The new-look Orioles…

…look an awful lot like the Orioles of recent years — awful. They’re now back in the cellar of the AL East.

They got absolutely manhandled by the Yanks in a 15-3 rout Saturday night. The Yanks, after playing just two games over the previous five days, posted season highs in hits (14), runs (15) and home runs (5). In fact, the team scored the most runs since a 20-11 romp of the Red Cox on August 21, 2009. They were crushing the ball.

This one was never really close as the Yanks scored three in the first inning — the O’s had allowed just five first-inning runs all year coming in — and tacked on three more in the sixth.

Every Yankee starter (except Swish Dog) recorded a hit, while Russell Martin went 2-for-3 with two home runs, four RBI, three runs scored and a walk. It was the third career multi-homer game for Martin, two of which have come with the Yanks. With the bombs, he surpassed his home run total of last year; he’s got six dingers in 54 at-bats this season while he had five in 331 at-bats in 2010 (he had seven in 505 at-bats in 2009). In his final at-bat in the ninth, Martin was cowardly hit by a pitch from Josh Rupe; the pitch was thrown at Russ’ head, but he wound up taking it in the back. It was all good though as Brett Gardner — BRETT GARDNER — followed the plunking with a home run.

Martin on the beaning:

"I don’t think he was trying to hit me in the head, but it was a good two-seamer. I couldn’t get out of the way."

Rupe claims it wasn’t intentional. Yeah, and Grizzly Adams had a beard.

It was a career game for A-Rod, who went 2-for-5 with a two-run double and a grand slam to drive in six runs. It was his 22nd career salami, which puts him one behind Lou Gehrig for the all-time record. It was Al’s 14th six-RBI game, which ties him with Gehrig for most all-time while Joe D had 12 and Babe Ruth 11. With his performance, he passed Carl Yastrzemski for 10th on the all-time RBI list.

Robinson Cano, who came into the game hitting .521 (38-for-73) with seven homers, 15 RBI and two strikeouts in 18 games at Camden Yards since 2009, went 3-for-5 with an RBI and scored twice. He extended his hitting streak to 12 games in the process.

Jorge also hit a homer, but is still just 2-for-his-last-18 with three RBI, six strikeouts and five walks. On the season, he’s hitting .164/.270/.491 with nine hits (six of them being homers), 11 RBI, 16 K, 7 BB and a BABIP of less than 0.91.

Gardner snapped an 0-for-16 slump with a double in the second inning and went 2-for-5 with the aforementioned two-run homer. It was his first homer since an inside-the-parker on July 4, 2010 and his first over-the-fencer since a grand slam (the Gardy slam!!!) the game prior on July 3.

Lost in the offensive onslaught was CC dealing. He went eight innings and gave up three runs on six hits with seven strikeouts to one walk; it was just the second time all season a Yankee starter pitched through the seventh inning (also CC on April 5 against the Twins). CC was at 51 pitches after facing 16 Oriole hitters through five innings, included in that are at-bats of 8, 6, 6 and five pitches, so he used 26 pitches for the other 12 batters through that point (hat tip to @JackCurryYES on that stat). #52 finished with 103 pitches — with 73 going for strikes — to notch his first win of the season.

The Yanks recorded their first four-run inning of the season with a seven-run eighth…they also got their first back-to-back homers of the year (Posada and Martin) in the eighth…the team has slugged an MLB-leading 35 homers in their 17 games (11-6). They have four players with six home runs, while the MLB-leader (four players tied) has seven…Kevin Millwood talked about his performance in the minors so far. He said he wants to start, but is open to coming out of the bullpen. Scouts have clocked him at “about 86 mph”…Curtis Granderson went 1-for-5 to extend his hitting streak to seven games.

Post-game quotes:

CC:

"I think they were swinging early in the count. My two-seamer was working pretty good…and I was just getting ground balls."

Girardi:

"It’s great to see, we haven’t had a chance to play a lot this week and I think guys were itching to get out there. They swung the bats great right from the first inning on."

Martin on why Rupe hit him:

"It was the two home runs before. But the pitch afterward made me feel a lot better when Gardner hit the home run."

Martin on his spot in the lineup:

"I’m hitting behind the lineup so I get to see four or five right-handers hit in front of me sometimes, so I have an idea of what their (pitches) are doing. We all communicate (what pitchers are trying to do) once guys get back on the bench."

A-Rod:

"I just saw a fastball right down the middle. That’s a hitter’s dream to have the bases loaded and a 2-0 count. Give credit to a lot of the guys that hit in front of me, all day long it was a lot of good at-bats. It’s nice overall from one through nine to see everybody swing the bats well."

A-Rod on being one grand slam behind Larrupin’ Lou:

"It’s definitely exciting. I appreciate the moment; I’ve grown and matured to a level now where I can appreciate it some and not just brush it off like I would have in the past perhaps."