Here we are at the seventh-inning stretch and the Yankees have outplayed the Orioles in most obvious respects but none of that matters because the Yankees have made outs on the bases and the Orioles have flashed some leather and they're tied 2-2 and you have to like the home team's chances at this point regardless of stupid run differentials.

Got all that?

The one fly in the Orioles' ointment is CC Sabathia, who's made roughly one mistake all night and has thrown only 95 pitches in 70 innings. He might not pitch nine innings ... but he might, and that would leave Joe Girardi extraordinarily well-equipped with relief pitchers if it looks like this game is going to last forever.

Which it might. The Orioles' bullpen is excellent, and only got stronger when lefty Brian Matusz was converted this summer from struggling starter to dominant reliever. Matusz came on in the seventh, got Robinson Cano on a grounder to second and struck out Nick Swisher. Matusz walked Mark Texeira on four pitches, but struck out Curtis Granderson on three pitches to end the frame.

Now it really gets interesting.