Patrick Mcdermott/Getty Images
The Orioles Nate McLouth was unable to scale the outfield wall high enough to catch Russell Martin's solo shot in the ninth.
BALTIMORE — The Yankees were the last team to enter the postseason fray, waiting four days after the end of the regular season to play their first playoff game. And then they had to wait about two and a half more hours for rain to subside before finally opening their 2012 postseason campaign.
But for the Yankees, it was all worth the wait. Under raw, wet conditions at Camden Yards, the Yankees beat the Orioles, 7-2, on Sunday to claim Game 1 of their best-of-five American League division series.
Russell Martin broke a 2-2 tie with a towering home run to left field off closer Jim Johnson in the ninth, and the Yankees added four more runs in the inning.
C. C. Sabathia delivered a performance befitting his role as an ace, throwing eight and two-thirds commanding innings and breaking an arsenal of Oriole bats in the process. He had thrown 110 pitches after eight innings but was allowed to go out for the ninth, and he recorded the first two outs. But when Lew Ford doubled on the 120th pitch, Manager Joe Girardi took Sabathia out. He received pats of congratulations from all his admiring infielders after allowing only two runs.
Sabathia was at 95 pitches entering the eighth, and shortstop J. J. Hardy opened it with a double, poked down the right-field line. But Sabathia struck out Adam Jones and got Matt Wieters to pop up in foul territory for the second out. Then Mark Reynolds bounced out to the left side, and as Derek Jeter fired the ball across the diamond to Mark Teixeira, Sabathia raised his fist in the air.
The momentum carried into the ninth. After Martin's home run, Raul Ibanez, Jeter and Ichiro Suzuki singled off Johnson, who was 51 for 54 in save opportunities in the regular season. Robinson Cano hit a two-run double to left that began an exodus from the stands, and Nick Swisher added on with a sacrifice fly.
The Yankees scored in the top of the first. Jeter reached on a chopper up the middle and then came home on Suzuki's double into a wide gap in left field. The auspicious opening salvo had the smell of a big inning, but nothing more materialized because Suzuki was erased trying to steal third, a questionable decision with Alex Rodriguez at the plate and Cano on deck.
The Orioles took their only lead in the second inning. Chris Davis and Ford reached on singles and then scored on Nate McLouth's single.
The Yankees evened the score in the fourth after Rodriguez walked leading off, then went to second on a sharp grounder by Cano. Rodriguez avoided the double play by running on the pitch. Swisher walked, too, and then Teixeira hit a ball off the top of the wall in right field, scoring Rodriguez.
A native of Maryland, Teixeira is roundly booed here because he did not sign with the Orioles as a free agent, and that treatment was only enhanced in the playoff atmosphere. He was thrown out at second by Davis, who fielded the ball cleanly off the wall with his bare hand. Swisher went to third on the play, but was stranded there when Baltimore starter Jason Hammel walked Curtis Granderson intentionally and then got Martin to hit a harmless fly ball to center, ending the threat.
Hammel, who was making only his third appearance since July 13 because of a right knee injury that required arthroscopic surgery, did everything that could have been asked of him.
Pitching with a knee brace, he allowed two runs and only four hits and struck out five through five and two-thirds innings. He gave up a two-out single to Swisher in the sixth and walked off to a standing ovation.
Troy Patton replaced him and gave up a single to Teixeira. Then, with runners on first and second and two outs, Granderson hit a long fly ball down the right-field line into foul territory, where Davis ran it down for the final out.
The game was delayed two hours 26 minutes by rain, which was reminiscent of a year ago, when rain postponed Game 1 of the division series after Sabathia had already pitched two innings and 22 pitches.
That start was wasted for Sabathia, who would make only one more start in that series, although he pitched in relief in Game 5, which the Yankees lost.
This time, the teams waited until the rain had stopped. Fans gathered in the protected areas under the second deck, or on the main concourse, chanting, "Let's play ball" each time the rain momentarily subsided. When it finally did, the crowd reveled in the sight of the grounds crew removing the tarp, and unleashed wave after wave of deafening cheers at each stage of the pregame ceremonies.
After the introductions, the players stood along the foul lines during the national anthem, and when it ended, the Yankees, none of them unfamiliar with the procedure, immediately broke ranks and headed to the outfield to begin warming up.
The Orioles players, less familiar with playoff protocol, stood for several seconds on their marks, seemingly unsure of their next move.
The Yankees were more than happy to demonstrate.
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