As frustrated as the Orioles were with themselves yesterday after seeing a six-run lead turn into an 11-8 loss to the Seattle Mariners, they were even more upset with the home plate umpire.

Once Bret Boone hit a grand slam off Orioles reliever Buddy Groom to break an eighth-inning tie, emotions started spilling over at Camden Yards as a crowd of 39,883 filled the air with boos.

Home plate umpire Kerwin Danley handed Orioles manager Mike Hargrove his first ejection of the season, and then Danley ejected normally mild-mannered shortstop Mike Bordick.

Suddenly, an entire team looked out of character.

"I think there's a bitter taste in everybody's mouth," said Orioles catcher Brook Fordyce. "We went out there, played good baseball and had a lead. We probably should have won this one."

The Orioles knew what a victory would have meant.

Instead of splitting a four-game series with the American League West leaders, they would have taken three of four to win their first series against Seattle in two years. The Mariners had won 17 of 19 against the Orioles entering Thursday.

Instead of leaving Baltimore in equal states of disappointment and disgust, they would have been riding high on their train ride to New York, where Roger Clemens and the Yankees will be waiting for them tonight.

In a span of three innings, an exhausted Orioles bullpen turned a 7-1 lead into an 11-7 deficit. The Orioles had made improbable comebacks to win the previous two nights, but those positive sentiments quickly disappeared.

Within 20 minutes of the game's conclusion, however, Hargrove was already looking at the big picture.

"I don't think [winning yesterday] would have said any more about this team than us doing what we did against Seattle," Hargrove said. "We've got a club we think is on the road to getting better. Every day, it's usually a positive step forward. Every now and then it's a step back.

"I don't know that today was a step back."

Last month, the Orioles blew leads of at least three runs on four different occasions, and on May 14, when the Cleveland Indians scored four runs with two outs in the ninth inning to defeat the Orioles, 6-5, Hargrove said it was one of the toughest losses he had ever endured.

This time, the Orioles blew a six-run lead for the first time all season, but the prevailing emotion was anger, not hurt.

Hargrove started getting irritated with Danley's strike zone in the third inning, when Orioles starter Sean Douglass walked Mariners No. 9 hitter Jeff Cirillo, after being ahead in the count 0-2.

In the first at-bat of the game, Danley had called strike three against Seattle's Mark McLemore on a pitch that looked five inches off the plate. Two innings later, the Orioles felt he wasn't calling those close pitches for strikes.

It didn't matter to them as much when they jumped out to a 6-0 lead, as Jay Gibbons hit a two-run homer in the first inning, and Bordick added a two-run homer in the second.

But the third-inning walk to Cirillo led to Seattle's first run. It also meant more pitches for Douglass, when the Orioles were hoping he could somehow preserve the bullpen by pitching late into the game.

"I just think it [the strike zone] could have been more consistent," Bordick said. "And that's what you hope for. When you want to win the series, you hope for the 'A' game."

Hargrove pulled Douglass after 97 pitches, with one out in the sixth inning. Orioles left-hander B.J. Ryan inherited two runners, and they both scored. Ben Davis hit a two-run single, and Cirillo followed with another single that scored Desi Relaford to make it 7-4.

The Mariners tied the game with three runs off Rick Bauer in the seventh inning. Bauer has an 8.04 ERA over his past 13 appearances, but he seemed to deserve better this time, as four of Seattle's hits came on ground balls through a hole.

Orioles tonight

Opponent:New York Yankees

Site:Yankee Stadium, New York

Time:7:05

TV/Radio:Comcast SportsNet/WBAL (1090 AM)

Starters:Orioles' Sidney Ponson (3-3, 4.80) vs. Yankees' Roger Clemens (7-2, 3.79)