masn-baseballs-orioles.jpgThe Orioles are in first place in the American League East.
No Manny Machado until two days ago. No Chris Davis right now because he’s on the disabled list. No J.J. Hardy for eight games. No wins for Ubaldo Jimenez in April. No sign of relievers Josh Stinson and Evan Meek, who have been optioned.
Check the standings. Three games above .500 and looking down at everyone else. Go figure.
I didn’t overreact to Jimenez’s struggles last month and I’m not going to overreact to his 7 1/3 scoreless…

The Orioles are in first place in the American League East.

No Manny Machado until two days ago. No Chris Davis right now because he’s on the disabled list. No J.J. Hardy for eight games. No wins for Ubaldo Jimenez in April. No sign of relievers Josh Stinson and Evan Meek, who have been optioned.

Check the standings. Three games above .500 and looking down at everyone else. Go figure.

I didn’t overreact to Jimenez’s struggles last month and I’m not going to overreact to his 7 1/3 scoreless innings last night, but he showed why so many hitters dread facing him. It’s hard to pick up the ball and get comfortable in the box. He’s all arms and legs and nasty stuff.

If the Orioles had done their homework, they would have left him in extended spring training until last night. Just skip April. Come up with an excuse, like he was needed as a player-coach in sim games.

Should we assume that Tommy Hunter is unavailable to close today? The guy has two saves and a win since Thursday afternoon. He may need a breather – and an ice pack the size of Sam Horn.

The Orioles received good news long before Hunter recorded the final out last night. An MRI revealed that Kevin Gausman doesn’t have a strained intercostal.

I supposed he could still chat with Brian Matusz over the phone, but they no longer have an injury in common.

It’s not often that pneumonia is considered good news, but that’s certainly the case with Gausman.

“He had an issue with his chest and got examined and found out it’s pneumonia,” said executive vice president Dan Duquette. “We put him on the disabled list and he should start to feel better in a couple of days.”

Being on antibiotics beats being on the shelf for two months.

“He wasn’t feeling very good and went to see a general doctor (Thursday), and we did a follow-up and he had an MRI. We got to the bottom of it,” Duquette said.

“It may take a little while to build back up again. We’ll see how he comes along and see how he’s feeling.”.

Name the only starter at Triple-A Norfolk with a victory this season?

Hint: He took Gausman’s turn last night and tossed seven shutout innings.

Nicely done, Eddie Gamboa.

Too bad that Target Field has a third deck. I was hoping to catch a Nelson Cruz home run ball while sitting on my couch. It got in the way.

Not everyone in the organization was sold on Cruz during the winter and the early days of spring training. Trust me, I did a thorough check on him. But his price came way down and his appeal shot straight up.

Wei-Yin Chen pitches for the Orioles this afternoon. Didn’t he suffer his oblique injury at Target Field last summer after tossing five scoreless innings? It happened on May 12 and it cost him two months of the season.

David Lough is 6-for-8 with three doubles against Twins starter Kevin Correia. Lineup prediction: Lough will be in left field today.

Zach Britton is 2-for-3 against Correia. He will not be in the lineup.

Britton looks real good in the bullpen. His fastball topped out at 96 mph last night.

Whatever happened to Conor Jackson? Is he still on the restricted list?

Is he in the country?

Shameless plug alert: I’m on “Wall to Wall Baseball” from noon-2 p.m. Then I’m taping a segment of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.” Then I’m picking out curtains with Tom Davis.

OK, it’s only two out of the three.