Delmon Young on O's power surge and his time in Baltimore

Delmon Young said it is not hard to explain why the Orioles have hit nine homers in the series against St. Louis. "We're not missing pitches out over the plate that we were missing before," he said simply. Young went 2-for-4 with a double, homer and three RBIs on Saturday. He's now batting .321 with five homers and 19 RBIs in 156 at-bats. Young, who is 9-for-17 as a pinch-hitter, has a .474 slugging percentage and .828 OPS. He is batting .368 since the All-Star break. He has shown an amazing ability to get hits even with very inconsistent playing time. How does he do that? "I don't know, I just try to go pull everything. I've been making contact and pulling everything," he said. No kidding, that is what he said. He is pulling the ball, driving the ball and getting hits. So much for using the whole field. Young said there is a good feeling in the O's clubhouse right now, but no one is getting carried away with a six-game division lead. "We've got a long way to go," he said. "The Blue Jays and Yankees keep winning. Besides trying to win the division, we also want to have the best record in baseball. So we have to keep playing well to try and get to the point where we can clinch at the end of the year and try to get home-field advantage." If the Orioles make the postseason, Young's bat could be a key. He is a career .265 hitter with an OPS of .859 with nine homers in 117 playoff at-bats. He has been in the playoffs each of the last five years and was the 2012 American League Championship Series MVP. The Orioles signed Young as a minor league free agent in January. The Orioles are his fifth team. It seems to be working out quite well for the player and the team. "A lot of fun," Young said of his time as an Oriole. "Winning is always good. The fans are showing up, we've gotten 40,000 throughout the week so it's good when you are on a winning team."