Checking in with some stats and notes before the NY series opener

Some stats, facts and notes to ponder as the Orioles and Yankees hope to begin their rain-delayed series tonight in The Bronx. *The Orioles are 40-26 since Buck Showalter took over as manager. They are six games better than the Yankees during that stretch. *Mark Reynolds is 5-for-9 on the year (.556) when batting with runners in scoring position. His career average is .266 when batting with RISP. *Of the Orioles' 35 runs scored on the year, they have scored 11 in the first three innings and 12 in both the middle and final three innings. They have scored 8 runs in the 7th inning, which is their most productive inning so far. *The Orioles went 5-13 against the Yankees last year and have lost 24 of the last 31 in the series. But they went 3-3 versus New York, including a mark of 2-1 at Yankee Stadium, after Showalter took over. Most career hits versus Orioles since 1954: 363 - Carl Yastrzemski 326 - Al Kaline 291 - Derek Jeter *The Orioles have scored just one run over their last 23 innings with a team average of just .152 (12-for-79) in that time. *The Orioles are 3-0 this year in series-opening games and are 17-4 in those games under Showalter. They went 9-25 in series openers last year before Showalter took over. *Robert Andino started 16 games in 2010 and the Orioles went 9-7 in those games. *After batting .429 as a team with runners in scoring position in the season's first seven games, the O's went 0-for-8 in that stat the last two games. *Orioles starting pitchers have an ERA of just 2.98 on the year. They have given up 17 earned runs on the season but eight of those came in one game. The starting pitching ERA in those other eight games is 1.69. *Vladimir Guerrero is 8-for-21 with a homer and three RBIs during a five-game batting streak. Nick Markakis, despite going just 2-for-18 the last five games, has reached base safely in every game on the year. Mark Reynolds has six RBIs the last four games while Adam Jones has five RBIs his last four games. *The Orioles take a four-game road win streak into the New York series. Coming tomorrow: Join the MASNsports.com staff for the latest Orioles chat with fans Thursday night, at Hightopps Backstage Grille on York Road in Timonium. Pete Kerzel and myself will talk with fans and take questions and comments between 6 and 7 p.m. Then, we'll watch the O's and Yankees battle on MASN. Hope to see you tomorrow night at Hightopps.