Garcia (10-7) struck out six in six innings and allowed two runs on five hits to send the Yankees 22 games over .500, their highest point of the season.

He was signed by the Yankees as a free-agent, and expectations were that he would fill in for a while, while youngsters Phil Hughes and Ivan Nova got their feet under them.

Instead, he and Bartolo Colon have become mainstays in the Yankees’ rotation. Their strong seasons made it easy for general manager Brian Cashman to stand pat at the trade deadline.

“I think the positions that were presented to me were easy to say no on,” Cashman said. “It’s not like I’m blowing smoke, trying to promote our guys. No, I believe in our guys.”

Derek Jeter left after getting hit by a pitch, but X-rays only showed a bruised right middle finger. Girardi said he didn’t expect to be without the Yankees captain for too long.

“I’m not expecting it to be a week,” Girardi said. “Could it be a day, or two? I think it could be.”

New York improved its major league best record in day games to 31-7 and finished a 10-game homestand with a 7-3 record.

Yankees reliever David Robertson struck out the side in the eighth and pitched 1 1-3 innings of perfect relief overall before Mariano Rivera pitched the ninth for his 27th save in 31 chances.

Garcia won his third straight start and is 8-3 in 12 starts since late May. Now that the Yankees won’t be adding a big-name starter such as Ubaldo Jimenez or Wandy Rodriguez, Garcia will be a key to their rotation for the next two months as they try to win the AL East, as well as games in October.

“You got to be really happy. This division is really tough,” Garcia said. “Hopefully I can pitch the way I’ve been pitching.”

Baltimore’s Jake Arrieta (10-8) walked six batters in five innings, giving up five hits along with four runs. Only two of the runs were earned.

“Six walks, hit by pitch, and the runs he gave up weren’t usually enough to get you beat,” Orioles manager Buck Showalter. “Not a lot offensively, but if he could cut down on the walks, he could get a lot deeper in games and be a lot more valuable pitcher for us.”

The Orioles have lost six of their last seven and 18 times in 24 games. They won the first game of the series on Friday night, then were outscored 29-8 in three games since then.

Adam Jones put the Orioles up early with an RBI single on a hit-and-run in the third inning. Jeter went far to his left at shortstop to reach Jones’ hopper up the middle, but his throw to second was errant and late.

In the fourth, Gardner came to bat after Eric Chavez walked to lead off the inning, Russell Martin reached on shortstop J.J. Hardy’s fielding error and Eduardo Nunez singled. Gardner slowed almost imperceptibly as he rounded second to see where the play would be, then motored straight into third to give the Yankees the lead with his sixth triple this season.

“I couldn’t really bounce back from it,” Arrieta said. “It’s frustrating, putting those guys on base for free and having to face a guy with multiple guys on base with less than two outs. That being said, it doesn’t mean you can’t pitch out of those jams.”

Baltimore’s Chris Davis, acquired the day before in a trade for Koji Uehara, arrived Sunday morning and played first base. He went 0 for 4, striking out in his first at-bat. The Orioles, who struck out 10 times overall, also acquired right-hander Tommy Hunter in the deal, and he will join the team in Kansas City.

Jeter was hit by a pitch from Arrieta on his right knuckles in the third inning and lifted for pinch-hitter Francisco Cervelli in the fourth.

Vladimir Guerrero hit an RBI single in the sixth inning and Robert Andino stole three bases for the Orioles.

Notes: Hardy went 0 for 17 in the series and made two errors. “J.J. spoiled us with a great level of play,” Showalter said. … Baltimore, swept in a day-night doubleheader on Saturday, hasn’t won a series since June 24-26 against the Cincinnati Reds. The O’s last AL series win was a three-game sweep of Oakland from June 6-8. … Cervelli, normally the Yankees’ backup catcher, had to take over at second in the fifth inning after batting for Jeter. The Yankees’ usual 2B, Robinson Cano, was the DH Sunday. Cano later moved to second and reliever Hector Noesi had to go into the lineup in the second spot. When the No. 2 place came up again in the order, Robertson was lifted for pinch-hitter Andruw Jones with two outs in the eighth. … When Baltimore LF Felix Pie batted in the fourth inning, the scoreboard showed the Greek letter pi, along with 15 decimal places of the constant: 3.141592653589793.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Read More: 2011 mlb trade deadline, Heath Bell (P – SDP), Wandy Rodriguez (P – HOU), Ubaldo Jimenez (P – CLE), Hiroki Kuroda (P – LOS), New York Yankees, Tampa Bay Rays

As the MLB trade deadline passes the New York Yankees come out as neither a winner or loser. Why? Well, it’s because the Yankees, who are usually wheeling-and-dealing at the deadline, didn’t make any moves. The last time that happened was1999.

On Saturday, The Yankees were in hot pursuit of starting pitchers Ubaldo Jimenez and Hiroki Kuroda, but the Colorado Rockies wanted too much and Kuroda wanted to stay in Los Angeles. (Jimenez ended up going to the Cleveland Indians.) On Sunday, there were many reports that New York was interested in San Diego Padres closer Heath Bell, but he never moved, and then were trying to work something out with Houston Astros for left-handed starter Wandy Rodriguez, who also didn’t change teams.

Meanwhile, the Boston Red Sox made a late deadline trade for starting pitcher Erik Bedard. And, possible first-round playoff opponent the Texas Rangers made moves for relief pitchers Mike Adams and Koji Uehara to shore up maybe the best bullpen in baseball. Luckily for the Yankees, the Tampa Bay Rays didn’t move outfielder B.J. Upton and the Toronto Blue Jays did nothing major Sunday — they did snag outfield Colby Rasmus from the St. Louis Cardinals earlier in the week, but that move isn’t scaring anybody.

Obviously, Yankees’ general manger Brian Cashman likes his team. And, he should. Right now, the Yankees are probably the fourth-best team in baseball — Red Sox, Rangers, Philadelphia Phillies are in the top three after the deadline — and still can beat anybody in a five- or seven-game series. Yes, the Yankees starting rotation is a bit thin — currently, it looks like C.C. Sabthia, Freddie Garcia, Bartolo Colon, A.J. Burnett, Phil Huges/Ivan Nova — but, it’s still pretty good. Those guys can win you playoff games. And, New York’s starting lineup is as good as any in baseball.

So, don’t panic Yankee fans because your franchise kept all of their top-notch prospects and will be fine. Do they have enough talent to win a World Series? Time will tell.

The New York Yankees defeated the
Baltimore Orioles 17-3 last night, match the season-high runs-
scored they posted at home on July 22 against Oakland.

The Yankees swept the split doubleheader at Yankee Stadium,
beating the Orioles earlier in the day by 8-5.

The Yankees scored 12 runs on 10 hits in the bottom of a
first inning that lasted 58 minutes. It was most runs the team
ever scored in a first inning, and the most since a 13-run
eighth inning against Tampa Bay on June 21, 2005.

Seven Yankees had extra-base hits, with Nick Swisher and
Andruw Jones hitting home runs. In the first inning, all nine
batters reached based at least once and all scored at least one
run.

Shortstop Derek Jeter went 2-for-6 to tie Rafael Palmeiro
for 24th place on Major League Baseball’s all-time career hits
list at 3,020.

Ivan Nova (9-4) gave up six hits and two runs in seven hits
while striking out six for the Yankees.

Zach Britton (6-8) surrendered seven hits and nine runs in
a third of an inning. Reliever Jason Berken allowed eight hits
and seven runs, including the two home runs, in 2 2/3 innings.
Britton and Berken combined for 70 pitches.

The Yankees (63-42) trail the Boston Red Sox by two games
in the American League East Division. The Orioles (42-62) are
last in the five-team division, 22 ½ games behind Boston.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Nancy Kercheval in Washington at
nkercheval@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Michael Sillup at
msillup@bloomberg.net

NEW YORK, July 30 (UPI) — A two-run homer by Mark Reynolds staked Baltimore to an early lead Friday and the Orioles held on to down the New York Yankees 4-2.

Baltimore had lost 30 of its last 37 meetings with the Yankees, including all six this season prior to Friday’s game. The contest was delayed by rain at the start for almost 2 hours.

Reynolds hit his homer in the second and the Orioles built a 4-0 lead on an RBI double by Derrek Lee in the fourth and a solo homer from Lee in the sixth.

Baltimore took a 4-1 advantage into the ninth and New York quickly cut its deficit to two when Robinson Cano and Nick Swisher delivered doubles to open the inning.

Gregg gave up a one-out walk to Jorge Posada, but a groundout and a strikeout ended the game and gave him his 17th save.

The win went to Jeremy Guthrie (5-14), who gave up a run on four hits in seven innings.

A.J. Burnett (8-9) struck out 10, but surrendered four runs on five hits in eight innings to take the loss.

NEW YORK (AP) — Hideki Irabu’s famous teammates on the New York Yankees remembered him Friday as a talented pitcher who was fun to be around.

The club held a moment of silence for Irabu at Yankee Stadium before Friday night’s game against Baltimore, one day after news of his death spread. A picture of Irabu tipping his cap to the crowd was shown on the big video board in center field.

Los Angeles County Assistant Coroner Chief Ed Winter told The Associated Press in an email Friday that the 42-year-old Irabu died by hanging himself, and the mode was suicide. He said Irabu did not leave a note.

“It’s really devastating. I got to know him real well,” longtime Yankees star Jorge Posada said. “A guy that came out here with a lot riding on his shoulders, but he did a hell of a job for us. Tough times.”

Winter said a friend found Irabu dead in his home in the wealthy Los Angeles suburb of Rancho Palos Verdes on Wednesday afternoon.

Winter said an autopsy was performed Friday, but it will take six to eight weeks for the results of toxicology tests, which could shed further light on the circumstances of Irabu’s death.

“I was caught off guard, to say the least,” Derek Jeter said. “Irabu was fun. He didn’t speak a lot of English, but he probably knew more than he led you guys to believe.”

The hard-throwing Japanese right-hander arrived in New York amid a wave of international hype in 1997, but faltered after an impressive debut.

Still, he had his moments on the mound. Posada recalled catching a game in which Irabu outpitched Randy Johnson with a gem in Seattle.

“When he was into it, probably the nastiest pitcher in the league,” Posada said. “Ken Griffey Jr. after the game talked really high about him, throwing 97, 98 mph, splitter was 91, 92 mph.”

New York manager Joe Girardi was Irabu’s catcher in his major league debut, when Irabu struck out nine in 6 2-3 innings to beat Detroit at Yankee Stadium.

Girardi said he was “saddened” when he heard about Irabu’s death Thursday, an off day for the Yankees.

“I thought he was a good teammate. He was enjoyable to be around, pitched a lot of good games for us,” Girardi said. “He’s going to be missed.”

Posada said Irabu always wore a smile in the clubhouse and had a penchant for making teammates laugh.

“Obviously the communication barrier was there, but he was always trying to learn the language and the words that he spoke were the funny ones,” Posada said. “He seemed like he was enjoying himself here.”

Irabu went 29-20 for the Yankees from 1997-99 and was forever tagged with a label from late owner George Steinbrenner, who called him a “fat … toad” after Irabu failed to cover first base during an exhibition game.

Irabu was a member of two Yankees teams that won the World Series, but his only postseason action was a single relief appearance in the 1999 AL championship series when Boston tagged him for 13 hits.

He also spent two years with the Montreal Expos and saved 16 games for Texas in 2002. Irabu finished his major league career 34-35 with a 5.15 ERA.

___

Associated Press Writer Andrew Dalton in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

Read More: Rafael Soriano (P – NYY), Mariano Rivera (P – NYY), New York Yankees

The New York Yankees today activated relief pitcher Rafael Soriano from the disabled list, an addition to their roster that could turn out to be bigger than any trade general manager Brian Cashman is able to make in the next couple of days.

Soriano, the high-priced free-agent reliever signed in the offseason to set up for Mariano Rivera, had been on the disabled list for more than two months with an elbow injury.

Soriano led the American League with 45 saves for Tampa Bay a season ago, but struggled early this season with the Yankees, compiling a 5.40 ERA in 16 games before going on the disabled list.

Soriano said he would not mind if manager Joe Girardi uses him in the sixth or seventh inning and allows All-Star David Robertson to continue pitching the eighth inning.

If Soriano proves healthy for the rest of the season he would be a huge addition for the Yankees, strengthening an already good bullpen.