Some notes after a much-needed win

It all looks so much better when the Orioles combine a solid pitching performance with a few home runs.

Saturday's win was much needed and today the Orioles look to salvage a four-game split in this series. A win today would give the Orioles a 4-3 record on the road against Tampa Bay and the Yankees mixed in with an 0-2 record against the Mets.

Wei-Yin Chen began yesterday with the lowest ERA (2.83) among qualifying major league starting pitchers that were winless this season. He finally got into the win column with a strong seven-inning outing where he gave up just one run.

Chen is now 1-1 with a 2.52 ERA and has an ERA of 2.08 in two starts against the Yankees. While he got his first win, the Orioles are 4-2 in his six starts and he leads the staff with four quality starts. He has allowed two earned runs or less in five consecutive starts.

Jimmy Paredes was again big for the Orioles at the plate. He came up a double short of the cycle with a solo homer in the third, a triple in the seventh and a single in the ninth. He went 3-for-5 and is now batting .347. He is 5-for-12 in this series with a triple, two homers and four RBIs.

Over his last 12 games, he is batting .346 (18-for-52) with three doubles, two triples, four homers and 13 RBIs. Paredes is batting .500 (8-for-16) with a homer and nine RBIs when batting with runners in scoring position.

Manny Machado batted leadoff for the Orioles for the sixth time. He is batting .286/.400/.476 in the leadoff spot.

The Orioles had scored just 10 runs in four losses in New York and 18 runs in their last seven games before Saturday's 6-2 win. That is their most runs since the 8-2 win in the zero-attendance game April 29 against Chicago.

The Birds' three homers tied a season high. They hit three on opening day April 6 versus Tampa Bay and three more on April 11 against Toronto.

Now they look to wrap up this long stretch away from home with a win before they return to Camden Yards Monday night to begin a stretch where they will play 17 of 20 games at home.

To the moms: Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there. My mom died just over four years ago, but she taught me so much and she is with me every day. Between my older sister Rosalie and my mom, I was and am lucky to have had two strong and amazing women in my life. It was during the season in 2011 when my mom passed away after dealing with Alzheimer's for many, many years. Unfortunately, my family got a look at just about every phase of that illness and then some.

Here was the tribute I wrote for my mom four years ago and it is the story that can bring a few tears just about anytime I take another look at it. By the way, the comments could not be retrieved from that article. I got hundreds and they were so welcome back then. I wish they could be located, as it would be wonderful to read them all over again.

Anyway, I miss my mom, but she had a long and full life, and left her mark. Hope any of you that get to hug your moms today let them know how special they are.