Showalter on Chen, the chance to clinch and Stroman's pitch

The Orioles' magic number for clinching the American League East is Al Bumbry. The Orioles held their composure tonight and defeated the Blue Jays 5-2 before 25,061 at Camden Yards. A win on Tuesday night gives Baltimore its first division title since 1997. The Yankees lost tonight and were eliminated from the race. Wei-Yin Chen won his 16th game, Zach Britton earned his 35th save, manager Buck Showalter tied Billy Martin for 36th place on the all-time wins list with 1,253 and the Orioles moved a season-high 30 games above .500. One more win and the home clubhouse at Camden Yards will be soaked in champagne. "It's pretty special to come in here tomorrow and have a chance to do that," Showalter said. "I've had a lot of sleepless nights for a lot of reasons, but tonight I look forward to losing that sleep. It's been a long, hard grind to have that opportunity and I'm looking forward to the chance to see our guys get a chance tomorrow. We've worked hard for this opportunity tomorrow." The Orioles haven't clinched the AL East with a win at home since 1969, so doing it in 2014 enhances the moment. "Oh sure it does," Showalter said. "Have you been in the locker room in Toronto? New York's is pretty nice, but it would be nice to do it in front of our fans, but we'll see. We really don't want it to happen on the off-day. Kind of like what happened on the plane, so we get a couple pops at it here. "You've got people that care and the sky's always the limit when everybody's always pulling on the same rope and you've got one heartbeat. Things that you wouldn't think can be done can be done. That's why team sports are so special, why baseball is such a great sport, because it's the epitome of a team game. You can't make your best guy hit with the bases loaded, you can't make the ball be hit to your best defender, you can't have the same guy pitch every pitch. Everybody's got to contribute. And not only here, but in the whole organization. Tomorrow's opportunity is a product of that." Ryan Flaherty hit a two-run homer in the fourth inning that increased the lead to 5-1. "We talk about him a lot," Showalter said. "Nobody works harder than Ryan and cares more and wants to be there. With J.J. (Hardy) being out some, knowing that he can play third or second, he creates some good options for us as we go forward. He had some good at-bats for us. "Steve Pearce, did he get on three or four times? He's very quietly hitting over .290 again." Showalter eased his way into questions about Blue Jays rookie Marcus Stroman throwing behind Caleb Joseph's head in retaliation for Jose Reyes hurting his left hand while diving into home plate and jamming it against the catcher's foot. "We scored more runs than they did and won a game that we're trying to get closer to our goal. It's an emotional game played by people who care," Showalter said before changing the subject. "Chen was real good tonight, OK? Wei-Yin threw the ball well against an all right-handed lineup that matches up well against him. We can get back to all that happy you know what. I thought Brad (Brach) was good, Tommy (Hunter) was good, Zach (Britton) did the job for us again against a real tough part of their lineup that had a lot of power potential there, so that was good to see. But Wei-Yin, how many wins is that now for him? 16? That was good." OK, about Stroman's pitch ... "The intentional throwing at Caleb? You talking about that?" he asked. "If you look at the history of what's going on, it should never happen, especially at the head. You look at what's happened with (Chase) Headley and (Giancarlo) Stanton. It's a hot button, especially for what reason? Let's face it, he's 23 years old, emotional, you see him coming off the mound doing his little whatever. "I'll let Toronto take care of that and I'm sure the league office will do what needs to be done. Caleb made a perfectly legal play the way it's supposed to be done. I'm still trying to figure out what they're mad about. Caleb is right where he was supposed to be." Plate umpire Ted Barrett warned both dugouts. "I understand that warning," Showalter said. "There were grounds there for ejection. It kind of puts us more in harm's way than them. He certainly would have been correct either way." The Orioles can't afford to sustain another injury or suspension as the playoffs near. They must turn the other cheek, no matter how infuriating. "You've got keep some sanity," Showalter said. "I have probably had more conversation over the years telling somebody not to do something. I've never told somebody to throw at somebody. I'm not going to tell you what I told Brad. You let your emotions take over and all of a sudden someone's lying at home plate in a pool of blood with a blow to the head. How really manly do you feel? Was it really worth it? "If you don't have the command to throw the ball where you're supposed to to deliver a message, then you shouldn't be throwing at all there. It really pushed the hot button with all of us because it certainly wasn't called for. That was obvious. It was borderline professionally embarrassing." Stroman naturally claimed that it was accidental. "Fastball in that just kind of slipped out of my hand," he said. "It's late in the game. I got two big strikeouts. I'm a little excited, and trying to get out of the inning. I know it's possibly my last hitter. Just trying to execute a fastball in. I know if I throw that pitch in that location, I know I have a chance to get out of that inning quick, maybe one or two pitches. And it just kind of slipped, kind of slipped out of my hand." Reyes claimed that Joseph stepped on his hand. "Just stuff happens in the middle of the game, you know? A lot of energy," Reyes said. "That's in the past. It's good. No problem at all." What about the words he exchanged with Joseph and the Orioles dugout? "He turned around to say something, so I have to respond because in the beginning I thought it wasn't right because I think I made it to home plate easy," Reyes said. "He don't even have the baseball in his glove and I'm going to touch home plate. But like I said, it's in the past, it is what it is. It's part of the game, stuff like that is going to happen sometimes. "I think the pitch for sure got away from Stroman. There's no way you have intention to hit a guy there. That pitch was close to the head. We don't want to see no one hit in the head." Before I close this entry, and my laptop, I need to share a quick story that I tweeted earlier. There was a horrible accident this afternoon on 295 that closed all the southbound lanes. A truck slammed off both retaining walls and flipped on its side. One man was thrown out a side window. Another man was pinned underneath the vehicle. The first man to rush over attempted to flip the truck on its tires. He waved for other drivers to assist him and the group eventually got the vehicle upright as police arrived. The first man was Chris Davis, who was headed to the airport to pick up his friends.