Britton: "I guess if they're beating the ball in the ground, that's good"

SARASOTA, Fla. - The Orioles will try to locate their offense this afternoon when the Yankees visit Ed Smith Stadium.

One run in the last two games won't bring many wins. How's that for morning analysis?

Don't slip into a panic. The pitchers usually are ahead of the hitters at this stage, and the Orioles aren't sending out their A lineup in every game.

Matt Wieters went 0-for-3 with a walk yesterday and is hitless in 13 at-bats. The good news? He's already got 13 at-bats under his belt and is going to catch on March 17. It's been a good spring so far despite the hitless streak.

Wei-Yin Chen makes his second start of the spring today. He allowed one hit in two scoreless innings in a split-squad game against the Rays in Port Charlotte.

Kevin Gausman will follow Chen to the mound. The Orioles held him to one inning in his debut against the Tigers on March 4. He should be cleared for two today.

Most of the regulars will stay in the lineup today and Wednesday against the Blue Jays in Sarasota, sparing them the trips to Jupiter and Dunedin the next two days. Lots of short straws being drawn for later in the week.

Zach Britton allowed his first baserunners of the spring yesterday, but he still hasn't surrendered a run. He induced three ground balls to the three batters he faced in the intrasquad game and three more ground balls to three batters in a March 5 game against the Blue Jays.

That's got to give an opponent a sinking feeling. Am I right?

The first two Phillies reached against Britton yesterday on a hit batter and Ryan Howard single. Jeff Francoeur bounced into a double play and former Orioles farmhand Russ Canzler grounded to second.

Shortstop J.J. Hardy made a sensational play to start the double play, charging the ball and fielding it on the short hop as if it were routine. And Britton had grounded another opponent.

"I guess if they're beating the ball in the ground, that's good," he said before yesterday's game. "They haven't squared them up, which is good. That means it's moving, doing what it's supposed to do, and then obviously as we go along in spring, just fine-tuning.

"Consistently hitting the bottom half of the zone is what we're getting to, and commanding the breaking ball, which I threw two of them the other day. And two quality ones, which is good."

Britton showed up last spring unsure whether he would start, work out of the bullpen or join another team. He only knew that he couldn't be sent down without passing through waivers, which wasn't going to happen.

He also knew that he felt different on the mound during his bullpen sessions.

"Last year, I think I was in midseason form coming in. Velocity was really up," he said. "Last outing, my velocity was good and that's not something I really worry about this early, but just for my own sanity, you know? Making sure everything's OK, everything's going good.

"I've tried to take it easier. It's hard though. They always say to pace yourself a little bit. This year, we know where the finish line is. But once a hitter gets in there, it's tough. It's the hardest thing. I want to get this guy out. I'm not going to just go out there and go through the motions."

Britton also is trying to get used to already having a spot on the roster. He's the closer. It's etched in stone.

"I think that's the hardest thing is coming in and knowing you need to pace yourself and it's not necessarily about the results here, where in the past it's all been about results," Britton said. "And that's the hardest thing, I think, to wrap my head around is about getting your work in. I still want to go out there and do well."

The importance of readings on the radar gun can be exaggerated, and that's especially true in spring training. I'm guilty of it, too, constantly reporting the miles-per-hour on fastballs. Former Oriole Jeremy Guthrie used to tease me about it on Twitter.

For what it's worth, Britton was 94-95 mph again yesterday.

"The first outing in intrasquad, I was like 91-93, I think, and I was like, 'I thought it was coming out pretty good,' " Britton said. "Then, the last outing, I was back to 4s and 5s, so I was like, 'OK, all right, I'm not going crazy.' It's not important for me in the long scheme of things, but you come in sometimes and you want to make sure it's there, you know? OK, it's there, now I can back off. OK, it's there, I can go back and get it if I need to.

"I've got the velocity, so now I can kind of worry about other things like commanding my breaking ball, commanding my fastball. Those are still the biggest things for me."

Manager Buck Showalter has no complaints about Britton.

"Zach's been Zach since we got here," he said. "Good to see."