Pregame on clubhouse mood, Jimenez, Steve Johnson and more

On the surface, the players inside the home clubhouse at Camden Yards this afternoon are going about their business in the usual manner. It's just another day, right? "That may be the way it looks to you," said Orioles manager Buck Showalter, "but that ain't right." OK, maybe they just mask their excitement better than most. "Let's face it, the locker room for quite a long period is an interview room, and I understand it," Showalter said. "That's why the sport is so popular. Thank goodness it is that way. Some of these sports laugh at our accessibility, but we laugh at their not being as popular. But I get to see another side. "When you work so hard and you come together in a movie theater in February (in Sarasota) or whatever it was and you talk about all these things, and they talked as much, if not more than I did, to reach a day when you can potentially set yourself up to roll the dice in October ... But let's face it, the world we live in with some of the stuff that goes on, it's not always smart to wear your emotions on your sleeve. That's why you love spontaneous moments, because the sincerity and how much they care really comes out. "That's why when some things happen like last night, they care. It pushes your button." Showalter was asked about his own emotions. "Right now, I'm just trying to figure out how to get a W tonight. That's it," he said. "There are some things I think about. I mean, every night down here I think about Monica (Barlow). Are you kidding? I think about Flanny (Mike Flanagan). Every night I leave here, there's a picture of Mike down by the loading dock. Those are the kinds of things you think about." Showalter joked that it was "by design" that Ubaldo Jimenez has a chance tonight to win the division-clinching game after being removed from the rotation last month. "I've said it many times, he has pitched some really good games for us this year," Showalter said. "There's not a whole lot of us who could walk around with a 4-something ERA in the American League East. But all that being said, I'm hoping the baseball gods give him a little ... He'll be the first to tell you everything is self-inflicted, but he's capable. "We've done everything possible with the work days and the sim games to try to give him a chance to defend himself. But you've got a team that's still in the wild card race that's going to be firing every bullet they've got at him. I've got an idea where I'd take him and where I wouldn't, but when we looked at it, I'd rather us be in a position to cover if there's something he can't get done as opposed to him having to cover what somebody else can't get done. And he deserves the opportunity. "This guy's going to be here and he's going to pitch well for us in the future and I wasn't about to send that message to him. I'm hoping that baseball shines on him a little bit tonight, but it can be cruel, too." Steve Johnson stopped by the clubhouse today to drop off a few items and visit with teammates. As I wrote this morning, he's scheduled to undergo surgery on Sept. 24 in New York to remove a lesion from behind his right shoulder. "I was talking to him earlier today," Showalter said. "To have some peace of mind. You always want to go into the offseason on a positive thought. Can you imagine going through a year where you know you have the capability of pitching so much better and you just can't get there. And to have an idea this might be the problem has got to be pretty uplifting for him. I know it is for us. "It's the type of surgery where, every surgery is serious, so to speak, but this one, the rehab, we have a chance to have Steve back next spring. We'll see what happens between now and then. I know he's encouraged. I'm happy for him because I know how it would give his off-season even more purpose." All six of the Orioles coaches are under contract for next season - John Russell, Dave Wallace, Jim Presley, Bobby Dickerson, Wayne Kirby and Dom Chiti. Showalter said it's a source of pride. "I don't think that happens anywhere else," he said. "I'd challenge you to find out if that's true with any other club. That's a real tribute to ownership and our front office that we're able to get ahead of this. And they're all deserving of it." Showalter received a text message from former pitching coach Rick Adair a few days ago. "It was really classy, long, praising Dom and Dave," Showalter said. Manny Machado will fly into Baltimore Wednesday night and stay with the team through the weekend series against the Red Sox. He will be included in the new team photo on Saturday.