Takes on Adams, Wieters and the future of No. 46

A few notes and opinions as the Orioles get set to host the Yankees in what figures to be an emotion-filled weekend, where the weatherman will be the most closely monitored person in town. *Did the Yankees tire themselves out yesterday? As the clubs get set to begin a five-game series tonight, New York comes to town off yesterday's 22-9 win over Oakland where the Yankees became the first team in major league history to hit three grand slams in one game as Robinson Cano, Curtis Granderson and Russell Martin all connected. New York is 9-1 against the Orioles this year, out-scoring the Birds 82-30. The Yankees are 4-0 at Camden Yards this year and have won 20 of their past 26 games in Baltimore. But this is the first five-game series between the teams in Baltimore in nearly 29 years. The Orioles swept the five-game series that last time in Baltimore, from September 13-16, 1982. *Ryan Adams is taking advantage of his chance to play. When he was here the first time, Adams got just six starts and 23 at bats in 25 games. Now he has started all four games since his recall from Norfolk and he went 6-for-15 in the Twins series with two doubles, two RBIs and four hits over the last two games. He also made several nice plays in the field and it seems Adams has to prove himself with the glove more than the bat at this point. If Brian Roberts cannot return to full-time duty in 2012, the Orioles need to know if Adams is an option at second base. Finally, they are taking a look at him and they must like what they see so far. *Is Matt Wieters poised for a big finish at bat? Wieters hit four homers with 16 RBIs and an OPS of .826 in April. But then he knocked in just 21 runs over 70 games in May through July and had an OPS of under .700 in each of those three months. Now his bat is heating up again. Wieters is 10-for-22 over his last six games and has at least one RBI in each game. In 20 games in August, he is batting .306 with three homers, 10 RBIs and a .910 OPS. He has 10 extra-base hits in those 20 games. *This series with New York figures to be emotion-packed. Not only will there probably be many Yankees fans in the park this weekend, but many emotions figure to be churning in the fans and O's players as they return home for the first time since the death of Mike Flanagan. My take on Jeremy Guthrie and No. 46: I think Guthrie should continue to wear No. 46 at least through the rest of this season. At that point, I feel the Orioles should strongly consider retiring the number to honor Flanagan. It is somewhat fitting that Guthrie wears 46, since he was acquired while Flanagan served in the GM's role. He is a gamer like Flanny was and Guthrie's bulldog mentality on the mound and class dealing with mounting losses and frequent lack of run support shows the kind of person he is. I think he honors Flanny by taking the mound with that number and should keep it, at least for the rest of this season. A note from the minors: The Orioles team in the Dominican Summer League won two games yesterday to win its DSL playoff series two games to one over the Brewers. Janser Severino pitched a complete-game, two-hit shutout with six strikeouts as the Orioles won 1-0 in game two of the series to tie it at a win each. The Orioles won the third and deciding game, 10-3, as catcher Jhonatan Javier had a homer and five RBIs. In the series, he went 6-for-12 with seven RBIs. The DSL Orioles now meet the Royals in the best of three league semi-finals with the Mariners and Angels meeting in the other semi-final.