In the Bronx, Hard Feelings And an Easy Win for Yanks

Yankees 13, Orioles 3

NEW YORK, July 30 -- Technically, the New York Yankees and Baltimore Orioles have not thrown a single punch at each other this season, no scissor kicks delivered from the outfield, no steel chairs to the back of the head. But for the second straight game, and for the third time this season, the American League East rivals showed signs of increasingly icy feelings.

The latest near-skirmish came during the latter part of the Yankees' 13-3 trouncing of the Orioles on Wednesday, which ruined Dennis Sarfate's big league debut as a starter and stopped Baltimore's three-game winning streak.

With the outcome virtually decided in the seventh inning, Yankees right-hander Edwar Ramirez narrowly missed hitting Orioles first baseman Kevin Millar in the head, prompting home plate umpire Mark Wegner to eject the reliever. After the game, Ramirez said he wasn't throwing at Millar and apologized for hitting the veteran.

"I'm not trying to hit Kevin," said Ramirez, who was on in relief of Yankees starter Joba Chamberlain. "That's what I say to you guys. He thinks I throw behind his head or something like that on purpose, I apologize. I'm not doing it."

Ramirez said he was surprised by the ejection, which came after just one pitch.

"I come over here to pitch my game; my team needed me," Ramirez said. "I don't want to do something stupid, and my team lose me for two or three games."

Millar considered the pitch a counterstrike for Tuesday's theatrics, when Orioles pitcher Daniel Cabrera earned a quick ejection for hitting the Yankees' Alex Rodriguez in the shoulder.

"Oh, 100 percent," said Millar, when asked whether he thought Ramirez's pitch was intentional.

Then, Millar went on the verbal offensive. Multiple times, he derisively referred to Ramirez as a "cute little fella" and described the pitcher as "good hitting," all before declaring that Ramirez was lucky even to be a major leaguer.

"I was upset they threw him out of the game because he's really good hitting. He's a cute little fella; he didn't throw that hard, and he didn't have very good stuff," Millar said. "It's probably a good idea to throw him out, because like I said, it would have been Monument Park."

Neither of the past two incidents prompted benches to clear, as they did earlier in the season, when Yankees reliever LaTroy Hawkins threw behind Orioles left fielder Luke Scott. But the conflict has created its own propaganda: The headline on the back page in Wednesday's editions of the New York Daily News read "Dirty Birds," accompanied by a photo of Rodriguez recoiling after Cabrera's fastball.

While Millar fumed, Orioles Manager Dave Trembley tried to play down the situation.

"When things like that happen, I don't ever think about it," Trembley said. "There's little subtleties of the game that lead people to imagine and wonder and speculate. I really don't concern myself with any of it to be honest with you. I've got other things that are more important."

Ramirez's pitch "was as obvious as the nose on my face and yours that he did it intentionally," said Trembley, who added he was more surprised that the Yankees would bother to retaliate than he was at the ejection.

"I didn't expect anything was going to happen today, to be honest with you, because I'm sure in my own mind, like I said last night, Cabrera didn't throw at anybody," Trembley said. "If anybody was going to throw at anybody today, it probably should have been Chamberlain."

Millar, who is the fourth Oriole ever to have six homers against the Yankees in a season, said he was most upset about the location of the pitch.

"There just needs to be a thing of how to throw at a guy, that's all," he said. "Stay at the waist and below, part of baseball. But you don't want to mess with anybody's career. He doesn't throw that hard, so it wouldn't have hurt."