It looks like the Orioles bullpen is good again

Remember that time when the Orioles bullpen was scored on in the first 10 games of the season and had an ERA of 5.30?

It actually happened, and there was concern then. Since then, the bullpen has long since gotten its act together, and the 'pen pitchers gave up just one run in the sweep of Boston.

After they beat the Red Sox on Tuesday night, Orioles outfielder Adam Jones wanted to talk about the club's pitchers more than several great plays he had made in that game.

He noted how the O's bullpen really picked up the slack when Brian Matusz went on an eight-game suspension, making them a man short.

Jones even praised pitchers who had not pitched in the game that night.

"We've got a good bullpen," Jones said. "Guys no one mentions are Chaz Roe and Brad Brach. Those guys have been big staples. Chaz joined us two or three weeks ago, and for seven or eight outings, he's been really, really good. Brach has been really, really good. You know the names of (Darren) O'Day, (Zach) Britton and Tommy (Hunter), but you can't get to those guys without having that bridge and we've had a bridge to get to our back end."

The Orioles bullpen gave up just one run in last night's win. So in the three-game series against Boston, the bullpen pitchers allowed one run and four hits in 12 innings, with two walks and 14 strikeouts.

Boston batters hit just .103 (4-for-39) against the O's bullpen the last three nights.

O'Day said the bullpen group felt challenged by pitching a man short for several games and wanted to prove they were up for it.

"We're short a man, so we're all going to get extended a little bit. Guys love to pitch," O'Day said. "We've all gone multiple innings before and we're capable of doing it and Buck (Showalter) is doing a good job of managing us."

The Orioles have shown they have some pitching depth between Triple-A Norfolk and Baltimore as pitchers like Mike Wright, Tyler Wilson, Oliver Drake, Cesar Cabral and Roe have all come up to the big club and pitched well.

Britton said that it is very important over the long season to have such depth.

"If we are going to be successful, that has to happen. That's the way we've been successful the last couple of years. Whatever you want to call it, that shuttle from here to Norfolk, and guys coming up and doing a good job and not sulking when they get sent down," Britton said. "That is the way it works if you have options. It speaks volumes for the guys that we bring up. They go back, do a good job, come right back and don't skip a beat. That is big if we want to get to the World Series."

The O's bullpen has an ERA of 3.12 on the season to rank fourth-best in the American League. In 2014, the bullpen ERA was 3.10 to rank third-best in the AL.

Looks like that 'pen is indeed good again.

Yankees come to town: The New York Yankees lead the American League East and come to town tonight for what should be an exciting weekend series. The Orioles begin play this weekend trailing New York by four games.

This yea,r the Orioles are 3-4 in the season series. They had not lost a single series against the Yankees (going 6-0-1) since Sept. 9-12, 2013, until they dropped three of four at New York on May 7-10.

But the Orioles are 14-8 against the Yankees since June 21, 2014 and have won 16 of their last 21 games at Camden Yards versus New York. When the Orioles won the season series 13-6 last year, that marked their most wins against the Yankees since 1976.

Two out of three - or better yet, three of three this weekend - would prove to be rather important for the Orioles right now. Are they up for it?