AP-The irony of Andy Pettitte’s no-hit bid against the Baltimore Orioles was that the one time he wanted to miss the strike zone, he couldn’t.

Other than that one pitch, the New York Yankees left-hander was nearly flawless over seven innings in a 5-1 victory Monday night.

Andy Pettite- New York Daily News

Pettitte (12-6) was poised to finish the seventh without allowing a baserunner, but former Oriole Jerry Hairston Jr. let a two-out grounder by Adam Jones slip through his legs for an error. Hairston was playing in place of Alex Rodriguez, who was given the night off.

Nick Markakis followed with an opposite-field single inside the third-base line, ending the no-hitter.

“I had him 0-2 and I was really just trying to throw a ball,” Pettitte said. “I was trying to throw a ball up and out of the zone. I haven’t seen the replay, but I guess I left it too much on the plate.”

After Melvin Mora led off the eighth with a home run, Pettitte completed his masterful effort by getting three straight outs.

Pettitte took his dominance of the Orioles to a new level with a vintage pitching gem that enabled him to break a tie with Lefty Gomez on the Yankees career wins list. Only Hall of Famers Whitey Ford (236) and Red Ruffing (231) have more wins in a New York uniform than Pettitte (190).

Pettitte allowed one run and two hits, struck out eight and walked none to improve to 4-0 in his last seven starts. He’s 26-6 lifetime against the Orioles, including 16-4 in Baltimore.

“Pettitte pitched a tremendous, terrific, exceptional, outstanding, superb, however you want me to say it, ballgame,” Orioles manager Dave Trembley said.

Pettitte didn’t get the perfect game, but he found the ideal way to console Hairston afterward.

“He was kind of funny,” Hairston said. “He was like, ‘You took the pressure off me.’ He goes, ‘If I haven’t thrown a no-hitter by now, then I’m not going to do it.’ He was probably the best. He said he didn’t want to throw nine innings anyway. That’s what type of attitude he has.”

Pettitte threw 104 pitches, 73 for strikes. It was the first time he went eight innings since July 20, 2008.

Brian Bruney gave up a walk and a single in the ninth before Mariano Rivera got two outs for his 37th save — and career-best 33rd in a row.

Baltimore starter Jeremy Guthrie (9-13) allowed two runs and four hits in six innings. The right-hander was good, but on this night he needed to be near perfect to outpitch Pettitte.

Sergio Mitre- Paul J. Bereswill/Associated Press

The Yankees took it to the White Sox today while their starting pitcher, Sergio Mitre, threw a one hitter into the seventh inning. Dominant right? I am just glad that the offense decided to show up to play. I wonder how AJ Burnett feels about that…

Today was the first appearance for Mitre since a relief outing eight days ago, and he was perfect until Jim Thome hit a bad-hop double past two time Gold Glove first baseman Mark Teixeira in the fifth.

Mitre has to be pleased with his performance today. Coming into today’s start, Mitre was rockin a 6.82 ERA.

Someone who was extremely upset after today’s game…Ozzie Guillen. Yep, he sure was.

“I’m embarrassed,” Guillen said. “And everybody in that room should be embarrassed. If they’re not embarrassed, they got the wrong job or they’re stealing money from baseball. I feel like I’m stealing the money from (chairman) Jerry (Reinsdorf). And that’s a shame. When you got more errors than hits, you better look yourself in the mirror and start second-guessing yourself. But I’m second-guessing myself right now, making the wrong lineup every day.

You can always count on a good quote like that from Ozzie guillen when his team is in a slump. But this one is also classic:

“I was looking at the Little League game this morning, and they were playing better than we did. It was more fun. It gets to the point where you are a veteran player and I have a lot of respect for them, and you appreciate what they do for you in the past, but this is not major league baseball, sorry.”

Thanks Ozzie for the laughs.

For the Yanks, Chad Gaudin came into relieve Mitre in the seventh, when he was forced to be taken out of the game because of a hard hit line-drive by Pierzynski that struck him in the forearm. Team doctors for the Yankees believe he will be fine and will be able to go in a day or two.

Cano going deep. nydailynews-photo

Robinson Cano hit a three-run home run with two outs in the 10th inning to give the New York Yankees a 5-2 victory over the Chicago White Sox on Friday. Chicago reliever Randy Williams retired the first two batters in the tenth before walking two, setting the stage for Cano’s to hit a 2-2 into New York’s bullpen in right-center for his first walk-off homer.

“It’s exciting,” Cano said. “You run around the bases and see the fans clapping and all your teammates at the plate. It’s something that you sometimes can’t describe. It’s great.”

AJ Burnett

AJ Burnett was throwing the stinky cheddar and could not be touched for the first few innings. He had 12 stikeouts in just six innings, but made three mistakes that cost him and the Yankees the game: two walks and a fastball to Ian Kinsler in the top of the fourth that ended up in the left field bleachers.

I really want to start dogging on AJ Burnett, but I really can’t. the last couple of times e has thrown he has completely been deserving of me dogging on him, but today, I just can’t bring myself to do it. He was a stud on the mound. The Yankees didn’t put up enough runs, and they left 12 men on base. This loss goes to the offense. They just didn’t come through in the clutch.

Also, it doesn’t hel pwhen Phil Coke comes into the game and gets shelled for another couple of runs. It seems lile the midle relievers are always questionable for the Yankees. If the Yanks get a big win, it is normally because their starter goes deep into the game and then Mariano Rivera comes in and the game is over. But when the Yanks rely on their middle relievers for three to four innings, that is when it all comes tumbling down.

Burnett, who was a work horse on the mound, got another loss, which makes him 0-4 in his last six starts, which includes a game when he threw 7 2/3 shutout innings against the Boston Red Sox. He is definately going to need a couple of wins before the playoffs start to get him into the zone. If not, it could be questionsable throwing him up on the bump.