masn-baseballs-orioles.jpgNEW YORK – The schedule provides another break for the Orioles today, just as it will in exactly two weeks.
It must be a Thursday sort of thing.
So where are we in the standings? Well, the Orioles remain a game behind the Rays for third place and a game ahead of the last-place Red Sox.
Before last night, the Orioles were batting .251/.305/.421 in 138 games. They batted .256/.311/.422 last season. They ranked fourth in home runs with 183 after leading the majors last season with 211. Their…

NEW YORK – The schedule provides another break for the Orioles today, just as it will in exactly two weeks.

It must be a Thursday sort of thing.

So where are we in the standings? Well, the Orioles remain a game behind the Rays for third place and a game ahead of the last-place Red Sox.

Before last night, the Orioles were batting .251/.305/.421 in 138 games. They batted .256/.311/.422 last season. They ranked fourth in home runs with 183 after leading the majors last season with 211. Their offense was fourth with 1,142 strikeouts after ranking 11th last season with 1,288.

The Orioles were last in stolen bases with 38. They were last in 2014 with 44.

This team still is challenged to get on base, though improvement is deemed a priority every winter, and it’s ranked last in stolen bases three of the past four seasons. The aggressive free-swinging approach is going to pad the strikeout totals.

The pitching staff ranked 18th with a 3.99 ERA after being seventh last year at 3.43. The rotation was 25th with a 4.57 ERA after being 12th last year at 3.61.

The staff ranks third in home runs allowed with 117 after ranking sixth last year with 109.

The Orioles need to pay for a top-of-the-rotation ace. There’s no other way to acquire one. They need to re-sign Chris Davis and Darren O’Day. They need a leadoff hitter with a high on-base percentage, which would allow them to move down Manny Machado.

Manny Machado swing close gray.pngHaving Machado lead off in 2016 wouldn’t be the worst decision. He’s putting together a career year and he’s been atop the order in 112 games. He also was sporting a .355 on-base percentage before last night. But I’d like to see him bat a little lower in the order.

* Machado has reached base safely in 21 straight games against the Yankees. He’s batting .355 (27-for-76) with seven doubles, four home runs, 11 RBIs, 10 walks and 15 runs in that span.

According to Elias, the 21 straight games is the longest active on-base streak against the Yankees and the longest by an Oriole since Brian Roberts’ 21-game streak from 2008-2009.

* Who gets your vote for Most Valuable Oriole? It should come down to Davis and Machado.

Guess it depends whether you’re going with production across the board or team-leading home run and RBI totals.

I know which way I’m going, but I’m not telling.

* I wrote yesterday that Adam Jones batted .281/.326/.490 in the first half and is hitting .258/.292/.465 in the second. To break it down further, Jones batted .241/.270/.466 in August and is 3-for-23 with one home run and eight strikeouts this month.

I’ll always respect how hard Jones plays the game and how hard it is for manager Buck Showalter to keep him out of the lineup. He’s hurting. The shoulder, the wrist, the ankle. Pick a body part. But he hates sitting on the bench.

* Showalter hasn’t named his starter for Sunday against the Royals. He wanted to get through last night’s game and also check on Kevin Gausman, who would be working on normal rest after starting Tuesday night. However, it’s actually Wei-Yin Chen’s turn after he started on Monday.

Today’s off-day allows Showalter to tweak the rotation if he so chooses.

* Dariel Alvarez has walked twice in five games with the Orioles. It sounds like a modest achievement until you consider that he had 16 walks in 130 games with Triple-A Norfolk.

The Orioles love his arm in right field. They want him to work on other facets of his game, including his approach at the plate. He exhibited plenty of patience in spring training, but reverted to his old habits at Norfolk.

* T.J. McFarland was available last night after throwing 44 pitches Tuesday night in 2 1/3 scoreless innings. Showalter checked on McFarland and was satisfied that the left-hander could be used again.

Showalter wants McFarland in his bullpen for every game against the Yankees. It doesn’t always work out that way, of course, with McFarland on the shuttle to Norfolk, but check his numbers.

McFarland hasn’t allowed an earned run against the Yankees in his last 11 appearances over 15 innings. He’s 1-0 with a 1.54 in 15 career appearances, with four earned runs (seven total) in 23 1/3 innings. McFarland has allowed one earned run in 17 1/3 innings at Yankee Stadium.

* Zach Britton’s ability to record two stress-free saves in a row at Yankee Stadium deserves further mention.

Britton entered Tuesday night’s game protecting a one-run lead and retired Chris Young on a ground ball, struck out Didi Gregorius and retired Chase Headley on a ground ball.

Britton entered last night’s game protecting a two-run lead and retired Carlos Beltran and Brian McCann on ground balls and struck out Alex Rodriguez on three pitches.

Britton threw 18 pitches, 14 for strikes, in the two games.

“I’ve said many times, the ability to close out close games, one-run leads in our division on the road is where you cut your teeth as a closer. He’s shown that ability,” Showalter said. “To have a couple no-stress (outings) and just came in, that’s hard to do.”

“It’s great,” said Steve Pearce. “When you have a guy like that come in, it definitely feels great for the team. He’s the guy we want with the ball at the end of the game and we’re just trying to get it to him.”

* Single-A Delmarva third baseman Jomar Reyes, 18, was the second overall pick last night by Licey in the Dominican Winter League draft. Red Sox prospect Rafael Devers was first.

Reyes batted .278/.334/.440 with 27 doubles, four triples, five home runs and 44 RBIs in 84 games with the Shorebirds.