Orioles Game 25 Game Thread: vs. Yankees, 7:05

The J.J. Hardy-less period for the Orioles begins about how you might have guessed, with Manny Machado playing shortstop and Ryan Flaherty the third baseman. Whether this will continue to be the case in another three days, when the team is believed to be looking to add Paul Janish to the roster as well, I guess we'll find that out in three days.

For now, this is what we've got. Will it work out? Who knows? That's the fun and terrifying thing about sports. No one really knows.

The paper favors the Orioles in this matchup with the Yankees. That's mostly because the Yankees offense is very bad, collectively batting .235/.305/.365 so far this season. That could turn around in a hurry. Even these years into the non-losing Orioles, we still remember the bad times and fear that this will be the series to turn things around for the Yankees - the horror movie villain popping back to his feet, face bloody, chain saw revving, ready to kill again.

For all that Yankees starter Luis Severino has an ERA closer to 7 than 6, it wouldn't be the first time this year we've seen the O's get shut down by someone with a bad ERA. Or even if they hit Severino well, maybe Chris Tillman will do even worse. I never rule anything out.