Yanks slosh their way to win over Orioles

It was hard to pinpoint the specific moment when the night became a farce.

Maybe it was a first pitch of 11:08 p.m., coming after a rain delay of 4 hours, 3 minutes.

Perhaps it was that first pitch thrown by Phil Hughes, in a steady, wind-blown drizzle that would have kept the tarp on the field most nights.

Or the unrelenting rain that started just before 2 p.m. and a forecast that didn't show much beyond a splotch of green over the New York area for hours to come.

All good choices but the enduring spectacle from the 5-3 Yankees' victory over the Baltimore Orioles that ended early Wednesday morning before a couple of thousand fans scattered mostly throughout the lower deck of the Stadium, was this:

After Nick Markakis flew out to Curtis Granderson at 12:26 a.m. in medium center for the third out of the top of the fifth, making the game official, a 13-minute delay ensued.

Thirteen minutes of an endless parade of grounds crew members toting sacks of drying agent onto the field, dumping and smoothing; dumping and smoothing. With the rain at some of its most intense, as one puddle was vanquished, another quickly took its place and the infield the rest of the way mostly resembled the consistency of mud.

The game?

Actually, a pretty good one, featuring back-to-back home runs in the seventh inning by Francisco Cervelli to left -- which was upheld by video review -- and Brett Gardner, a liner to right that bounced off the foul pole, giving the Yankees a 5-3 lead.

David Robertson worked a scoreless eighth and Mariano Rivera, though the leadoff batter reached on an error by Mark Teixeira in the ninth, earned his 39th save of the season, and 598th of his career. Cory Wade (4-0), who got the final out in the seventh, was credited with the victory.

The Yankees committed three errors and the Orioles one, but given the slick conditions, it could have been far sloppier.

"Our guys got it done, I'm proud of what they did,'' Joe Girardi said. "You think about the defense on both sides, the ground balls. As many plays as the infielders made today, I was actually shocked because the ball was skidding. We found a way to get it done.''

It was the Yankees' sixth straight victory and ninth in their last 10, allowing them to maintain a 2 ½-game lead over Boston in the AL East.

While some might have thought the interminable delay might have been some form of Yankees' revenge for the verbal jabs recently thrown in Baltimore over the rescheduling of a doubleheader, that wasn't the case.

"Last series, commissioner's office controls the decision- making,'' general manager Brian Cashman said two hours before the 7 p.m. scheduled start.

The Yankees are scheduled to play the Orioles at 1 p.m. Wednesday.

Girardi said afterward: "Baseball wanted us to wait. I know the weather's tricky again [Wednesday], so I thought we were going to play. It was just a matter of time.''

After napping for a portion of the four-hour delay, Hughes allowed two runs and five hits in six innings, with both runs coming in the sixth on Matt Wieters' two-run homer that tied it at 2.

"A dumb pitch,'' Hughes said.

Otherwise, Hughes felt he threw the ball OK, though Girardi said the righthander's curveball was the best he's seen it all season.

"It was good,'' Hughes said of his curve. "Fastball wasn't great I thought but it was usable.''

Jorge Posada's 13th homer of the season in the third made it 1-0 and when Orioles leftfielder Matt Angle got turned and twisted every which way by the wind and rain on Cervelli's flyball to the track in the fifth, it allowed Posada, who had reached on an error, to score, making it 2-0.

After Wieters' homer tied it, Teixeira's run-scoring single in the bottom of the sixth brought in Derek Jeter, who had singled to lead off the inning, to make it 3-2.

But Hector Noesi allowed a hit and Boone Logan a run-scoring double in the seventh to tie it at 3.

Cervelli's blast, his fourth of the season -- and third in his last four games -- off Orioles starter Tommy Hunter gave the Yankees the lead for good in the bottom half. A fan reached over the wall but, after reviewing the play, umpires ruled the ball would have cleared. Gardner then drilled Hunter's 2-and-0 pitch off the foul pole to make it 5-3. It was the Yankees' 200th home run of the season.

"I'm eating more food,'' Cervelli said with a smile explaining his recent power surge. "I don't know.''

The Yankees knew, Hughes said, the one thing they didn't want to do was to play a doubleheader on Wednesday.

After playing through, and delivering, in the wind and rain, they won't have to.

"At 7 o'clock nobody would have guessed we'd play,'' Hughes said. "But I'm glad we did. Nobody wants to play a doubleheader.''