These are the dog days of not just August, but also Mariano Rivera.
Woof, woof, woof went the Yankees today, chasing their tails in a futile attempt to capitalize on a Red Sox defeat.
“It’s tough as a team when you get so high and then so low,” Shelley Duncan said after the Yankees’ 6-3 loss to the Orioles in 10 innings at the Stadium.
Duncan had provided the high, a towering three-run homer to left field against Jamie Walker with two outs in the ninth, before Rivera added the low, allowing three runs in the 10th inning. It was the third straight rough outing for the eventual Hall-of-Fame closer.
The loss left the Yankees five games behind Boston in the AL East and wondering what it takes to beat the Orioles, who have won eight of the 12 meetings this season. The Yankees remained tied for the wild-card lead with the Mariners, who lost 6-1 to the Twins.
The more pressing problem for the Yankees is getting Rivera (3-4) back on track. He has allowed nine hits over his last 3 1/3 innings, a stretch in which he has blown a save and taken a loss. The dagger yesterday was Aubrey Huff’s two-run homer following a Miguel Tejada RBI double.
“They’re just hitting the ball, that’s all,” Rivera said, shrugging off questions about his health. “That’s baseball. If you cut me I bleed.”
As much as Rivera wore the goat horns, the Yankees were lethargic offensively, extending their scoreless streak to 17 innings before Duncan’s blast in the ninth. Orioles starter Erik Bedard fired seven shutout innings, but his bullpen flushed his sterling effort.
The plot now thickens for the Yanks. Tonight, they begin a four-game series against the AL-Central-leading Tigers. It’s the first meeting between the teams since last October’s Yankee humiliation in the division series.
About the best thing the Yankees could take from yesterday was the job Sean Henn and Edwar Ramirez did in relief. The two combined for four shutout innings, only hours after arriving from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
With Bedard dominating, it took until the ninth, with Danys Baez on the mound, before the Yankees could muster any offense. Alex Rodriguez and Hideki Matsui opened the inning with singles before Duncan, with two outs and the lefty Walker pitching, hit his sixth homer in his last 16 games.
“We needed to come back and tie it,” Joe Torre said. “I wouldn’t have [accepted] a 3-0 loss .ñ.ñ. just the fact we hadn’t scored in two days.”
Phil Hughes went five innings and allowed three runs, two earned, on six hits with four strikeouts and two walks. His biggest misstep was the fourth inning, when the Orioles got two runs when he was late covering first base.
With two outs and runners on second and third, Tike Redman hit a grounder that first baseman Andy Phillips fielded. Redman not only beat Hughes to the bag, but the pitcher mishandled the throw, allowing a second run to score on the play.
An inning earlier, Nick Markakis delivered an RBI single that gave the Orioles a 1-0 lead.
“[Hughes] kept the game in reach,” Torre said. “But it wasn’t one of the better games we’ve seen from him.”
Hughes was in trouble in the fifth, but escaped unscathed with a huge assist from Duncan, who made a perfect throw home to nail Corey Patterson attempting to score from third on Kevin Millar’s fly to right.
The Orioles remained stuck with three runs – until Rivera entered in the 10th inning. Markakis’ leadoff double sent the early message that maybe all wouldn’t end so peachy for the Yanks.
“I’ve spoiled you guys too much,” Rivera said, responding to inquiries about his slump. “I’m a human being. I’m allowed to make mistakes.”
mpuma@nypost.com