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A year ago at this time, the Baltimore Orioles were the surprise team in the AL East, with a 27-16 record after 43 games and a two-game lead in the AL East.

This year, as unlikely as it sounds, it is hard to dispute that either the Yankees, atop the division at 26-15, or the Boston Red Sox, a half-game back at 27-17, are the surprise teams in the division, and it is impossible to deny that considering what they were facing at the start of the season, both teams have over-performed.

And the Orioles, tied for third place with the Tampa Bay Rays, at 23-20, have arguably underperformed.

But still, it would be foolish to count the Orioles out, not with a roster of young, improving players like Manny Machado, Adam Jones and Chris Davis, and a manager like Buck Showalter in the dugout.

Last year, the Orioles nearly knocked the Yankees out in the first round of the playoffs and even in defeat, came away looking like the younger, hungrier, more athletic, if less experienced, team.

This year, the pitching has not been great -- the team's ERA is 4.34, slightly higher than the league average, their closer Jim Johnson, has blown his last two save opportunities, and they are sending out Freddy Garcia tonight to start their three-game series with the Yankees at Camden -- but Davis is among the league leaders in homers and RBI, Jones is among the league-leaders in batting, and at 20 years old, Machado deserves to be mentioned along with the likes of Mike Trout and Bryce Harper as one of the game's brightest young stars.

And the sheer length of the baseball season indicates that a young, talented team like the Orioles can finish strong again this season, as they did in 2012, when they went 19-9 in September to pull in three games ahead of the Rays and seize the wild-card spot after knocking off the Texas Rangers in the play-in game.

These three games at Camden tonight, tomorrow and Wednesday won't settle anything, of course, and there will be 13 more meetings between these teams before the story of this season is written. The Yankees took 2-of-3 in their first series in the Bronx in April; with both CC Sabathia and Hiroki Kuroda, their two best starters, lined up to go in two of these three games, they're in pretty good shape again.

But the Orioles are not to be counted out, for a number of reasons: their youth, the obvious talent in their lineup, and their manager.

After Wednesday night's game, the Yankees and Orioles won't see each other again for more than a month, the very last week of June.

But would anyone be surprised if these two teams saw each in October once again?

QUESTION OF THE DAY: How much respect do you have for the Orioles? Do you consider them a legitimate threat to the Yankees in the division, or was 2012 a fluke that will be corrected in 2013? Let us know in the comments section below.

UP NOW: A couple of blogs off yesterday's rainout that washed away the finale of the Yankees-Blue Jays series, including one on the newest Yankee, Reid Brignac, who tells us who his baseball idol was growing up. (Three guesses).

COMING SOON: The ever-charming Andrew Marchand has braved the Metro-North disaster and will be in Charm City for all three games, and will be in the visiting clubhouse at Camden Yards when it opens at 3:35 p.m., so check in for lineups and pregame notes. Sabathia (4-3, 3.19), washed out of his start yesterday, faces Garcia (0-2, 5.51) in the opener, first pitch at 7:05 p.m. As always, thanks for reading.

Reid Brignac, the newest Yankee, said what a lot of new Yankees have said on their first day in the home clubhouse in the Bronx, that Derek Jeter was one of his boyhood idols.

Now, Brignac, acquired in a trade with the Colorado Rockies on Saturday, will be the latest player to hold down the Yankees' shortstop position until Jeter returns from his broken ankle sometime after the All-Star break.

"I think Jeet's probably the biggest role model for most kids," Brignac said. "He was for me, growing up as a kid, idolizing him and stuff. So to be able to play with him -- and there are several guys [like that] in this clubhouse -- it's an honor. It really is."

Brignac, 27, did not have the honor of seeing Jeter on Sunday in the clubhouse, and with the game rained out, Yankees fans did not get the chance to see Brignac play in pinstripes. He was penciled into the No. 8 spot in the lineup for the game that never happened with the Blue Jays and R.A. Dickey.

But Joe Girardi made it clear the left-handed-hitting Brignac will get plenty of playing time, especially against right-handed starters.

"I've seen him have some good days and I've seen him have some good years," Girardi said. "I think he’s a really good defender. I think he's a got a little pop in his bat. I think there's some good talent there, so we'll see what he can do. This ballpark might play well for him."

Brignac is a career .228 hitter with 11 home runs and 73 RBIs in parts of five seasons with the Tampa Bay Rays and 28 games this year with Colorado. he has hit especially well against the Orioles at Camden Yards, the Yankees' next stop -- .320 with three homers in 12 games -- and the Yankees believe his familiarity with the pitchers of the AL East from his days in Tampa will help him with a move that admittedly came as a bit of a shock to him.

"It's been a roller coaster of emotions to be honest, said Brignac, who flew to New York on Saturday night and found himself in the Yankees' starting lineup Sunday morning. "I was in a pretty good place with Colorado, so I was a little upset, and slightly disappointed in the circumstances. But to be traded for, picked up, by the Yankees, I'm very excited to get started, and to help this team continue winning, because that's what this team does."

The plug was pulled in a hurry on Sunday's Yankees-Blue Jays game, at around 12:30 p.m. with a smattering of fans in the stands and a light mist falling on the field.

If you think that's strange, consider these factors: The opponent is making another trip here in August, and both teams share an open date on Aug. 19, the day before their final series at Yankee Stadium is scheduled to begin. So it's not like having to fly a West Coast team across the country for a single game.

And after what happened in Denver on May 9, when CC Sabathia pitched just four innings against the Rockies before a two-hour rain delay ended his day, it is likely the Yankees wanted to make sure neither they nor CC -- Sunday's scheduled starter -- experienced a repeat of that debacle.

"We weren't necessarily looking for a rainout," Joe Girardi said. "We don't like doubleheaders."

But the manager said the decision was reached after a conversation involving GM Brian Cashman, owner Hal Steinbrenner, the Yankee Stadium grounds crew and umpire Joe West, the crew chief for Sunday's game.

"They told us it's probably going to rain until 9 o'clock," Girardi said. "So we decided it's just not going to be playable."

Considering their dominance over the Blue Jays this season -- they have won eight of the nine games between the two teams, and all six of the games played at Yankee Stadium so far -- it seemed as if the Yankees had lost a chance for an easy victory, even with last season's NL Cy Young Award winner, R.A. Dickey, on the mound for Toronto.

But wasting a Sabathia outing twice in a month would not have been a good thing, either, so now the Yankees get to save their ace for the series opener against the Orioles on Monday and still have four more cracks at the Blue Jays here in August.

"We ended up getting a win," Sabathia said of the rain-delayed 3-1 Yankees victory over the Rockies, "but you don't want to waste starts."

So now, he won't.

Sunday's game between the Yankees and Blue Jays has been postponed about 30 minutes before first pitch. No makeup date has been scheduled yet.

CC Sabathia, who was supposed to start Sundday, will open the series against the Orioles in Baltimore at 7:05 p.m. Monday, facing ex-Yankee Freddy Garcia. Everyone else will be moved back a day, meaning Phil Hughes will go Tuesday night and Hiroki Kuroda will pitch the series finale Wednesday.

Vidal Nuno, who was supposed to pitch one of the games in Baltimore, will be skipped and moves to the bullpen for the next few days.

Although no makeup date has been announced, the Blue Jays return to Yankee Stadium for three games from Aug 20-22, and both teams have an off-day on Aug. 19, so that's the date I would bet on for this one to be made up.

Here's the lineup Joe Girardi is sending out against the Toronto Blue Jays and their righthanded knuckleballer R.A. Dickey:

Curtis Granderson CF
Robinson Cano 2B
Vernon Wells LF
Travis Hafner DH
Lyle Overbay 1B
Jayson Nix 3B
Ichiro Suzuki RF
Reid Brignac SS
Austin Romine C

CC Sabathia LHP

Notes: Joe Girardi said Brett Gardner is just getting a routine day off today . . . Curtis Granderson, who has led off nearly 2,600 times in his career, leads off today because, Girardi said, "I'm trying to split up the lefties. He's a guy that can give you a quick lead and I like that'' ... Reid Brignac was a Colorado Rockie until yesterday, when the Yankees picked him up for cash considerations. He arrived in NY last night, came to Yankee Stadium this morning and found himself in the starting lineup today. "I think there’s some good talent there, so we’ll see what he can do,'' Girardi said. . . The Yankees have had success recently against Dickey, beating him here on April 28 on a Lyle Overbay 2-run HR, and knocking him around for five runs in 6 innings last June at CitiField when Dicke was on his way to winning the NL Cy Young with the Mets . . . Sabathia is 9-1 with a 2.58 ERA in his last 11 starts against the Blue Jays, and 14-4, 3.00 overall.

Hal Steinbrenner spoke at Yankee Stadium on Saturday. He disagreed with the assessment that tickets are overpriced in the Bronx. This is different point of view than what I generally hear from fans. This is what Hal had to say about ticket prices being too high:

"You hear about that in the media," Steinbrenner said. "You don’t hear that there are thousands and thousands of affordable seats in the $25 range for every game, not to mention the specials that we do, that we used to do at the old stadium. We have done every year. It is nothing new. We want to make sure that everyone that comes out here to see a Yankee game can get here and see one. There are plenty opportunities."

Fans are going to ballpark less this year. Prior to Saturday, through the first 23 home dates, the attendance was down nearly four grand a game on average -- from 41,115 in 2012 compared to 37,461 thus far in '13.

In 2009, the Yankees averaged 44,635 through 23 games, which rose to 45,046 after a World Series title. In '11 that number dropped to 42,062. The stadium holds 50,291.

So does Hal have a point or or not?

UP NOW: The Yankees made another move and won another game, led by the irreplaceable Robinson Cano.

ON DECK: CC Sabathia (4-3, 3.19) vs. R.A. Dickey (3-5, 4.83) at 1:05 p.m. We have Wallace Matthews on hand.

QUESTION: Does Hal have a point on tickets or not?

Joe Girardi won't come out and say it. It is not the manager's style to anoint anyone until he has to, but it is clear David Phelps is putting a tight grasp on a starting spot in the rotation.

"We have always envisioned him as a starter," Girardi said after Phelps' latest strong outing, a seven-inning, one-run, seven-hit, three-walk and eight-strikeout win over the Jays. "From time he came up that is what we have envisioned him as. It is not just that he is able to locate and change speeds. He does all the other little things right, too. ... We like what he is doing."

How could they not? Phelps said he came out a little too geeked up in the first and he got into trouble. After a strikeout, he walked two straight batters. He went on to strike out J.P. Arencibia. With Adam Lind up, Phelps did one of those little things Girardi spoke about by picking off Jose Bautista at second.

When Andy Pettitte comes back, he will return to the rotation, but Ivan Nova is in serious jeopardy of ending up in Triple-A again or, at best, the bullpen.

NOT HAF BAD: Travis Hafner, after missing five games, hit an eighth-inning homer. Girardi thought rest did Hafner's shoulder some good.

"The first ball, he hit a bullet up the middle," Girardi said of Hafner, who finished 1-for-4. "He hit a homer foul. I think you could see there is a difference. The last couple of weeks, he has been playing with a little bit of soreness. There didn't just seem to be the same whip, but it is back."

GRANDY IN RIGHT: Curtis Granderson, playing right field for the first time, had no issues. He caught two balls, including the final out of the game.

With Hal Steinbrenner on hand for the Robinson Cano Show, No. 24 moved into a tie for the American League home run lead. When a reporter asked if Cano was putting on a display for the owner, Cano laughed and talked about just trying to win games.

Cano is going to let his bat do his negotiating, not his mouth. But his manager gave him a pretty good endorsement after the 7-2 win over the Blue Jays.

Joe Girardi has watched the Yankees win without Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira, Curtis Granderson and many others, but the one guy that you can't just pull a replacement for off the street and still be fighting for the best record in baseball is Cano.

"Robbie is so important to us," Girardi said. "Offensively, defensively, his presence in the lineup, he is not someone you can replace."

Nope, you can't replace him now or the next five years. Steinbrenner understandably is worried about any contract that goes six to eight years, but fully realizes the cost of doing business might necessitate giving a contract a little longer than the owner is comfortable doling out.

Cano is stepping up to the free-agent challenge, if he has to go that way. With all the injuries and age, it was clear this is Cano's team. That means he is the guy that needed to lead on the field with so many parts missing. The Yankees have had many incredible contributions from the Lyle Overbays of the world, but Cano is the rock.

He leads the Yankees in average (.295), home runs (12), RBIs (31) and doubles (11). When he is hitting like he has thus far, he is hard to defend consistently.

"I think his ability to hit the ball to all fields allows him to be successful and you are not going to see very many prolonged slumps from him, just because he can hit a ball out to left," Girardi said. "He can hit line drives to left if they want to shift him, he'll hit ground balls where the shortstop would normally be. He'll pull balls. He is just a really good hitter, who uses the whole field."

WHAT IT MEANS: The Yankees are on the verge of sweeping the Blue Jays. Robinson Cano is working on his MVP credentials. And David Phelps is making his case to stay in the rotation.

By the way, the Yankees own the Jays. They are now 8-1 against them this season after a 7-2 victory.

LEAGUE LEADER: Cano was at it again. He knocked two two-run homers and continues to show why he is one of the top 5 hitters in baseball. With Mark Reynolds and Edwin Encarnacion going deep on Saturday, Cano, Encarnacion and Reynolds are tied for the American League lead with 12.

Word is, Cano may stay in the Bronx past this season. At least, Hal Steinbrenner is optimistic about it.

IVAN WHO? Phelps is beginning to take a firm grasp on a spot in the rotation. With Ivan Nova hurt, Phelps has now had three straights strong starts. He pitched out of trouble in the first and the third, but for the most part had his way with the Blue Jays, allowing just one run on six hits, striking out eight and walking three in his seven innings of work.

Meanwhile, Ivan Nova is still rehabbing in Tampa, leaving Phelps and Vidal Nuno -- who should get another crack at starting on Tuesday in Baltimore -- in fine position to take hold as major league starters. Plus, Michael Pineda is upping his rehab and could return in June.

The story, at the moment, is the emergence of Phelps, who has a 2.84 ERA in his last four starts. Not bad, not bad at all.

ON THE BOARD: In the third, the Yankees broke through, scoring three runs. Brett Gardner picked up an RBI single. For Gardner, it is important to start hitting a little bit more because playing time is not guaranteed to anyone.

With DH Travis Hafner healthy after missing five games, the Yankees have four outfielders for three spots.

It is clear that Ichiro Suzuki is the one who should sit the most. Saturday was the first time that Joe Girardi began to reveal his plan and he had Ichiro on the pines. Still, even though Gardner is a teacher's pet of Girardi and Brian Cashman, he still has to perform to stay in center most days.

Later in the third, Cano hit his first two-run homer of the day.

HAFNER GOES YARD: For good measure in the eighth, Hafner hit a two-run jack, his seventh of the season. It cost Mariano Rivera another save opportunity. Boone Logan, instead, handled the ninth.

ANNOUNCED ATTENDANCE: 45,577. Most of them seemed to show up, too. There are a lot of affordable seats, according to the owner.

QUESTION OF THE DAY: When everyone is healthy, what would your starting rotation be?

Hal Steinbrenner was on hand at Yankee Stadium on Saturday, standing next to his players on the warning track as they shook hands with season ticket holders prior to his team’s game with the Blue Jays.

Before taking the field, Steinbrenner, 43, took part in a Q&A with ESPN New York. Later, he spoke with a group of reporters.

Below is the edited version of the two conversations, delving into his optimism about signing Robinson Cano. He believes an agreement could be completed before free agency.

Steinbrenner spoke about how he thinks there are affordable Yankees tickets and addressed the drop in attendance thus far. Through the first 23 home dates, the average attendance was down from 41,115 in 2012 to 37,461 in 2013.

Plus, Hal discussed what it was like to grow up the son of George Steinbrenner and the responsibility he feels owning the team.

Is the goal with Cano to get that done by a certain time?

The goal is to continue to work on it. That’s what we are going to do. I haven’t set a time frame, to be honest with you. We are going to continue to plug away and work hard on it, both sides, I’m sure, and we’ll see what happens.

Are you optimistic to get it done before free agency?

I would be optimistic to get it done by then, yes, but I haven’t really set a timetable up here. It is a fluid situation.

Do you have a position on how long contracts should be? Do you go beyond six years?

I think anyone would get a little nervous when you start getting out on a six, seven, eight, nine-year deal, but the market is the market and you really have to go on what the market is. It is the way it is in any business, really. Supply and demand.

Do the stars in baseball need to be overpaid to keep them on a team or to get them from another team?

I haven’t even thought about it. That’s a good question. It depends on the age of the player, too. With an eight-year contract to a 34-year-old, I probably wouldn’t do that. To a 25, 26-year-old [maybe].

Has there been progress with Cano’s agent?

I’m not going to really get into that. I’m not going to be reading about this in the paper every day. The meetings we have had with Brodie [Wagenen] have been meetings face-to-face. 'I’m Hal. I’m Brodie. Good to meet you.' Very procedural thing that you would expect for the first couple of times.

In terms of the stadium, what is your take on where the attendance is so far?

We just had MLB meetings and we are definitely not the only team that is down. I think it is obvious by watching other games on TV. I think there are a lot of factors involved. I still think the economy is a big part of it. People are struggling out there -- and we understand.

Summer is coming around, warmer weather, and we have a lot of half-price ticket days and $5 ticket days. Things we have done for years. I think the fans are going to take advantage of that. There are affordable good seats in the stadium every game. This team really deserves to be supported. I’m looking forward to summer when the weather is better. April was terrible, weather-wise. I think the fans are going to come out and are going to support these guys because they have earned it.

What do you say about the ticket prices?

You hear about that in the media. You don’t hear that there are thousands and thousands of affordable seats in the $25 range for every game, not to mention the specials that we do, that we used to do at the old stadium. We have done every year. It is nothing new. We want to make sure that everyone that comes out here to see a Yankee game can get here and see one. There are plenty opportunities.

In terms of owning this team, the transition from watching your dad for so many years and then being in charge?

I’ve learned you can’t push a transition. It kind of has a life of its own. You can steer it. You can guide it, but you can’t push it. It was a process, without a doubt. My dad did things differently than I did. Similar that I did in certain ways, but different in a lot of ways. It took everyone a little bit of time to get used to what decisions I want to be involved in and ones I expect them to make.

What’s the biggest thing you learned from your dad?

The biggest thing I learned from my dad is that this job is a blessing, it is a gift, and you treat it with respect. It is being the managing general partner of the greatest team in the world of any sport. It is a blessing. So you treat it with respect every day.

In terms of your early years, what are your kind of earliest memories when you knew this was important?

My favorite Yankee memory is the '77 Series when [Mike] Torrez caught that pop up there. We won. It was my dad’s first World Series. I remember it well. I remember being down in the clubhouse with Billy and everybody. It was pretty special for an 8-year-old.

What type of player were you?

I couldn’t hit a curveball at all. I was a decent fielder, but I couldn’t hit a curveball. I was definitely not a great baseball player by any stretch of the imagination. But I loved playing it.

Was there a sport you were best at?

I played tennis for a lot of years. I played baseball and I played tennis and I ran some hurdles as well. But I was nowhere as good as my dad was in that either. So I’m a mediocre athlete at best.

In terms of the day-to-day, how much do you enjoy it?

I like it. It is challenging. It is not just baseball operations. It is not just what is going down here on the field. It is marketing. There are stadium operations. There is finance. There is a lot of stuff going on on a daily basis that keeps you busy and keeps you challenged.

The Yankees have acquired Reid Brignac.

Brignac, who was designated for assignment by the Colorado Rockies, is a utility man who will add to the Yankees' infield depth. The Yankees will send Colorado cash. Buster Olney reported it will be $75,000.

The Yankees have designated Alberto Gonzalez for assignment.

Cashman liked Brignac over Gonzalez because he is a left-handed bat who plays all the infield positions other than first base.

"He is a fly ball hitter, so we will see if we can take advantage of the left-handed bat with Yankee Stadium here a little bit," Cashman said. "He is a very good fielder, more so than a bat."

Brignac, 27, hit .250 with one homer and six RBIs for the Rockies.

He will not be able to make it for Saturday's game.

"It is not the way we wanted it to work out," Cashman said. "When I hung the phone up last night, we thought we would have this player here today."

Cashman has heard the calls for Ben Francisco to be let go, but it is not forthcoming -- at least, not yet.

"In terms of your fans' comments section, just say, 'I'm holding on to him to piss everyone off,'" Cashman said. "If you are dealing with the feedback, 'Why is this guy here?' Just tell them that, just to shut them up."

CBS Sports first reported the Brignac acquisition.

Travis Hafner is back in the lineup after missing five games because of his shoulder issue, while Curtis Granderson is in right field for the first time. Ichiro Suzuki is on the bench.

Brett Gardner, CF
Robinson Cano, 2B
Vernon Wells, LF
Travis Hafner, DH
Lyle Overbay, 1B
Curtis Granderson, RF
Jayson Nix, SS
David Adams, 3B
Austin Romine, C

David Phelps, P

"E:60" reporter Tom Rinaldi accompanies Mariano Rivera to the small fishing village in Panama where he grew up and gets the future Hall of Famer to open up about his final season, the injury that almost ended his career, and his place in baseball history.

The New York Yankees are now 26-16, owners of the second-best record in the American League -- especially impressive when you consider how many players are injured at the moment, many of them stars.

Several major league veterans have seemingly been revitalized by donning the pinstripes for the first time, including Travis Hafner, Lyle Overbay and Vernon Wells.

But the Yankees have also gotten contributions from several unsung players, who were either backups to start the year or called up from the minors. In fact, New York has already had five players make their major league debuts in 2013. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the last year in which as many as five Yankees made their major league debuts within the first 40 games of a season was 1995.

Who were the five back in '95? Well, you'll certainly recognize some of these names. Derek Jeter, Andy Pettitte and Mariano Rivera -- three members of the "Core Four -- all arrived on the scene that year. The other two were right-handed pitchers Brian Boehringer and Jeff Patterson.

The lucky five so far in '13? David Adams, Preston Claiborne, Corban Joseph, Brett Marshall and Vidal Nuno. And all have made positive contributions:

• Adams was just called up this week, and has four hits in 11 at-bats -- including two Friday night. He's the first Yankee to hit safely in his first three major league games since Shelley Duncan in 2007.

• Claiborne threw a scoreless ninth inning Friday night, and has thrown eight shutout innings out of the bullpen thus far.

• Joseph started both games of a doubleheader in Cleveland on Monday, at two different positions (first base and second base), and had a hit, too.

• Marshall took one for the team Wednesday, throwing 5 2/3 innings of relief after Phil Hughes couldn't get out of the first inning.

• Nuno threw five scoreless innings and won his first major league start on Monday, in the second game of the doubleheader.

Adams and Claiborne are still with the big club. Nuno's on his way back to New York, to replace the injured Pettitte in the rotation. Joseph and Marshall have returned to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. But whatever happens the rest of the summer, they've played a part in this promising Yankees season.

The question is, how much more of an impact will they have, if any? Only time will tell.

Just look at that '95 group. Jeter and Rivera are headed for the Hall of Fame. And Pettitte could join them in Cooperstown, too.

Boehringer had a very respectable 10-year career with the Yankees, Padres, Giants and Pirates, pitching in 356 career games, mostly out of the bullpen.

But Patterson? He made his major league debut on April 30, 1995, made three appearances in eight days, gave up one run on three hits in 3 1/3 innings -- and never pitched in the majors again.

Baseball can warm your heart. But it can break your heart, too.

Up now: Hiroki Kuroda was brilliant again Friday night, as the Yankees won the series opener over the Blue Jays, 5-0.

On deck: They'll be back at it this afternoon, first pitch at 1:05 p.m. David Phelps (1-2, 4.33) will start for the Yankees, opposed by Brandon Morrow (1-2, 4.69). Andrew Marchand will be on duty for ESPNNewYork.com.

You're up: Which of the five newcomers looks the most promising to you?

Hiroki Kuroda isn’t just the best pitcher on the Yankees right now. He might be the best pitcher in the American League.

The 38-year-old came through for the Yankees yet again Friday night, hurling eight shutout innings in a 5-0 victory over the Blue Jays at Yankee Stadium.

Melky Cabrera led off the game with a sharp double to right field, but Kuroda didn’t surrender another hit until Edwin Encarnacion’s one-out single in the seventh. He allowed just those two hits, struck out five, walked only one, and improved to 6-2 with a 1.99 ERA on the season.

"It’s a night where I think he had all three [pitches]," said manager Joe Girardi. "He had a very good fastball, a very good slider and a very good split. ... He was just really, really good."

The Blue Jays (17-25) might be in last place in the AL East, but they arrived in the Bronx having won four in a row, and having scored 10 or more runs in three straight games.

But they looked baffled by Kuroda, despite the fact that they had already faced him twice this season. And the first-place Yankees (26-16) did more than enough at the plate, with two-hit nights from three rather unlikely sources: Brett Gardner, David Adams and Austin Romine.

"All of my pitches were pretty good today," Kuroda said. "And that led to a good outing."

That’s the kind of answer you usually get from Kuroda -- short, understated. Sure, part of it is because of the language barrier -- everything we get from him comes through a translator. But you get the sense that’s his style anyway. Body language can reveal plenty about a person, too.

Girardi was asked what he has learned about Kuroda since he joined the Yankees last season.

"He’s pretty calm," Girardi said. "He does smile a lot, and he does laugh a lot. And that’s the one thing that you really don’t know about a player is his personality.

"I can do all the preparation that I do and understand what a guy’s got. I’ve not been surprised by his stuff, because we looked at him, and when we played against him I was prepared with what he had. But his personality, he’s easy to be around."

He’s easy to root for, too. When asked to evaluate his season thus far, Kuroda offered even fewer words than usual.

"It’s been good, so far," he said.

The truth is, it’s been much better than that. Kuroda has made nine starts, and allowed three runs or less in each and every one. He was a hard-luck loser on May 7, giving up two runs over seven innings in a 2-0 loss to the Rockies. His only other loss came in his first start of the year, when he exited after just 1⅓ innings after being hit on his pitching hand by a line drive.

In his other seven starts, Kuroda has six wins and a no-decision -- a no-decision after giving up one run in 7⅓ innings against these same Blue Jays.

"He’s been so good for us," Girardi said. "Just the innings that he’s giving you, and he’s giving your bullpen a lot of times the night off to where you can use them in the other games. The quality starts that he’s given us -- he has been outstanding. The way he left us last year, he’s just picked right up and continued to impress."

On the same day that 40-year-old Andy Pettitte landed on the disabled list yet again, the 38-year-old Kuroda again lifted his team -- seemingly getting better with age.

The only three starters with better ERAs in the American League -- Felix Hernandez, Clay Buchholz and Hisashi Iwakuma -- are all in the prime of their careers, age-wise. But Kuroda is defying Father Time, and having his best season in the big leagues.

It does make you wonder, can he keep getting better? How many more seasons might he be able to pitch?

Kuroda chuckled when asked about his future. “I don’t really have the luxury to think ahead," Kuroda said. "All I think about is, treat the next outing as my last."

Odds are, it’ll be a good one.