Wilson's start, more on the rotation and more on Reimold

SARASOTA, Fla. - The Orioles make their only trip to Tampa today to play the Yankees and minor league right-hander Tyler Wilson escapes the bullpen to make his first start.

Bring on A-Rod.

Manager Buck Showalter is curious how Wilson will respond to that environment. The Orioles are focused on 2015, of course, but they have 11 pending free agents and want to get a head start on evaluating certain players.

Wei-Yin Chen and Bud Norris could leave after the season and Wilson has a chance to fill one of those spots. The odds won't be set based on today's results, but it's never too early to leave a favorable impression.

Earlier this spring, Showalter warned that the order of his rotation could be based on matchups and may surprise people who are trying to predict it. We know that Chris Tillman will start the April 6 opener against the Rays and Wei-Yin Chen also will pitch in the series.

Showalter let Norris face the Rays yesterday, perhaps an indication that the right-hander will be held back until the first home series against the Blue Jays.

As I noted in a previous blog entry, Norris is 1-2 with a 4.62 ERA in seven games (six starts) against the Rays and 0-1 with a 4.50 ERA in three games (two starts) at Tropicana Field. He's 4-0 with a 2.36 ERA in six starts against the Blue Jays.

Norris is 11-21 with a 4.72 ERA in 43 day games and 42-26 with a 4.07 ERA in 115 night games.

Miguel Gonzalez is 4-3 with a 4.03 ERA in 11 starts against the Rays and 3-1 with a 2.64 ERA in five starts at Tropicana Field. He's 6-2 with a 2.64 ERA in 11 games (10 starts) against the Blue Jays.

Ubaldo Jimenez is 4-1 with a 2.56 ERA in five starts against the Rays and 1-1 with a 4.91 ERA in two starts at Tropicana Field. He's 3-3 with a 4.63 ERA in nine games (eight starts) against the Blue Jays.

Jimenez owns a 3.80 ERA in 156 day games and a 4.41 ERA in 81 night games.

Kevin Gausman is 1-2 with a 3.68 ERA in four starts against the Rays and 1-0 with a 1.38 ERA in two starts at Tropicana Field, with two runs allowed and 12 strikeouts in 13 innings. He's 1-1 with a 4.05 ERA in five games (two starts) against the Blue Jays.

Gausman is 5-1 with a 2.79 ERA in nine starts at night and 2-6 with a 4.23 ERA in 11 starts during the day.

Yesterday's rain washed away Nolan Reimold's home run and double, but we saw them. More importantly, Showalter saw them.

Reimold is 10-for-32 (.313) with a double, home run, seven RBIs, six walks and two stolen bases.

Asked yesterday whether Reimold could be a contributor this season, Showalter replied, "If he can maintain where he is now, yes, without a doubt. If he can maintain where he is physically.

"You've all seen. I've tried to get him involved in every game just about. I think he's leading us in plate appearances because I want to know and he wants to know, more importantly. We've talked about it a lot. You can tell he feels good about himself. We have quite a baseline on him - when he was right, when he was semi-right, when he was wrong, when things just weren't right. So, you can really tell when you know a guy that well. And I think that's part of the reason why he came back to us. He knew he was going to get that opportunity and he had a lot of people in his corner.

"He's a very young 31. Let's face it. He's really playing at about 28 as far as games played. He takes great care of himself, he's running great. That's what really concerned me last year. He wasn't running as well as he normally does."