O's game blog: Some notes and some quotes as the homestand begins

The Orioles' latest homestand begins tonight here against the 2013 National League champion St. Louis Cardinals. The Yankees come to town Monday. The Orioles begin play tonight with the largest division lead in baseball at five games and with the majors' third-best record at 65-49. St. Louis is 61-52 and is one game out in the NL Central. The Orioles are just 1-5 all-time against the Cardinals. They lost two of three in St. Louis in 2003 and got swept three straight here in 2011. Tonight, Chris Tillman (8-5, 3.78 ERA) faces right-hander Justin Masterson (5-6, 5.63 ERA). Tillman is making his first career start against the Cardinals. Tillman has been a pitcher on a roll: * He has pitched to an ERA of 2.00 over his last three starts. * Over his last 11 starts, he is 3-2 with an ERA of 2.38. He's allowed three earned runs or less in each start, recording nine quality starts. On Saturday, Ubaldo Jimenez will come off the disabled list and rejoin the O's rotation. He is 3-8 with a 4.52 ERA over 18 starts. He got off to a terrible start, pitching to a 6.59 ERA in April. But since then, he is 3-4 with a 3.73 ERA in 13 starts. Jimenez was asked today how big it would be for him to return to the team and make a solid contribution. "That is the only thing I have in my mind, to compete and help the guys to win it all," he said. "Something I put in my mind is the first half is over. Now I have to start like it's the beginning." He said it's been difficult both not pitching well and going over a month since his last major league start on July 5. "It's been hard. This was my second time being on the DL. Probably the first time I've been away from pitching that long. It's not easy," Jimenez said. "It's frustrating. You see your team doing good, but you're not a part of it. You have to prepare yourself mentally and physically for when you come back to be there for the team." Since July 1, the Orioles are 22-10 and their .688 winning percentage is the best in the majors. The Orioles have pitched to an ERA of 2.91 in those 32 games. That ranks third in baseball in that time behind only Seattle (2.51) and San Diego (2.60).