Lineup intrigue and Gausman's important start

Orioles manager Buck Showalter never understands the obsession, curiosity or general intrigue over the daily lineups. I'll ask him about the latest and he'll reply, "Do people really care about this stuff?"

They do. I do. And I now pronounce us reporter and reader.

The Yankees are sending left-hander CC Sabathia to the mound for tonight's series opener in the Bronx, a tale of teams occupying the top two spots in the American League East. Seth Smith and Hyun Soo Kim will retreat to the bench and manager Buck Showalter can figure out how to arrange Mark Trumbo, Trey Mancini, Craig Gentry and Joey Rickard, the latter coming off the disabled list.

My guess is Gentry comes off the bench, since Showalter regards him as a real weapon in the late innings. Rickard could play left field with Trumbo starting in right or serving as the designated hitter.

I'll expand my guess and say Mancini is the DH, his role in his last three starts.

Trumbo is 9-for-33 (.273) with a double and home run lifetime against Sabathia. Gentry is 2-for-11 (.182) with two doubles and Mancini is 0-for-3.

My lineup curiosity also expands, like the waistband on the pants I wear at Thanksgiving dinner. The teams will play early afternoon games on Saturday and Sunday. Showalter has been pairing left-hander Wade Miley with catcher Caleb Joseph. To make this work again on Sunday, Welington Castillo would need to catch a day game after a night game.

Otherwise, Joseph catches Ubaldo Jiménez on Saturday and Castillo is back behind the plate on Sunday.

Joseph is 2-for-11 and still without an RBI since Sept. 11, 2015. Is he having better at-bats?

"A little bit. Not what he's capable," Showalter said. "Caleb, you've seen things offensively from him over the course of his career that show he's capable of doing better things statistically than he's done. So we're trying to stay on that. He's having a great year so far behind the plate. That's for sure."

If you're wondering about Castillo, he's thrown out five of 14 runners attempting to steal for a 36 percent success rate. The league average was 29 percent before last night.

Kevin Gausman has a 7.50 ERA and 2.042 WHIP in five starts, only one of the quality variety, over 24 innings. His 20 earned runs and 15 walks were tied for the major league lead going into last night's games.

I'm going with the "important start" narrative tonight.

Gausman is 6-3 with a 2.24 ERA in 18 career games (12 starts) versus the Yankees and 3-2 with a 2.38 ERA in nine games (six starts) in the Bronx. Brett Gardner is 10-for-31 (.323) with two doubles and a home run. Jacoby Ellsbury is 7-for-34 (.206).

The Orioles already have taken two of three from the Yankees this month. They've won the season series three straight years for the first time since 1980-82.

Wondering about Rule 5 outfielder Anthony Santander? Haven't given him a thought? Well, either way, he's been serving as the designated hitter in games at extended spring training while also sticking to a rehabilitation throwing program. He's got a tender right elbow and the Orioles are keeping him in Sarasota, which also delays the inevitable decision on him.

The Orioles want to keep Santander in the organization. He'd likely pass through waivers, but the Indians would take him back in a heartbeat.

Steve Johnson started Game 2 of yesterday's doubleheader at Triple-A Norfolk and was charged with one run in 3 1/3 innings, with one hit, no walks and four strikeouts. He threw 47 pitches, 32 for strikes, before Stefan Crichton replaced him and let an inherited runner score.

The Orioles are stretching Johnson out after he signed a minor league deal late in camp, which explains the pitch limit.

And finally, the Orioles must decide whether Chris Tillman is ready to be activated Tuesday after he threw five innings last night at Single-A Potomac and allowed six runs (four earned) and eight hits. He walked one, struck out two, surrendered a home run and threw 71 pitches. His fastball topped out at 91 mph, according to colleague Steve Melewski.

Tillman told reporters that he's ready to rejoin the Orioles, that last night represented his best outing based on how he felt and the quality of his pitches, and his final line meant nothing.

"I feel great, but this kind of snuck up on me last year," he said. "I don't think you ever really know. As of right now. I feel great and haven't had any problems."

So it comes down to how much emphasis the Orioles are placing on his results during his rehab assignment.