Lavarnway and Clevenger on catching competition

SARASOTA, Fla. - Put on your Mickey ears and join me for the drive to Disney for tonight's game against the Braves.

It's the happiest place on Earth, except for players who train in Sarasota and are making the bus trip to Orlando twice in three days.

I'll ask again: Who makes out this schedule?

Left-hander Wei-Yin Chen makes his final spring start tonight. He's allowed three earned runs (four total) in 13 1/3 innings in the Grapefruit League, and he logged another five-plus innings against the Red Sox's Single-A team at Twin Lakes Park.

Ryan Lavarnway got another start behind the plate last night and went 0-for-4, lowering his average to .167 (6-for-36). He's battling Steve Clevenger for the backup job behind Caleb Joseph, who figures to make most of the starts in Matt Wieters' absence.

Lavarnway seems to have the edge, though you can't tell from his reaction when asked whether he feels good about his chances of making the club.

"I can't make a comment," he said. "That's a better question for Buck (Showalter) and Dan (Duquette)."

So he doesn't have a sense that he's breaking camp with the Orioles?

Lavarnway smiles, hesitates and says, "It's a bad place to put myself."

"I'd like to think I'm doing a good job," he said. "I'm having fun, the guys have been great, getting to know these pitchers more and more each time that I catch them, and more time that I spend with them and talk with them about pitching and talk to them about pitch calling.

"I talk to Matt. Matt's been very gracious and open answering questions that I have and discussing hitters in the division. So it's been fun so far."

Lavarnway knows the importance that Showalter places on defense and handling a staff, and he had a lot to prove after throwing out only 10 of 63 runners attempting to steal in the majors. Showalter seems satisfied with Lavarnway's work behind the plate this spring.

"Defense is always a priority," said Lavarnway, who's 3-for-11 throwing out runners this spring. "You can go 0-for-3 at the plate and play a big part in winning a game if you go out there and catch a good game and put the right fingers down and help the pitcher be his best."

Lavarnway's spring duties included learning a new pitching staff.

"A lot of really good guys," he said. "A lot of guys who have an idea of who they are and what they want to do on a daily basis. They work hard. It's a good group. They have good camaraderie."

Clevenger already knows the staff, breaking camp with the team last spring as Wieters' backup, but familiarity apparently hasn't given him an advantage in the competition. He still appears to be chasing Lavarnway in the final days.

Clevenger pinch-hit last night and flied to the left field warning track, leaving his average at .289 (11-for-38).

"Like I've said, I'm just going to keep playing it out and see how it goes," said Clevenger, who's 4-for-13 throwing out runners this spring. "At the end of the day, Buck and Dan make the decisions and I just want to go out and make my case to make the team.

"No one's said anything to me. We're getting down there and I'm sure they're pretty busy making other decisions, but we should be finding out here soon. Nobody's really talked to me about anything. It will be up to Buck and Dan."

Getting sent down would be a tough pill to swallow.

"Yeah, it definitely would, but at the same time, that's just part of the game and you've got to go down there and keep playing and that's what I'm going to do," Clevenger said. "I'm just going to go down there and play and hopefully have another good year and if I make the team, then I'll be happy, too. But getting sent down to Triple-A, that's a possibility here. I'll just have to go down there and keep playing."

The Orioles acquired catcher Audry Perez earlier this week, giving them another option at Triple-A. Looks like a serious logjam behind the plate.

"Yeah, definitely," Clevenger said, knowing it could directly impact him. "There will be a lot of competition and that entices you to play better. There's nothing really you can control. That's up to Buck and Dan, who they bring in and who makes the team, but I'm going to do my best to try to make their decision tough."