Showalter on Feldman

Scott Feldman makes his fifth start for the Orioles at Camden Yards tonight against Boston. He has delivered three quality starts and is 2-1 with a 4.73 ERA for the Orioles. Feldman has won his last two starts, pitching a total of 15 1/3 innings allowing 10 hits and five runs. When the Orioles acquired him July 2 in a trade with the Cubs, you had to figure Buck Showalter had some input on the acquisition. When Feldman pitched for the Texas Rangers in relief in 2005 and 2006 - his first two years in the majors - his manager was Showalter. Today, that same skipper said the O's looked into signing Feldman over the winter before he signed a one-year deal with the Cubs. "We talked about him a lot in the offseason," Showalter said. "We would have liked to ... We talked about him and another guy that kind of fit where we were and what we wanted to do. Just took a little while to acquire him. "Knew he'd fit on our team, personality-wise and with what he brings. It was a pretty seamless transition in our locker room, he's knows six or seven people in there. "For some reason, the reputation of playing here in Baltimore is pretty good around baseball now. That's got a lot do with, 99 percent of it, our players and who they are, the respect they now have around the league." In eight career games against Boston, Feldman is 1-1 with a 3.91 ERA. In 25 career games against the AL East, the right-hander is 11-9 with a 4.06 ERA. "Scotty has been a good addtion and we would have had our eyes on him even we didn't have a prior relationship with him," Showalter said.