Baltimore — Perhaps the Baltimore Orioles would have been better off if someone other than Rafael Palmeiro came to the plate with the outcome hanging in the balance.
After all, Palmeiro was playing in his first game since July 31 and had yet to hit the ball out of the infield. But there was no one else interim manager Sam Perlozzo wanted up with two on, two outs and Baltimore trailing the Toronto Blue Jays, 7-6, Sunday.
"When I looked at the card, I was thinking positive, and I said, 'Let me tell you what. It's going to get down to this, and I'd love to see him get a knock here,"' Perlozzo said.
Some fans booed, but others chanted "Raffy! Raffy!" as he dug in against Toronto closer Miguel Batista. But Palmeiro hit a routine fly to right, capping an 0-for-4 performance and sealing the Blue Jays' fifth victory in six games.
"You never want to see him come up," Toronto manager John Gibbons said. "He's a great hitter, but his timing was a little off. He was out in front."
It might be awhile before Palmeiro regains his home-run swing, and it probably will take a little longer for Baltimore fans to forgive the troubled slugger completely.
A Baltimore fan mocks Rafael Palmeiro as he walks to the plate in the first inning. Palmeiro returned from a steroid suspension to go 0-for-4 in the Orioles' 7-6 loss to Toronto on Sunday in Baltimore.
In his first game since returning from a 10-day suspension for using steroids, Palmeiro received a mixed response from the crowd of 30,954. The cheers probably outweighed the jeers, but it was evident that not everyone was in a forgiving mood.
"I thought it was exactly the way it would be," Perlozzo said. "I thought the cheers eventually lasted longer than the boos, and the boos quieted down."
Yankees 10, Rangers 3
New York - Hideki Matsui beat a rainstorm with a three-run homer that gave New York the lead, Alex Rodriguez hit his fifth home run in eight days, and the Yankees completed a four-game sweep. Shawn Chacon (1-1), one of the emergency starters the Yankees have added to a patchwork pitching staff, earned the victory, allowing three runs in five innings.
Twins 2, Athletics 1
Oakland, Calif. - Joe Mauer doubled and scored on Matthew LeCroy's single in the ninth inning, leading Minnesota.
Rich Harden struck out nine while allowing one hit in eight innings, but left without a decision because the A's managed just one run against Carlos Silva. Minnesota's only hit off Harden was Michael Ryan's long homer in the third.
Juan Rincon (5-4) got three outs in the eighth for the Twins, who took two of three from Oakland after losing 10 of their previous 13 games.
Devil Rays 1, Indians 0
Cleveland - Pinch-hitter Travis Lee homered off Bob Wickman with one out in the ninth inning, sending Tampa Bay to its first series sweep in Cleveland.
Joe Borowski (1-0) pitched two scoreless innings, and Danys Baez worked the ninth for his 25th save.
Lee, batting for Eduardo Perez, worked the count to 3-2 against Wickman (0-4) before hitting his second pinch-hit homer of the season and extending his hitting streak to 11 games
Angels 7, Mariners 6
Seattle - Darin Erstad drove in the go-ahead run with an eighth-inning single, and Los Angeles beat Seattle to move back into sole possession of first place in the AL West.
Vladimir Guerrero added to his impressive series with a three-run homer in the fifth, when the Angels scored five times and chased starter Gil Meche.
Guerrero was 8-for-14 in the series with three home runs and seven RBIs. For the season, he has 17 hits in 48 at-bats (.354), with seven home runs and 13 RBIs against the Mariners.
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