Cory Lidle had been both very good and very bad. On Friday night in Baltimore, he was very bad. Lidle only made five outs before departing. He gave up four runs on six hits and was followed by Veras who came in with the kerosene can and gave up a three run homer. Lidle was taken deep by Melvin Mora in the first and also allowed a two run single to Yankee killer Miguel Tejada. Veras surrendered the bomb to Jay Gibbons and Sean Henn was touched up for a dinger by David Newhan.

With the Yankees behind by a large score for most of the game, Torre pulled most of his regulars early and basically conceded to Baltimore. However, with the Red Sox losing their fourth straight contest against the Royals, the Yankees magic number is reduced to 14.

Derek Jeter extended his hitting streak to 18 games and Craig Wilson hit a two run homer in the ninth.