BALTIMORE — Let’s get some facts out of the way right here. Jerry Meals made a horrendous call to end last night’s 5-4 Orioles victory over the Yankees at Camden Yards.
Mark Teixeira should have been safe, the score should have been tied and the game should have continued rather than ending on the malfeasance of a first base umpire. That we are not using instant replay in 2012 on such calls — because it took all of five seconds to know that Meals blew it — is ludicrous.
But you know what was even more ludicrous last night: The Yankees blaming this loss on an umpire and not what transpired up to and including that play.
Meals did not throw one pitch for CC Sabathia, an ace in memory right now. He did not take a single swing for Nick Swisher or Curtis Granderson, two guys killing the lineup. And, by the way, if Meals gets the call right the score is 5-5. You think the Yankees as they are playing right now definitely win?
Like the entire 10-game lead they have blown the setback last night is the responsibility of the Yankees. Three more homers off a starter, 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position. You put yourself in a spot to be hurt by the umps, you can be hurt by the umps.
“I never blame the umps, we lost this game,” said Derek Jeter, a rational voice in a sea of fury, delusion and misplaced accountability. Teixeira, for goodness sake, said the umpires didn’t want the game to go on any longer and that is why the call was blown. That’s right: The Yankees’ first baseman publicly said an umpire purposely got a call wrong in the middle of a playoff chase because, what, he wanted to catch a “Saturday Night Live” repeat?
Russell Martin said, “I don’t feel like we lost this game, I felt like we got cheated out of it.” Manager Joe Girardi said, “Cleary he was safe, you hate to lose a game that way.”
But that is not the way the Yankees lost this game. It is merely how the game ended. The Yankees lost in countless ways beginning with Sabathia, who also had the good sense not to seek scapegoats, saying, “I feel like I am letting everyone down.”
He was staked to a 2-0 lead, but in the second yielded consecutive homers to Mark Reynolds and Lew Ford. He would put the Yankees behind for good in the third, permit another homer in the sixth.
Sabathia has made four starts since coming off the disabled, and blown a lead in each. The Yankees have lost the last three at a time when they are desperate for wins, especially on days when their supposed No. 1 starter goes. Sabathia and Yankees officials insist the lefty is healthy, which makes his fade even more worrisome both short and long term.
And, just for the record, Meals has not had a net dragging balls out of the park against Yankees pitching. Sabathia has yielded a career-high 21 homers, but in just 170 innings. The Yankees have given up homers in 12 straight games — the third longest streak in their history. The starters have permitted 132 homers, one shy of the team record with 3 1⁄2 weeks left.
No wonder the Yankees need Andy Pettitte to be the anti-Stephen Strasburg; forget about caution shutting down, the Yankees need to increase the risk and get Pettitte’s confidence and ability back into the rotation as soon as possible, especially after positive reports yesterday from his simulated game.
And especially because the Yankees are having trouble outscoring their pitching troubles. Jeter has stayed brilliant and Alex Rodriguez and Martin have gotten hot. But Meals has nothing to do with a team built on lefty power having that go dim. Robinson Cano is slumping and Granderson and Swisher have vanished. Granderson didn’t start, yet made two of the key outs in the game.
Swisher went hitless in 24 at-bats when he grounded into an RBI force with the bases loaded and no out in the ninth. That made it 5-4. Teixeira, who had missed 10 days with an injured calf, then had it tighten again on the game-ending double play. He will not play today, more lefty might gone. And we will see about suspensions for challenging umpire integrity.
“I’m not one to complain, but that was bad,” Teixeira said.
No doubt. Meals blew the call. But he didn’t blow the 10-game lead or lose this game. The Yankees should try looking in the mirror for that.
joel.sherman@nypost.com