FOR REAL: The Orioles, celebrating a grand slam by Chris Davis (right) during an 11-5 win over the Yankees on July 31 in The Bronx, have pulled within three games of the division-leading Bombers heading into this weekend’s series at the Stadium. (
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If ever a $200-millionish payroll club were in need of a Labor Day weekend oasis, it’s these Yankees, who lately have been teetering like Apollo Creed at the end of “Rocky II.”
As recently as last year, the arrival of the Orioles in The Bronx would have been welcomed as precisely that sort of respite. Even the Orioles acknowledge that, now. But the time has passed for the Yankees to overwhelm their Baltimore counterparts with mystique and aura.
When this battle of AL East title contenders kicks off tonight, in other words, the Yankees must earn victories with their actual play on the field. Not with their reputations or resumes.
“Your first couple of years in the league, you look at the names coming to the plate [and get affected],” Orioles catcher Matt Wieters said earlier this week of the Yankees. “It takes a while for you to realize that, if you make good pitches and go with your approach, it doesn’t matter who’s in the box. You’re going to be able to have some success. I think that’s a big thing.”
“It’s kind of a tough environment to go to for your first time,” Orioles closer Jim Johnson said of Yankee Stadium. “But guys that we have here have been through it.”
The Orioles have become the best story of the 2012 season, with Johnson and his bullpen teammates primarily responsible for the 72-58 record — three games behind the Yankees — that spits at their run differential of 548 for and 592 against. Baltimore is 5-6 against the Yankees this season, after going 5-13 each of the prior three seasons.
Manager Buck Showalter, who already has done plenty professionally — like get the Yankees back to the playoffs in 1995, for instance — is enjoying the year of his life . He’s a strong favorite to win AL Manager of the Year.
The Orioles’ core — some young, others cast away from different clubs — has fully bought into what Showalter is selling in his third year in Baltimore. He has helped his players work through those early jitters against big markets and big names.
“They respect the Yankees,” Showalter said earlier this week, while the Orioles took on the White Sox at Camden Yards, “but not any more than the team that we’re playing this night and tomorrow night.
“I think our guys have a lot of respect for what [the Yankees] have accomplished, and regarding how they’re able to do it. We’re all playing by the same rules between the lines.”
Yes, the “between the lines” reference served as a nod to the Yankees’ massive financial advantage off the field. Yankees general manager Brian Cashman deserves credit for securing the likes of Eric Chavez ($900,000), Raul Ibanez ($1.1 million) and Andruw Jones ($2 million) on the cheap, and managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner looks prescient for spending
$11 million on seventh-inning guy turned closer Rafael Soriano.
Yet the Orioles couldn’t afford these sorts of insurance policies. They have had to rely more on minimum-wage gambles like Lew Ford, Nate McLouth and Randy Wolf. Trading Matt Lindstrom to Arizona for Joe Saunders was a salary wash.
The Yankees, missing Alex Rodriguez (left hand) and Mark Teixeira (left calf) from the middle of their lineup, understand they can’t mail it in this weekend and hope to win two out of three. At least, they say they understand that.
“They’re playing good baseball. They’ve played us tough,” Jones said. “The main thing what they’re doing is pitching. That’s why they’ve been tough against us. It’s going to be a big series this weekend. We’ve got to go out there, try and get the first game and look forward to the rest of the games.”
Said a grumpy Joe Girardi, following Wednesday’s ugly, 8-5 loss: “It’s baseball. You look forward to this series. You’ve got a chance to put more space between you and them. It’s baseball.”
He’s right, in a sense. It will be baseball, but it won’t be the bullying session that Yankees-Orioles used to be. Which ranks as just another tough break in a tough stretch for the Yankees.
kdavidoff@nypost.com