Yanks, O's: Varying perspectives on makeup

BALTIMORE -- Brian Cashman didn't accuse the Orioles of pulling a Nero, but he wondered why, in his eyes, they fiddled in the face of a hurricane.

"You can be proactive to avoid the problem based on the hurricane models or you can sit back and hope it changes,'' Cashman said Saturday morning by phone while doing his own preparations near home for Hurricane Irene's arrival. "They sat back and hoped it changed. But it's not the end of the world. You just deal with it.''

The Yankees were angry after Friday's game, and not just because of A.J. Burnett's latest implosion in a 12-5 loss. They were upset that the Orioles, contrary to the Yankees' wishes, announced the implementation of their plan to make up Saturday's split doubleheader, postponed because of Irene.

One of the games is to be made up as part of a split doubleheader Sunday -- not a sure thing, given the weather -- and the other was rescheduled for Sept. 8, taking away one of the Yankees' two remaining days off.

Cashman said he was perplexed to receive an email late Friday saying players, including Yankees player rep Curtis Granderson, had voted for the plan. "Which obviously wasn't the case,'' said Cashman, whose main source of annoyance was the parties' lack of communication.

The main point of irritation for the Yankees, whose preference was to play a split doubleheader Friday, was the loss of the day off. The Orioles, coming off an 11-day road trip and ultimately the ones with the biggest say in the scheduling as the home team, offered a different perspective, saying their primary concern was their patrons.

"The Yankees' scenario, posed to us Thursday afternoon after being floated to the media hours earlier, would have forced 40,000 fans to make plans to attend a weekday afternoon game with less than 24 hours notice,'' Orioles director of communications Greg Bader said late Saturday morning in an email after being informed of Cashman's comments. "Knowing that any [postponed] games could be made up at any of four other times [Sunday night, Monday afternoon, Sept. 8 or Sept. 15], we believed that moving a game up would have unnecessarily inconvenienced those fans. We are not going to inconvenience our fans when there are scenarios available that are far more favorable for them.''

Of course, how favorable a scenario it will be for fans, some of whom may have been evacuated and/or sustained property damage, to make their way to Camden Yards Sunday or even Monday remains to be seen.

But perhaps that's the larger point. There's nothing convenient about a hurricane, and no scenario existed that would have pleased both teams. And though Granderson and Joe Girardi vowed to "fight'' the schedule, it is unlikely anything will change.

More discussions took place Saturday, but there are only so many options, and the time for the one most favored by the Yankees, a Friday doubleheader, has come and gone.

MLB doesn't seem inclined to acquiesce to two other Yankees suggestions -- to play a day-night doubleheader at Yankee Stadium Sept. 5-7, with the Orioles the home team for the makeup game, or to play the game after the season if it's needed.

The Players Association has to give its OK to whatever is agreed to. An MLB spokesman declined comment, as did an MLPA spokesman.

As for Burnett's horrid pitching, when asked the Yankees' plans, Cashman said, "I don't know.'' Burnett (9-11, 5.31) allowed nine runs and nine hits in five innings, throwing 116 pitches.

"Obviously, he's been pitching extremely poorly,'' Cashman said. "It's something we're going to have to deal with.''