swisher RF | 3 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0 | 0 |
| Mark Teixeira 1B | 3 | 0.000 | 0.500 | 0.333 | 0 | 0 |
| Alex Rodriguez 3B | 3 | 0.000 | 0.333 | 0.333 | 0 | 0 |
| Robinson Cano 2B | 3 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0 | 0 |
| Marcus Thames DH | 0 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0 | 0 |
| Curtis Granderson CF | 0 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0 | 0 |
| Francisco Cervelli C | 0 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0 | 0 |
| Brett Gardner LF | 0 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 16 | 0.200 | 0.188 | 0.267 | 0 | 0 |
| vs. AJ Burnett | PA | BA | OBP | SLG | HR | RBI |
| Adam Jones CF | 23 | 0.227 | 0.227 | 0.455 | 1 | 4 |
| Nick Markakis RF | 38 | 0.314 | 0.342 | 0.371 | 0 | 3 |
| Matt Wieters C | 6 | 0.000 | 0.167 | 0.000 | 0 | 0 |
| Miguel Tejeda 3B | 17 | 0.333 | 0.412 | 0.333 | 0 | 1 |
| Luke Scott DH | 19 | 0.400 | 0.526 | 0.933 | 2 | 4 |
| Ty Wiggington 2B | 27 | 0.217 | 0.333 | 0.435 | 1 | 3 |
| Ryan Hughes 1B | 0 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0 | 0 |
| Nolan Reimold LF | 6 | 0.750 | 0.833 | 1.500 | 1 | 1 |
| Cesar Izturis SS | 16 | 0.133 | 0.188 | 0.200 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 152 | 0.276 | 0.342 | 0.455 | 5 | 16 |
| Yankees vs. Orioles | |||
| Season: 2010 | Season: 2009 | Season: 2008 | All-Time |
| TIED: 1-1 | NYY: 13-5 | NYY: 11-7 | NYY: 1223-839 |
- AJ Burnett is 9-2 lifetime against the Orioles, but with 5.23 ERA. At Camden Yards, he is 4-0 with a 4.75 ERA.
- With a double, Derek Jeter will pass Don Mattingly for third place on the Yankees all-time list. An additional base hit will also catapult him past Andre Dawson and into a tie with Ken Griffey Jr. (who is still active) for 45th place in baseball history.
- Alex Rodriquez remains stuck on 585 HRs. His next long ball will move him into a tie with Frank Robinson for seventh place all-time.
- Mariano Rivera needs two strikeouts to tie Roger Clemens for 10th place (1,012) in franchise history.
- Last night, the Yankees set a Camden Yards record for visiting teams by homering in 16 straight games.
- Nick Swisher has the highest OPS (1.247) by a visiting player at Camden Yards.
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