Today's game and O'Day's role as bullpen leader

CHICAGO - Anyone else find it ironic or interesting or coincidental that the Cubs-Giants suspended game yesterday was delayed by rain? Anyone? Apparently, it can rain simultaneously on the north and south sides. This is coming from a guy who didn't bring an umbrella to Chicago. The Orioles swept the White Sox and now they're playing the Cubs in their second-ever visit to Wrigley Field. They won two of three in 2008, taking the decisive game 11-4 behind a 4-for-5 day from Aubrey Huff and three hits from Guillermo Quiroz. The man makes a mean sub. And the Cubs were toasted. (Sorry) The Orioles have never faced Jake Arrieta, but five of their batters are a combined 6-for-17 against him. Nelson Cruz is 3-for-7, Chris Davis is 2-for-2, Nick Hundley is 1-for-4, Delmon Young is 0-for-3 and Steve Pearce is 0-for-1. None of the Cubs have faced Kevin Gausman, who's going for his eighth win this afternoon. Guasman has allowed three earned runs or fewer in seven of his last eight starts, though he's failed to complete six innings in five of his last nine outings. In yesterday morning's blog entry, I wrote about reliever Andrew Miller feeling right at home with the Orioles since the first day that he arrived from Boston. I asked bullpen coach Dom Chiti about Miller's smooth transition, and he immediately credited Darren O'Day. "A big part of our bullpen is Darren O'Day," Chiti said. "He's a tremendous person and a tremendous leader. Everybody we have out there has tremendous character and we all want to be greater than the sum of the parts, and I think that's a big part of it. "We all want the same thing. We all want to do our little part to help the team win. And I think all the guys in the bullpen have embraced that. But if you want to give somebody some credit, it's Darren. Darren's like the unofficial leader. The official leader. Whatever you want to call it. And I think that's huge." O'Day calls upon his experiences as the new guy. "This is my fourth team now and every team I've gone to, there's been one guy who's tried to help me kind of transition," he said. "It's a hard thing to do in-season and I think that's why a lot of guys who get traded struggle, because they don't feel comfortable in their surroundings. So, if myself or another teammate can do anything to make these guys feel welcome, we'll do it. "Especially him being in the bullpen. We spend a lot more time with him, as opposed to a hitter being traded over here. My impact on him might be a little more limited. But yeah, Andrew's been great. He's fit in awesome. He fits in with all the inside jokes already. He's been a great addition."