BALTIMORE — The Orioles talked the talk throughout the winter months, in addition to upgrading their lineup with four new hitters. They said all the right things about not putting the Yankees and the Red Sox on a pedestal, forgetting about the bloated payrolls and the World Series rings and the absolute domination those teams have held over the Orioles season after season. The game was decided on the field, they said, not with checkbooks, past results, or preseason predictions. Buck Showalter invigorated a fan base with a confident way about him, building optimism after a 34-23 finish in the final two months of 2010. Make no mistake, his mindset still is the correct one for an organization trying to reverse the losing culture that’s poisoned the once-proud Orioles over the course of 13 years. But he doesn’t throw pitches or swing the bats. His players bought into it, echoing the skipper’s sentiments about the two biggest foes in the most difficult division in baseball. It all sounded so great at FanFest, during spring training, and after a 6-1 start. But, as Showalter always reminds us, games are played between the lines, and the Yankees absolutely throttled the Orioles in
