O's game blog: Jimenez looks for first win, Ravech on Showalter (with farm notes)

We know Ubaldo Jimenez has been a slow starter during his career, and we know that he struggled early last season and then went on to have a very good year.

Despite that information, it would calm some of the O's fan base a bit if he pitched well tonight at Fenway Park.

When Jimenez was so good last year after the All-Star break, he gave up just three homers in 84 innings over 13 starts. In three Orioles starts, he's already given up four homers over 16 innings. Last season, he allowed two homers in a game in just three of 32 starts. This season that has happened in two of his three starts.

But it's not just the longball that has bitten him so far. Jimenez has given up 23 hits over 16 innings and right-handed batters are hitting .429 (12-for-28) against him with two doubles, two homers and a .714 slugging percentage.

Will Ubaldo's first solid O's outing come tonight as he pitches in front of the nation on ESPN's "Sunday Night Baseball?"

O's skipper Buck Showalter spent a few years working at ESPN and it's clear the broadcasters there like Showalter as a person and certainly have great respect for him as a manager.

When I interviewed ESPN's Karl Ravech earlier this week he talked about Showalter's impact on the Orioles.

"When you have a leader that instills confidence and proves himself day in day out that he will put the team in the position to win, the players develop a level of trust in that. The players recognize the decisions he makes, the way he thinks about a game and way he thinks about a team. It bolsters their confidence in him," he said.

"I'm not sure there is a manager out there that I'd rather have. They recognize he has their bests interests and he's as good if not better than anyone else in the division, if not the game."

Yeah, there are a lot of stats in baseball, but you can't really put any stat on a manager and his importance to his team.

"I would agree," Ravech said. "What John Farrell did last year against what Bobby Valentine did the year before. In Baltimore's case, it's kind of slowly been building. He did the same thing in Arizona. They seem like an organization wise enough to see the process through. Meaning they keep him, he gets to the postseason and goes deep into it and eventually wins his first World Series."

Good outing for Gausman: Triple-A Norfolk right-hander Kevin Gausman had his best outing of the season today as the Tides beat Durham 6-3. He pitched five scoreless innings allowing four hits with two walks and four strikeouts.

Gausman, who lowered his ERA to 3.24, threw 74 pitches. In his four starts this season, he's thrown 71, 69, 67 and 74 pitches as the Orioles are obviously limiting his pitches and innings early this year.

Jemile Weeks finished a home run shy of the cycle, as he doubled in the first, singled in the third and tripled in the sixth. The last Tides player to hit for the cycle was Timo Perez, who accomplished the feat on June 9, 2000. David Adams hit a two-run homer for Norfolk and he's 6-for-16 during a five-game hitting streak.

Over the last four games, Tides starters have pitched to an ERA of 1.54 with five walks and 21 strikeouts over 23 1/3 innings.

Single-A Frederick's season-best four-game win streak ended today in a 6-1 loss at Carolina. Parker Bridwell gave up four runs and hits over 4 2/3 innings. Creede Simpson went 2-for-4 with a double and homer for the Keys, who are 7-9. The teams play a doubleheader Monday at 5 p.m. Matt Taylor and Jesse Beal are scheduled to start for the Keys.

Both Single-A Delmarva (8-8) and Double-A Bowie (8-8) were off today.

Early look at velo: According to FanGraphs PITCHf/x information, Jimenez was averaging 90.6 mph this year on his fastball through three starts. Last year, he averaged 92.1 mph. In that scoreless bottom of the first, Jimenez threw several fastballs at 92 mph and one pitch was clocked at 94 mph by ESPN. He ended the inning getting Mike Napoli looking at a 92 mph heater.

The Bryce Harper replay: Yes, I was probably the only person that had not seen that until ESPN just showed it on the telecast. Harper hit a grounder to the pitcher yesterday, jogged to first and turned right at about 60 feet down the line and ran back to the dugout. New Nats manager Matt Williams benched him for that. I can see why after watching the replay.

A RISP stat: In his first three starts, opponents went just 1-for-22 (.045) with runners in scoring position and seven strikeouts against Jake Peavy. The O's went 3-for-7 (.429) with RISP tonight against Peavy, who gave up five runs over 5 2/3 as the O's took a 5-0 lead in the top of the sixth.