masn-baseballs-orioles.jpgSARASOTA, Fla. – Beyond the injury updates and roster moves, have there been two topics in Orioles camp more popular than Zach Britton’s perfect season and Ubaldo Jiménez’s September surge and whether it can carry over this summer?
They approach their lockers each morning at their own risk. A reporter inevitably will saunter over to them with notebook in hand.
Manager Buck Showalter had to turn reflective again after Jiménez’s start Monday afternoon against the Yankees in Sarasota….

SARASOTA, Fla. – Beyond the injury updates and roster moves, have there been two topics in Orioles camp more popular than Zach Britton’s perfect season and Ubaldo Jiménez’s September surge and whether it can carry over this summer?

They approach their lockers each morning at their own risk. A reporter inevitably will saunter over to them with notebook in hand.

Manager Buck Showalter had to turn reflective again after Jiménez’s start Monday afternoon against the Yankees in Sarasota. What clicked for the veteran right-hander while posting a 2.31 ERA and 0.829 WHIP over his last five appearances and holding opponents to a .151 average leading up to the wild card game? Did pitching coach Dave Wallace and bullpen coach Dom Chiti stumble upon something that worked?

jimenez-stride-pitching-gray-sidebar.jpg“I don’t know about stumbled on,” Showalter said. “With Wally and Don and with our guys now, whether it’s Scott McGregor, whether it’s Ramon (Martinez) … most of the time it’s Ubaldo. There’s some trial and error, but I see through that.

“It’s like the guy that does the interview after the game, the pitching coach who says, ‘Yeah, we did this for him and we did this and we did this and that’s why he’s that,’ and next time out they don’t get out of the first inning and you can’t find that guy. Where’d the coach go?”

An entire organization roots for Jiménez, and not only because the good version improves the Orioles’ chances of making the postseason again.

“You know what a good human being he is,” Showalter said. “His teammates really rally around him when something good happens to us as a result of something he’s done, because the way he has handled some of the criticism is pretty exemplary, but he’s tired of handling it. He wants the other part of it.

“Not anybody with more pedigree than he has and a lot of people tell me for two or three years, he was the best pitcher in the game.”

Jiménez is in his free agent year. He didn’t crumble the first time, registered a 1.82 ERA in 13 starts with the Indians after the All-Star break in 2013 and enticing the Orioles to hand over a four-year, $50 million contract.

“That’s for you guys and for history and the way it works,” Showalter said. “To me, that’s almost a kind of a slap in the face that it wasn’t important before. Is there a certain sense of urgency? That depends on the player. I don’t see that with Ubaldo.

“We’ll see how it plays. I don’t see that as a negative thing. There are very few instances of that being a negative.”

Bud Norris, please pick up the nearest white courtesy phone. Bud Norris …

* Showalter noted yesterday that Kevin Gausman seems to be a more confident pitcher, a guy whose personality really shines on the mound and in the clubhouse.

“Just body language,” Showalter said.

* Anyone guessing that left-hander Jayson Aquino would be Showalter’s highlight of camp heading into March, go to the window and collect your money. You’ll be standing alone.

* Veteran outfielder Chris Dickerson also is making a strong impression. He homered yesterday and continues to make plays in right field that are getting him noticed.

Dickerson hasn’t played in the majors since 2014 and there was little interest in him last summer before the Orioles signed him to a minor league deal on Aug. 20. They re-signed him on Dec. 15 and he’s right in the thick of the outfield competition.

Don’t sleep on this guy, as they say.

* Chance Sisco caught the last three innings yesterday and he seems to be further along defensively than advertised.

“Sisco’s been good behind the plate so far,” Showalter said. “That’s encouraging. I like what I see so far. He’s been real quiet back there. You don’t really notice him.”

I guess it’s like an NFL official or an offensive lineman. The less attention on them, the better job they’re doing.

* Two more scoreless innings yesterday for right-hander Zach Stewart, who signed on Jan. 17. He hasn’t pitched in the majors since making two starts with the Red Sox in 2012 and spent the past two years in Korea.

Showalter has noticed the sink on Stewart’s pitches.

* The online betting site Bovada projects the Orioles to win 80 1/2 games this season. I predict they’ll round off the number.

*Tickets for the March 31 exhibition game between the Orioles and Triple-A Norfolk at Harbor Park go on sale Saturday at 10 a.m. The first pitch is scheduled for 3:05 pm.

Box seats are available for $25 and reserved seats cost $22. Fans can purchase tickets online via w22.norfolktides.com, at the Harbor Park box office or via telephone at 1-800-745-3000.

* The Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation’s 13th annual Aspire Gala on Friday, which honored Hall of Famer Brooks Robinson and basketball Hall of Famer Nancy Lieberman, raised more than $3.1 million to support the foundation’s programming to help build character and teach critical life lessons to underserved youth residing in the country’s most distressed communities.

Robinson and Lieberman were honored and recognized because of their work to make a difference in the lives of others in their respected communities. During the Gala, it was also announced that the Ripken Foundation will build a Youth Development Park in West Baltimore at Frederick Douglass High School in honor of Robinson. The baseball turf field will be used by the Mighty Ducks baseball and softball teams.