BALTIMORE — It came out of nowhere, as if 9:30 p.m. on Sept. 6, 2012 was standing in for midnight. Suddenly — bolt of lightning suddenly — the Cinderella Orioles seemed to remember they were the Orioles and the Yankees, the Yankees.
A version of this game essentially has been on endless loop for the previous 14 seasons. The Yankees always have found a way to turn Baltimore into no more than a prop to dispatch en route to the postseason.
But last night the Yankees could not finish that familiar deal. Could not turn 9:30 magic — five two-out runs in the eighth after being held to one run in seven innings — into an actual vital victory in September. Just as important, the Orioles took that punch and for the first time in about a decade and a half got off the canvas to deliver a knockout blow. Perhaps that says something about where both squads are right now. Says something about how 2012 is going to play out differently than 1998-2011.
“They are playing with a lot of confidence,” Alex Rodriguez said after the Orioles won 10-6, took the opener of this seminal series, and tied the Yankees atop the AL East again.
What the Yankees squandered last night was more than a chance to open a two-game lead. They wasted an opportunity to, at the least, restore a sense of order in this matchup, the sense that the Yankees always will find a way against the Orioles.
For the Yankees were again beyond listless for seven innings. David Phelps put them in a hole, the offense could not mount a charge and Baltimore led 6-1. And then, boom, the score was tied. Rodriguez got a big hit and Curtis Granderson just plain remembered how to hit and Orioles eighth-inning stalwart Pedro Strop — impenetrable for most of this season — looked like so many Jorge Julios and Chris Rays that wilted before the mighty Yankees for more than a decade as Camden Yards became the Bronx South.
But then Derek Jeter made his second out of the eighth inning, popping meekly to second with runners on the corners, and in an 11-pitch sequence in the bottom of the inning, David Robertson gave up two homers and Boone Logan one.
“They are expecting me to put a zero there,” said Robertson, who gave up one homer all of last season. “I felt like I let the team down.”
In all, Baltimore hit six homers, killing the Yankees at their long-ball game. Mark Reynolds hit two homers in a game against the Yankees for the third time since Aug. 31.
The Yankees can’t keep the opponents in the park, and they cannot hold on to first place in the AL East. So 9:30 was not midnight for the Cinderella Orioles, whose confidence and momentum only can improve from this. And maybe, just maybe, they will gain a home-field edge now, too. Camden was filled yesterday, mainly because there was a statue ceremony for Cal Ripken. The fans, who must have felt seen a sense of déjà pinstripes in the top of the eighth, should be inspired by the bottom half. The crowd was a sea of orange joy, another potential obstacle for a Yankees team overflowing with them.
For this is seven weeks now of unacceptable ball. No small sample size any longer. The Yankees cannot assemble a complete game. Cannot find enough trusty pieces in the lineup, the rotation, the bullpen. Their old players have played old (is it only me that saw symbolism that the 54-year-old Madonna was playing at Yankee Stadium last night while the usual fading stars were on the road?). And there is not enough young life to overcome that.
A-Rod tried to find a moral victory in the top of the eighth. But moral victories do not lower a magic number. And they seem misplaced for the $200 million Yankees at any time. But especially this time, especially against their longtime punching bag Orioles.
“It was a tough loss, that’s it,” Russell Martin said.
It was that. And more. By muscle memory, the Yankees seemed poised to make it same as it ever was against. the Orioles. Instead, Baltimore recovered. There is a tie atop the AL East. Twenty-five games to go. Moral victories are for losers.
joel.sherman@nypost.com