The Orioles probably welcomed another reset yesterday before beginning a three-game series in Milwaukee, though they won two of three games in San Francisco. Step back, take a breath, assess your own situation, maybe look around the majors and remember how good you have it and that everyone is dealing with something.

Every team in the American League East is .500 or better, with the Red Sox dropping their third in a row yesterday to leave their record at 30-30. Only the first-place Twins are above .500 in the AL Central. The defending World Series champion Astros are in second place in the AL West. The wild card Mariners began yesterday in fourth.

The Mets spent a lot of money in the offseason and are in third place in the NL East, ahead of the pennant-winning Phillies. The rebuilding Nationals are last, but only nine games below .500.

I’ve seen worse.

What are the Cardinals doing in last place in the NL Central? Is it stranger than the Pirates moving into first last night?

The Orioles won’t plug John Means into their rotation in two months. The timetable for his return has fractured.

Executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias revealed today that Means strained the scapula region in his upper back while performing activation drills in Sarasota. The injury isn’t related to past shoulder issues, per Elias, and the severity is reduced because it’s muscular. But July isn't happening.

Elias said Means “is and was flying along” in his recovery from Tommy John surgery in April 2022 before this week’s setback.

“It’s not his shoulder capsule, it’s not a throwing injury,” Elias said. “He’s just got a strained muscle in the scapula. It’s called the ‘teres major.’ So, this is basically just going to add some time to his return back to the Orioles.

“How long exactly, I don’t know. We’re still very much hoping on getting him back this season, but this is obviously going to slow things down and tack on some time before we actually see him out in games. But he’s doing well. This isn’t the end of the world or anything. It’s just kind of bad timing, an unfortunately timed muscle strain that’s just going to cause him to have to kill some time in his rehab while we wait for that to heal.”

Start spreading the news – the Orioles scored eight runs in the seventh inning to stun the Yankees in the Bronx. The night before they had a 4-0 lead and lost. On this night they trailed by four in the seventh and won.

The eight-run inning was their most in any inning this year, topping the seven in the seventh on May 5 at Atlanta. It is their most in an inning since scoring nine in the eighth inning on Sept, 8, 2021 versus Kansas City. And this was their most runs in any inning in a road game since scoring nine in the seventh inning on April 4, 2016, at Texas.

According to Elias, the Sports Bureau, not the executive vice president, this was tied for the most runs scored in a single inning at the current or original Yankee Stadium in Baltimore team history. They also got eight in the third inning on June 5, 1989.

At 32-17, the Orioles remain three games behind Tampa Bay for the AL East lead, but they also moved back to three games ahead of the Yankees for second in the division.

The Orioles are now 4-12 when trailing after six innings.

It is a question that is hard to answer: What makes the 2023 Orioles so good in series-opening games?

As they get ready for their latest series-opener tonight – against the New York Yankees in the Bronx – the O’s are 13-2 in series opening games this season, tied for the best mark in the majors and they are 8-0 in such games on the road. The latest win was by 6-2 Friday at Toronto, and you can’t sweep a series without getting the first one and they did. Yet again.

According to Stats Perform, the team tied with the Orioles for best series-opening record won't shock you - the Rays. (Through Sunday's games)

Orioles, 13-2 (.867)
Tampa Bay, 13-2 (.867)
Atlanta, 12-3 (.800)
Chicago Cubs, 10-5 (.667)
Los Angeles Dodgers, 10-5 (.667)

O’s manager Brandon Hyde provided this answer over the weekend about the club’s success in series openers.

Not only is 19-year-old shortstop Jackson Holliday tearing it up in his first full pro season, but he is closing in on being ranked the top prospect in baseball, something that the Orioles' Adley Rutschman and Gunnar Henderson did before him.

In the latest and updated rankings, Holliday is now No. 3 in the top 100 by MLBPipeline.com and No. 6 via Baseball America.

This week he has shown the baseball world those rankings are well earned in his brief pro career.

He had a monster game on Tuesday night for High-A Aberdeen at Winston-Salem. In a game shortened by five innings due to rain he went 3-for-3 and drove in six runs. Last night he drove in five more. And he went 5-for-6, finally making an out on a liner to left in the ninth. He scored four runs and had five RBIs.

In the two games this week he has gone a remarkable 8-for-9 with two doubles, three triples, a homer, six runs scored and 11 RBIs. Amazing.

The Orioles got back on the horse with a 7-3 win over the Los Angeles Angels last night. Back-to-back losses didn't turn into the club's second three-game losing streak of 2023.

And while starter Dean Kremer provided a solid outing, allowing three runs over 5 2/3 on 95 pitches, the bullpen put forth another scoreless effort.

Right-hander Bryan Baker did allow an inherited runner to score, but Baker, Cionel Pérez and Yennier Cano did not allow a run over 3 1/3 innings. Baker has allowed just one earned run his last 19 2/3 innings. Perez retired all six batters he faced over the seventh and eighth innings on just 19 pitches. He has allowed one earned run his past 6 2/3. Cano pitched a 1-2-3 ninth on eight pitches and now has thrown 20 2/3 scoreless innings for the season.

Over the past five games, the O's 'pen has an ERA of 0.60. Over the last nine games, the 'pen ERA is 1.34. For the year the bullpen ERA is 2.94 to rank second in MLB.

Batting ninth, Ryan O'Hearn hit a solo homer in the second inning. And then Ryan Mountcastle pinch-hit for him and hit a two-run shot in the sixth that he blasted 433 feet.

Shortstop Jackson Holliday, the No. 1 overall pick by the Orioles in the 2022 MLB Draft, is not even a year removed from draft day yet and his goal for the 2023 season is looking very reachable.

And that is to end the year playing for Double-A Bowie.

The 19-year-old lefty swinger, who moved up to No. 7 in a new Baseball America top 100 list this week, continues to be a star on the rise – both for the Orioles and among national prospects analysts who love his skills, talent and maturity.

It was on display in major league spring training when the kid fit in so well with much older players and then took the field and went 6-for-14 hitting .429 in spring games. He handled himself like a 10-year vet.

Then he began this season with Low Single-A Delmarva, batting .392 with an OPS of 1.190 in 13 games. That led to a quick promotion to High-A Aberdeen where he played his 11^th game for the IronBirds last night, but his first game at home.

The Orioles offense, while the team has gone 1-1 this weekend in Atlanta, has proven to be a real challenge for one of the best starting rotations in baseball.

Lefty Max Fried took the mound Friday night with a 2-0 record and 0.45 ERA, allowing one run in 20 innings for the season. Right-hander Spencer Strider faced the Orioles last night, entering at 4-0 with a 2.57 ERA.

The Orioles pinned a loss on Fried Friday night but could not quite do it with Strider in last night’s 5-4 loss, a game that turned in Atlanta’s favor on Kevin Pillar’s two-run, pinch-hit homer off Danny Coulombe in the last of the eighth. Pillar, who has a career .704 OPS, is a career .321 hitter with an OPS of .867 against the Orioles. His homer in Saturday's game was his 15^th in 92 games against the club.

But earlier, even while they fanned 10 times against Strider, one of the best strikeout pitchers in the game, the Orioles battled him pretty hard. He was at 95 pitches and out of the game after five innings.

In two games this weekend, Fried and Strider have a combined 5.73 ERA versus the Orioles.

The Orioles moved past their off-day and are resuming their three-city road trip tonight in Kansas City. The last stop is in Atlanta.

They haven’t moved past the “soft” part of their schedule. The Royals are 7-22, the second-worst record in the majors. They’re in last place in the American League Central, with a minus-64 run differential in 29 games and a 1-12 record at home.

Can’t let down against anyone, but the Royals are scuffling with 13 losses in their last 16 games.

The teams met seven times last summer, with the Orioles going 4-3. They split a four-game series at Kauffman Stadium.

The Orioles are 128-128 all-time against the Royals in Kansas City, with their last three-game sweep in 2007.

He just turned 19 in December and in 33 career pro baseball games, shortstop Jackson Holliday is batting .339/.503/.530/.1.033 with 11 doubles, a triple, three homers and 24 RBIs. There have been few, really no struggles, for Holliday yet on the Orioles' watch.

But if he doesn’t tear it up initially as he now moves up from Low Single-A Delmarva to High-A Aberdeen, he will be keeping good company. Gunnar Henderson started 1-for-31 his first 11 games at Aberdeen in the 2021 season and last season Heston Kjerstad hit .233 with an OPS of .674 at Aberdeen in 43 games.

Those stats for both were modest but it didn't keep them from advancing in their careers.

Now the player that the O’s drafted No. 1 overall last summer, a player ranked as baseball’s No. 10 prospect by MLBPipeline.com and No. 13 by Baseball America, will play his first IronBirds game tonight when Aberdeen plays at Wilmington. His home debut is to come May 9 at Ripken Stadium.

On my WBAL Radio O’s postgame show last night, Orioles executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias joined me to talk about Holliday’s promotion.

Though Monday is supposed to be a quiet period for minor league baseball, with no games scheduled, the Orioles stayed busy with personnel moves and could keep bragging about the quality of their farm system.

Triple-A Norfolk outfielder Colton Cowser was named International League Player of the Week after slashing .319/.481/.826 with a double, three home runs, six RBIs, three walks and 10 runs scored in six games versus Rochester.

The Tides are in Charlotte this week and Cowser is bringing a 15-game on-base streak. The organization’s first-round draft pick in 2021 is hitting .345/.465/.586 during that stretch with three doubles, a triple, three home runs, 10 RBIs, 12 walks and 20 runs scored.

Shortstop Jackson Holliday, the first overall selection in last year’s draft, was chosen Carolina League Player of the Week after posting a .450 average with a double, two home runs, six RBIs, six walks and eight runs scored.

Holliday earned a promotion today from Single-A Delmarva to High-A Aberdeen after batting .392/.523/.667 with six doubles, a triple, two homers, 15 RBIs, 15 runs scored and three stolen bases. He was 12-for-28 during a seven-game hitting streak.

For Orioles rookie right-hander Grayson Rodriguez, it was one very welcome sight. That was seeing his changeup with great movement and getting the swings and misses it got last Sunday at Chicago.

As he goes into his next start tomorrow at home versus Detroit – his fourth in the majors – he feels having that pitch be as effective as it was his last time out will be huge for him going forward.

When the Orioles selected Rodriguez with the No. 11 overall pick in the 2018 MLB Draft out of Central Heights High School in Nacogdoches, Texas, he could throw with big velocity. But he didn’t have much of a changeup to go to.

On the O’s watch and in their player development system, not only did he develop a good one, but over the years it became his best secondary and helped him become the top pitching prospect in baseball.

He worked hard on it before that start at Chicago and then had it really going that day as, after allowing four runs in the first inning, he threw scoreless ball from the second through the fifth innings against the White Sox in a 93-pitch outing.

For a pitcher that once was trying to make it to the majors while starting out in independent league baseball, making an Opening Day roster was special. And there was O's bullpen right-hander Logan Gillaspie, 25, running down the orange carpet with the rest of the Orioles on Friday afternoon.

He made his MLB debut last May 17 with two scoreless innings against the Yankees, and now has an ERA of 3.26 in 19 1/3 big league innings with the Orioles over the last two seasons.

Gillaspie’s pro career began in 2017 in independent league baseball, where he actually spent time as both a pitcher and position player.

His record from the 2017 season shows 22 games on the mound for three different teams, plus a few games at first base and catcher, and even one at shortstop. He went 4-for-23 as a hitter.

The Milwaukee Brewers signed him in 2018 but released him in 2019. The Orioles signed him on June 9, 2021, and he made his big league debut on the mound at Camden Yards last May. And he was a surprise addition to the bullpen on Opening Day this year.

When it comes to facing left-handed pitchers, O’s center fielder Cedric Mullins, no longer a switch-hitter, has had success in the past batting left-on-left.

But the hits were not coming to him very often against lefty pitchers last year, when he hit .209/.265/.313/.578 against left-handers. That was very different from his solid numbers of 2021, when he produced a .277 batting average and .788 OPS left-on-left.

So Mullins’ winter focus was on getting back to stats like those in this 2023 season.

“Just really kind of dug deep into how some of my at-bats went last year,” he said this week at Globe Life Field. “Kind of getting a sense of what guys were trying to do to me and kind of make adjustments from there. Tried to simulate as much as I possibly could (this winter).”

The deep dive included a closer look at how those southpaws were getting him out.

The mailbag collected questions in Boston and refused to board a flight to Arlington. Bought a seat for it and everything. Still, no.

That’s fine. I’ll share what I’ve got this morning, in the latest sequel to our beloved 2008 original mailbag.

Because I don’t want to be accused of tampering, I will continue to keep the editing to the bare minimum. Also, the bear minimum, which I guess belongs on a Cubs blog.

And finally, my mailbag runs the bases for free and yours must pay to get thrown out at second.

Do you think it's possible they kept too many players in camp for too long, which made it hard to give the actual regulars sufficient reps? Just trying to find a reason for the complete defensive flop we saw.
I feel like the regulars played a sufficient amount, and Cedric Mullins and Anthony Santander got some reps in the World Baseball Classic. I don’t want to blame the conditions in Boston, but the cold, rain and wind presented some challenges. As if the outfield at Fenway Park needs more of them. But there were some botched plays in the infield, too. Maybe just write it off to a bad series.

SARASOTA, Fla. – The Orioles will hold their final spring training workout this morning at the Ed Smith Stadium complex and board their flight to Boston. They get a full off-day Wednesday and begin the playoff hunt the following afternoon.

Opening Day rosters must be set by noon Thursday and the Orioles aren’t ready to announce their final 26. Too much can happen between the waiver wire, opt-outs and possible trades.

The final bench and bullpen spots are getting further scrutiny. The optioning of Grayson Rodriguez and DL Hall finally allowed Tyler Wells to settle into the rotation and made room for another reliever. But Danny Coulombe arrived from the Twins yesterday for cash considerations, a left-handed wrench tossed into the latest projections.

The roster as it stands now has 31 players with Rule 5 pick Andrew Politi on waivers, a move that the club hasn’t announced but a source confirmed.

The placement of John Means, Dillon Tate, Mychal Givens and James McCann on the injured list would make it 27.

The Orioles have made the following roster moves:

• Optioned INF Joey Ortiz to minor league camp.
• Reassigned RHP Kyle Dowdy, SS Jackson Holliday, and INF Connor Norby to minor league camp.

The Orioles’ Spring Training roster currently has 51 players (36+15 NRI).

SARASOTA, Fla. – The 12 roster cuts that followed yesterday’s 7-6 loss to the Phillies included infield prospects Coby Mayo and César Prieto, who weren’t making the club and now can get more at-bats and reps over at Twin Lakes Park before likely assignments to Double-A Bowie.

Mayo went 2-for-14 with a 111.5 mph double, two RBIs, two walks and five strikeouts. Prieto was 3-for-11 with a double and three RBIs.

MLP Pipeline ranks Mayo as the organization’s No. 10 prospect and Prieto 18^th. The top nine players remain in camp.

Also reassigned were first baseman Curtis Terry, outfielder Robert Neustrom, catcher Ramón Rodriguez and right-handers Wandisson Charles, Ofreidy Gómez, Morgan McSweeney Kade Strowd, Cole Uvila, Chris Vallimont and Ryan Watson. The official spring training count is down to 59 players.

“It’s time to just kind of starting reducing our camp size,” said manager Brandon Hyde. “I’m going to try to bring those guys over as much as possible. We’ll have some innings at the end of games to continue to have them play in some of our games, but we just felt like it was important to reduce the camp size a little bit. Want to see those guys get a lot of reps.”

SARASOTA, Fla. – The rest of Jackson Holliday’s teammates who stuck around for Wednesday’s exhibition game were gone from the complex or back indoors to shower and change into their clothes. The kid wasn’t ready to leave the field. He couldn’t just walk away from fans who lined up to get his autograph.

They handed him pieces of paper or baseballs shoved through a gap in the protective netting. One after another. Adults and children.

Holliday has looked the part since he arrived at his first major league camp, with maturity that belies his youthful face. And he’s keeping his locker, surviving yesterday’s first round of cuts that claimed 12 non-roster invites.

He came off the bench again yesterday in Clearwater, replacing Gunnar Henderson at shortstop and grounding out in the eighth inning. He’s 3-for-9 with a double, three walks, two strikeouts and a handful of impressive plays in the field that highlight his range and cannon arm.

“It’s been great,” he said. “It’s been a good learning experience and been pretty awesome to be part of this organization and with all these talented guys and getting to know them and building relationships for the future.”

When it comes to getting an opinion on the young Orioles infield prospects that are showing so well at this spring training, we could do a lot worse than Orioles Hall of Famer Mike Bordick.

A 14-year big league veteran who played home games in Baltimore for parts of 1997 through 2002, Bordick was inducted into the Orioles Hall of Fame in 2011. A 2000 All-Star, he played a major league-record 110 straight errorless games at shortstop during the 2002 season.

He just spent time in Sarasota as a camp instructor for the team and got to see and work directly with top 100 infield prospects who have won much recognition: Gunnar Henderson, Jackson Holliday, Jordan Westburg, Connor Norby, Joey Ortiz and Coby Mayo.

“The Orioles really have stockpiled some of the best athletes in the country as far as shortstops and guys that can play with versatility in the infield,” Bordick told me in an interview this week. “I got to witness some of that with the young players. And I was blown away on many fronts. First of all, their skill level is at the top. A very exciting group of athletic young players.

“Connor Norby, Mayo, Jackson Holliday, and all of this is kind of spearheaded by Gunnar Henderson. Might be sooner than we think that they will talk about him as an MVP candidate in the American League. Just a skillsy, five-tool player. The speed, the power, the great arm and defensive intelligence.