Joe Girardi hated one moment, but loved the next.

Russell Martin came to the plate in the ninth with two homers already in his pocket so when reliever Josh Rupe hit him on the upper back, between the shoulder blades, the Yankees felt it was on purpose.

A.J. Burnett fired up to the top step of the dugout, yelling at Rupe. Not only did the Yankees not like the intent, they didn't appreciate the location. When the next batter, Brett Gardner, went yard, manager Joe Girardi felt there was some justice.

"It was beautiful," Girardi said of Gardner's homer before descibing his problem with the pitch that hit Martin. "It was right at his head."

Martin hit two of the Yankees' five homers in the 15-3 trouncing of the Orioles. He now has six on the year, which is one more than he hit all of last year with the Dodgers.

After being nailed, Martin was mad, but he didn't charge the mound, deciding not to risk a possible suspension.

"There is no doubt about it," Martin said when asked if the pitch was intentional. "I want to stay in the lineup so I'm not going to do anything stupid. I wouldn't recommend him doing that again."

Martin said that it didn't hurt, but the major problem the Yankees had with the pitch was how high it flew. The rule is pitchers are supposed to hit batters on the lower half.

"I was glad it didn't hit me in the head," Martin said. "If it had hit me in the head, there would have been different consequences, I'm sure. But I'm fine. I'm good. It is not a big deal. I want to stay in the lineup."

Martin said he didn't think the Yankees would retaliate with a pitch of their own on Sunday. Still, they were angry.

"You get mad," said Jorge Posada, who had one of the home runs.

Posada said he hoped the pitch was unintentional and advised reporters to ask Rupe if it were or not.

In the other clubhouse, Orioles manager Buck Showalter could understand why the Yankees were upset. Showalter said he asked Rupe it if were intentional.

"He said, ‘I know what it looked like, I was trying to go in,'" Showalter said, recounting the conversation. "It did not look good. I didn’t like it at all. But I choose to believe my pitcher and I’ve known Josh for a long time. I think he’d be very straight with me. But I do understand what it looked like and it didn’t look good. Martin had a great night."

Rupe said the pitch was not intentional.

"Trust me, that’s the last thing that I want to do," Rupe said. "I know how it looked and for me, and a lot of these guys on this team, I pitch in. That’s what I do when I’m coming out of the pen. I’ve already given up a home run and yeah, I was really [peeved] off. But I’m not going to resort to possibly hurting a guy, and end his career or anything like that. There’s no reason for me to do that. I’m not that type of guy. I’m trying to pitch in and get people out and I didn’t do a good job at all tonight. I was all over the map. For me, did I want to send a message? No, I’m not that type of guy.”
Rupe said if the opportunity presents itself, he will talk to Martin on Sunday and explain his side. Either way, Martin felt pretty good after watching Gardner take care of business.

"It was beautiful," Martin said. "It took all the pain away."