Around the Leagues: Yankees, Orioles, Cardinals, Reds, Padres and White Sox

Gotta run this morning, so let's just sprint through a few things.

--First of all, live chat tomorrow morning at 11. It'll be a back-to-school edition, by which I mean it'll be no different than any other standard live chat except we won't have the possibility of the 5-to-17 demographic joining us.

--Off the Yankees game, I wrote about the Orioles, and how the sort of game they played against the Yankees reminded me of the game Tampa Bay often plays against the Yankees: Relatively mistake-free. Baltimore misplayed one ball, and it could've been pretty crucial: Shortstop Cesar Izturis and leftfielder Felix Pie failed to catch Robinson Cano's sixth-inning flare into a sunny leftfield, and that allowed the Yankees to tie the game.

But the Orioles came right back with the winning run in the seventh, on a two-out single by Brian Roberts, and then the Baltimore bullpen, of all things, did its job. 

Your memory plays tricks on you - that's why I've decided to largely ignore it come Hall of Fame voting time - but my goodness, I've probably seen the Orioles play, live, in at least 80 games since 1998. And if they've played a better game than yesterday's - the first time I've seen Buck Showalter manage them - then I don't remember it at all.

I also enjoyed Showalter's digs at the new Yankee Stadium.

A.J. Burnett? He was OK, I guess, even if he didn't think so (which is part of the problem, of course). Maybe a better team would've clobbered him. Right now, though, he has to be part of the starting rotation. Andy Pettitte's minor-league start Thursday looms large.

--Interesting piece by Joe Posnanski on the Cardinals, who have experienced a shocking meltdown, and Tony La Russa. I've dealt with La Russa plenty throughout the years, but he's one guy whom I wouldn't even try to profess to know, regarding what he's thinking. Common sense says he wouldn't want to retire on such a sour note, but who knows?

However, this is all premature for now. We've got four weeks to go, and St. Louis trails Cincinnati by five games in the loss column in the NL Central and Philadelphia by three games in the loss column in the NL wild-card race. As we know from such recent runs as the 2009 Twins, 2007 Phillies and 2007 Rockies, overcoming such deficits is at least mathematically feasible.

--Staying in the NL Central, yesterday's Reds-Rockies game was interesting because it marked the first time rookie sensation Aroldis Chapman got knocked around at all. His ERA remains at 0.00, but we know he's not perfect. I'm curious to see how he comes out in his next outing.

--The Padres ended their 10-game losing streak, yet because of that streak, we now have an NL West race between two utterly flawed teams in San Diego and San Francisco, with intriguing Colorado lurking on the periphery. Baseball Prospectus does a "The Week in Quotes" segment in its daily e-mailing, and it often features snarky headlines leading into the quotes.

For its lead-in to quotes about the struggling Padres, Cardinals and Dodgers, BP went with "There is the possibility you were not all that good to begin with." Co-sign, as I believe the kids say. At least in the case of San Diego.

 --Finally, the White Sox have a six-game winning streak; with Manny Ramirez on their payroll, they've yet to lose a game. But the Twins are 5-1 in the same stretch. I would say I'm not sure how the White Sox can keep this going, but then again, I'm not sure how the Twins can keep this going.

In any case, now that fall has begun spiritually, if not technically, it appears that we'll have sufficient reasons to pay attention to baseball this month.

--I'll check in later from the Stadium.