Ubaldo Jimenez will try to maintain his momentum

If you're interested in early trends, the Orioles are 5-0 when leading after the seventh inning and 5-0 when leading after the eighth. They're 0-4 when trailing after the seventh inning and 0-4 when trailing after the eighth.

The Orioles are 5-0 when they score first and 0-4 when their opponent scores first.

You're welcome.

The Orioles are 1-0 when Ubaldo Jimenez follows up a strong spring training by tossing seven scoreless innings.

Jimenez held the Blue Jays to one hit, walked one batter and struck out eight. Impressive against anyone, astounding against a team that's capable of putting up three runs during the anthem.

Now comes another challenge, a Red Sox team that's batting a collective .321 against Jimenez in his career.

Pablo Sandoval is 11-for-34 (.324) with two doubles, a triple, two home runs and 10 strikeouts. Dustin Pedroia is 7-for-19 (.368) with a double, Shane Victorino is 6-for-17 (.353) with two home runs, Daniel Nava is 4-for-12 (.333) with three doubles, and Mike Napoli is 4-for-10 (.400) with a double and two home runs.

You get the picture. When he's been on the mound, they've gotten to the pitcher.

David Ortiz is 2-for-13 (.154) with a home run. Hanley Ramirez is 1-for-9 (.111).

Red Sox starter Joe Kelly gave up one hit and struck out eight batters in seven innings in his first start against the Yankees. Exactly the same as Jimenez, except he also surrendered one run and walked two batters, so not quite as good.

Kelly has made two career starts against the Orioles, going 1-1 and allowing five earned runs (six total) and nine hits in 13 1/3 innings for a 3.38 ERA.

The current Orioles are batting .170 against Kelly, going 8-for-47. Travis Snider is 3-for-11 (.273) with a double. Steve Pearce is 2-for-3 with an RBI.

Pearce was removed from the lineup on Wednesday while battling a 2-for-24 slump in his last six games. He's going to play tonight.

I'm flying to Boston this morning and will check in later. The forecast this weekend includes rain, but we've gotten used to it.