Did Squawker Jon and I jinx A-Rod and the Yankees?

Road trip! Squawker Jon and I are in Baltimore right now. We saw the Yankees lose for the first time in eons to the Orioles last night, and we’ll be in the house at Camden Yards tonight to see the Mets go up against Baltimore.

Oriole Park at Camden Yards should really be called “Yankee Park at Camden Yards” when the Bombers are in town. I’ve never seen a game where the home crowd is in the minority. I knew a lot of Yankees fans came down for the games, but it really is Yankee Stadium South here. And what I didn’t know is how the vendors outside cater to the Yankee fans, with tons of Yankee hats, t-shirts, and other memorabilia items outside the park. Even in the ballpark you can buy a Yankee hat and a Derek Jeter t-shirt. (You can’t buy any Nationals gear, though. Forget getting a Stephen Strasburg shirt)

We’re staying at the Baltimore Marriott Waterfront (got a sweet deal on Priceline!) and many of our fellow hotel guests are rocking the Yankee gear.

Squawker Jon was obviously more excited than I was that Baltimore rookie Jake Arrieta was making his major league debut, and the pitcher’s victory put a smile on Jon’s face.

We both really enjoyed the look and feel of the ballpark. But the game – not so much for me, especially with A-Rod being taken out before his first at-bat due to what we later learned was a groin injury.When you see Rodriguez being pinch-hit for by Ramiro Pena, it’s not good. (I see that Wally Matthews is having a field day with the whole thing, with this practically gleeful column on it. Good grief.)

Only downfall on the trip so far was me hitting into the pothole from hell on I-95 – it was like a crater from the moon or something, right in the middle of the highway. Did my best to avoid it, but still destroyed a tire – and a rim! So, after we got a spare tire “donut” put on the car, we had to spend a bunch of time trying to find a replacement tire and rim. Fortunately, everything is all fixed now.

More details later about our trip – I want to go swim in the hotel pool before we go sightseeing today! But in the meantime, please enter our contests to win Subway Series tickets courtesy of Blimpie and a Strat-O-Matic game!

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