Timothy Dolan, formerly archbishop of Milwaukee, is playing in the big leagues now, in New York City.

And he's taking some lumps. Big ones.

Dolan, the charming and affable Irishman, is finding that blarney doesn't always win out.

He's been a fierce critic of gay marriage, resisting passage a law to legalize it in New York -- a law which was just signed by Gov. Anthony Cuomo, a Catholic who personally fought for and won passage. (They're pictured together.)

A New York Observer article, headlined, "What Made Archbishop Dolan Famous in Milwaukee Hasn't Saved Him From Losing Here," chronicles Dolan's problems in the Big Apple.

He charmed the Milwaukee media, they say, (unfortunately misidentifying the Journal Sentinel's Meg Kissinger as Kim) but he hasn't won over Maureen Dowd, the New York Times columnist -- and Irish Catholic -- who has proved to be a formidable foe. 

Dolan, Dowd says, should worry more about what pedophile priests are doing to little boys in their charge and less about what consenting adults want to do in their bedrooms. 

The archbishop has become a blogger, and an outspoken one on gay marriage. 

On 60 Minutes, which called him "The American Pope," he said: "“I have a strong desire to play shortstop for the Yankees. But I don’t have a right to because I don’t have what it takes. And that’s what the Church would say about marriage.”

Dolan has called gay marriage "Orwellian social engineering" and said a lot of other highly quotable things in opposition.

But their is no joy in the cathedral.  Mighty Dolan has struck out.