More notes on Game 162 (O's lead 5-1)

NEW YORK - The mood in the Orioles' clubhouse this afternoon was the same as usual. No one seemed uptight. Some guys watched the NFL game. Reliever Tommy Hunter brought the usual banter and silliness.

Business as usual for Game 162.

"I think nervousness comes when you're not sure if you're ready," said manager Buck Showalter. "I think our guys are looking forward to the things they've earned the right to be part of this time of the year. I think they look at it as that. I know they do."

Showalter tried to concentrate on college football last night after returning to his room, but baseball updates flowed to his phone.

"Unfortunately, your wife and kids keep you up on this thing called 'texting,'" he said. "I think ignorance was bliss."

Stress comes from deciding which players to exclude from the playoff roster, starting with a possible wild card game.

"The problem is you get to the actual wild card and you've got to wait and see who you're facing. There might be some changes in personnel," Showalter said.

"Nobody's going to go home. They might go to Sarasota. We're ready to deal with that if it comes to pass.

"When you've got somebody who's been with you all year and then all of a sudden, those are like the spring training conversations where you don't look forward to any of them. Our guys understand, but it still stings. It stings me as much as it does them, because it makes you look like you don't appreciate what they've done to be part of this to get to this point.

"You have so many what-ifs. You can't just take one starting pitcher. If he warms up and throws a shoe, you've got to have somebody else to start. We look at the history or stuff. Eight, nine, 10, 11 pitchers. But we'll deal with that. We hope we have the opportunity to make those decisions."

Michael Bourn, on a half-swing, grounded to second base leading off the game - his first time atop the order with the Orioles.

"It's just something we've been thinking about," Showalter said. "He's getting on base, he's been doing some things well. It just seemed like it would be a good fit.

"He's got more experience at it than anybody we have. But we've been doing pretty well with Adam (Jones) there. Adam doesn't really care. As long as he's one of nine.

"If you look at some things with statistics and left-handed relievers and right-handed relievers, we have some things there that we don't mind having three right-handers in a row with the matchups. It just kind of fit well. It was either eight, nine or one. He's only going to lead off once. But Mike's in a good place right now."

The first six Orioles have been retired by Yankees rookie Luis Cessa, who's struck out three batters and benefitted from outstanding plays by third baseman Ronald Torreyes to rob Manny Machado and first baseman Mark Teixeira to rob Matt Wieters.

Kevin Gausman threw only seven pitches in the bottom of the first inning, allowing a single, striking out one and getting a double play.

Update: The Orioles took a 1-0 lead in the third inning on Jonathan Schoop's bloop double and J.J. Hardy's sacrifice fly.

Update II: Matt Wieters' two-run homer, which followed Mark Trumbo's two-out infield hit, increased the lead to 3-0 in the fourth.

Update III: Brian McCann led off the bottom of the fourth with a home run to cut the lead to 3-1.

Update IV: Wieters hit another two-run homer, this one to right field off left-hander Tommy Layne, to increase the lead to 5-1 in the sixth inning. Wieters had three multi-homer games this season and seven in his career.