Tejada and the Boss Blast Yankees

George Steinbrenner isn’t paying $200 million in player salaries to watch his New York Yankees sputter along in last place.

The outspoken owner waited all of two weeks before demanding that his team start winning -- or else.

Miguel Tejada hit his eighth career grand slam, and the Baltimore Orioles roughed up Kevin Brown to complete a three-game sweep of the Yankees with an 8-4 victory Sunday at Baltimore.

The Yankees have lost four in a row and eight of 10.

“Enough is enough. I am bitterly disappointed, as I’m sure all Yankee fans are, by the lack of performance by our team,� Steinbrenner said in a statement issued immediately after the game.

“It is unbelievable to me that the highest-paid team in baseball would start the season in such a deep funk. They are not playing like true Yankees. They have the talent to win, and they are not winning. I expect Joe Torre, his complete coaching staff and the team to turn this around.�

Torre, who held a brief team meeting after the game, did not take Steinbrenner’s comments lightly.

“He’s right. What are you going to say? I’m not going to dispute that,� Torre said.

Melvin Mora homered for the Orioles, who took a 6-0 lead in the second inning and coasted to their sixth victory in seven games.

Ruben Sierra and Alex Rodriguez homered for the Yankees, whose four-game losing streak matches their longest skid of 2004.

Making his 2005 debut after spending the first two weeks on the disabled list because of a strained back, Brown gave up six runs and nine hits in six innings.

Boston 3, Tampa Bay 1 -- Tim Wakefield (2-0) gave up one run and four hits in six innings at Boston, and the Red Sox capped a three-game sweep of the Devil Rays.

The Red Sox won their fourth consecutive game, scoring only in the third inning against Scott Kazmir (0-1) on Edgar Renteria’s second homer and Jay Payton’s two-run single.

Wakefield’s five strikeouts pushed him past Cy Young and into third place on Boston’s career list with 1,343. He trails Roger Clemens (2,590) and Pedro Martinez (1,596).

Seattle 5, Chicago 4 -- Ichiro Suzuki and Raul Ibanez homered, and Adrian Beltre had a tiebreaking two-run single at Chicago as the Mariners ended an eight-game losing streak against the White Sox.

Freddy Garcia (1-1) gave up five runs and nine hits in seven innings, his first loss in a day game since Sept. 7, 2003, with the Mariners.

Detroit 6, Kansas City 1 -- Mike Maroth (1-1) pitched into the eighth inning, and Ivan Rodriguez had three hits, including a homer and a two-run double, at Kansas City, Mo.

Maroth lost his shutout in the seventh inning on a leadoff homer by Eli Marrero.

Runelvys Hernandez (1-2) gave up five runs and 10 hits in five innings.

The Royals, 1-5 on their eight-game homestand, have scored three runs or fewer in each of their eight losses.

Texas 6, Toronto 5 -- Hank Blalock and Michael Young each hit a two-run homer at Arlington, Texas, where David Dellucci’s two-run triple against Josh Towers (1-1) helped the Rangers build a 6-0 lead after two innings.

Chris Young (1-1) gave up one hit through the first five innings but didn’t make it through the sixth.

Cleveland 2, Minnesota 1 -- Travis Hafner was hit by a pitch from J.C. Romero (0-1) with the bases loaded in the eighth inning to force in the go-ahead run at Cleveland.

The Twins’ six-game winning streak ended, and they failed to get their first three-game sweep in Cleveland since June 14-16, 1991.

Indian left-hander C.C. Sabathia was sharp in his first start after coming off the disabled list Saturday.