Can winning 2012 wild card game help O's now? (Trumbo on home run title)

TORONTO - It was four years ago tomorrow that the Orioles beat the Texas Rangers 5-1 at the Ballpark in Arlington to win the first-ever wild card game.

Now the Orioles are back again and on the road again. This time against the Toronto Blue Jays at 8:08 p.m. on Tuesday night.

O's catcher Matt Wieters, who homered from both sides of the plate Sunday at New York, played in that game in 2012. So he knows the feeling of taking the field in a one-and-done scenario.

"It's Game 7 right from the get-go," Wieters said this afternoon in the Orioles clubhouse before a team workout here today. "You pull out every stop and whatever is needed to win. Whoever wins has an off day after it is over to recoup. You throw whoever you need to get the win and do whatever you need to get the win.

"I think the emotions will be kind of similar to what they were in '12. Just kind of feeling everything out. In baseball, we have a short-term memory with success on and off the field. But as far as experiences, we have a long-term memory and that can be very helpful in the postseason. A lot of times you see (that as) similar guys have success in the postseason."

Orioles center fielder Adam Jones also played in that 2012 game and has some pretty good memories of that Friday night in Texas.

"It was amazing," he said. "You knew what it was. They made it like the NCAA tournament - one or done, win or go home. I think the best thing about it is we have experience, but they do too. We are playing against a veteran team. We need to use our experience and get after it early."

After their postgame celebration Sunday at Yankee Stadium the Orioles are back again at Rogers Centre, where they won two of three games last Tuesday through Thursday.

But Mark Trumbo was happy to reflect on the postgame celebration, which was his first in the big leagues.

"That is what it's all about," Trumbo said. "It was impressive the way the team came out, knowing how big a game it was. The celebration afterwards, you can't take that for granted. It is the first time in my career I got to experience it. It was every bit as much fun as I was hoping for.

"You know, you watch that every year and hope that at some point you are able to experience it. There are no guarantees. But in spring training, going into the season and looking at the guys we had, I had a really good feeling about our chances."

Trumbo is now officially the American League and major league home run leader. He hit 47, four more than the next closest player, former Oriole and current Mariner Nelson Cruz at 43. Winning the homer title was special for Trumbo.

"I'm obviously very happy with it," Trumbo said. "I think this was a year where some of the goals I had in the offseason were really able to materialize. I think coming into this year I wanted to really focus on driving the ball, doing it consistently and keeping that approach through the entire season. Fortunately, I was able to see that through."

The Orioles have had the AL homer leader for four years in a row. Chris Davis led with 53 in 2013, Cruz with 40 in 2014 and Davis with 47 last season before Trumbo this year. The last AL team to have four straight league homer leaders was the New York Yankees with nine in a row from 1923-31. In the National League, the San Francisco Giants had league homer leaders from 1961-65.

As a final note, you have probably heard that Chris Tillman and Marcus Stroman were named the starting pitchers for tomorrow's game.