Beleaguered Catcher Russell Martin Puts the Yankees On Top with Solo Homer: It was little noticed because he had been so bad to that point, but Martin had a terrific September, hitting .258/.347/.539 with four doubles and seven homers in 89 at-bats. In the end, there was almost no difference between his 2011 and 2012 performances.

Driving a Truck Through It: A little earlier, I said I expected the Yankees to take one of these opportunities the Orioles had given them and drive a truck through it. We saw that this inning. The only odd question is why, once he had failed, Buck Showalter left Jim Johnson in to be abused. He's going to need him again in this series, and you'd think he would like to (a) keep his pitch count down and (b) preserve his confidence.