While Hyde fondly remembers time with Cubs, Mancini does same about O's

CHICAGO – Another O’s series at Wrigley Field means another baseball homecoming for Orioles manger Brandon Hyde. He was with the Cubs from 2011 through 2018, first in their minor leagues and later as bench coach and first base coach for the Cubs.

When the Cubs won the 2016 World Series – their first WS win since 1908 – Hyde was manager Joe Maddon’s first base coach.

Now he is in his fifth year as manager of the Orioles, a team that, like those Cubs teams, went from bad to good with a lot of young talent.

“Always fun to come back here,” he said in the visiting dugout before Friday’s series-opening game. “Got to experience it last year. We played two good games here. Come back in a stadium with so many memories, such a special place. Spent ’12 to ’18 here and there are a lot really good memories I have of great teams and the good people I was around. Got to see a few of them today. Lot of them are gone. But this place is always going to be special.”

He learned a lot on the Cubs' watch and uses some of what he learned then now with the Orioles.

“Joe impacted my life in a huge way. Not only my coaching style and how I navigate through a game but how he ran a ballclub," Hyde said. "How he ran the clubhouse, spring training. He was very influential. So being close to him between ’15 and ’18, and also winning in those years too. That team was really, really good. We won only one World Series, but three National League championships (series) in a row. Just great experiences here.”

And yes, those Cubs and these Orioles are quite comparable, said Hyde.

“There are a lot of comparisons. It starts, really, with talent. You have to have talent in this league to win. Mike (Elias, the Orioles' general manager) has done an amazing job of accumulating as much talent as possible in a short amount of time. Theo (Epstein) and his group did the same thing when I was there. There were a lot of homegrown players, a ton of homegrown players in that ’16 World Series team. And there are going to be a ton of homegrown players here."

Mancini on the Orioles: Former Oriole Trey Mancini went just 2-for-17 in six games against his former club last year. Yesterday was better - for him and his latest club, the Chicago Cubs. They signed Mancini to a two-year deal worth $14 million this winter via free agency.

On Friday the Cubs won for the sixth time in seven games, thumping the Orioles 10-3 as Mancini went 2-for-2 with a pair of doubles and two walks.

For the third time since his trade from the Orioles, Mancini was reunited with his former club and once again talked to media from different cities about what the Orioles meant to him.

“Everything. I think it was probably 10 years ago, possibly from today, that I made my professional debut in Aberdeen (it was actually June 19, 2013). If you would have told me 10 years ago everything that would happen between then and now I don’t know if I would have believed it," Mancini said. "It is always going to hold such a special place in my heart. It’s where I met my wife. It’s where my life was saved. Always indebted to Baltimore, the community, Hopkins and the organization. It’s a special connection that will be never go away, for sure." 

Mancini went through free agency for the first time this past offseason.

“It was pretty slow-moving," he said. "I got married (to former MASN broadcaster Sara Perlman) in December, and that was on the forefront of my mind up to that point. So it at least took my mind off free agency, the what if and all that. Everything came together pretty quickly in January. It wasn’t a lot of time to stew. It came together quickly. I went to college nearby (at Notre Dame) and have a lot of friends here. One of my sisters lives here. It’s cool to be here, and to get to play here everyday is incredible."

He did realize during his free agency that a return to Baltimore was very likely not going to happen. That ship had sailed.

“I think I mostly knew it was off the table. It’s not anything I gave a ton of thought to, in any regard. I tried not to. It’s out of my control and mostly your agent deals with it. I would mostly wait for him to let me know what was going on and I tried to remain emotionally distant from everything. People that have gone through free agency told me that’s the best way to go, and it is. If you can make yourself do that."

Mancini saw a lot of the Orioles' rebuilding efforts - mostly the losing part and the tough times, not quite making it to a point where the club was consistently winning. But he's proud of the current group that has advanced well down the road what he was part of starting.

“You know, at least very close to it (seeing the rebuild to completion)," he said. "I saw the turnaround happen and I’m really happy for them and proud of them the way they have been playing. It’s been really impressive."

Looking to bounce back: O's pitchers had allowed three runs or fewer in six of their past seven games as this series began Friday. But lefty Cole Irvin allowed three homers in one inning and a bullpen meltdown in the Cubs sixth led to Chicago's 10-3 win Friday.

The Orioles (43-26) try to bounce back in this series this afternoon at Wrigley Field, where they are 4-5 all time. 

Ryan O'Hearn had three hits Friday and is 10-for-18 during a five-game hitting streak. Austin Hays drove in two runs for the Orioles and is batting .350 (14-for-40) his last 10 games. He has at least one RBI in seven of his past 11 games.