the o’s buck up

Without a doubt, the series to watch this weekend is Baltimore-New York at Yankee Stadium. It’s a tremendous opportunity for the Orioles, who are just 3 games behind the Yankees in the American League East, and it’s a showcase for manager Buck Showalter, the former Mississippi State All-American (1977) who has worked some real magic with the perennially awful O’s. No one expected anything from Baltimore this season, the well-traveled Showalter’s third with the club. Baltimore won 69 games in 2011. Sports Illustrated predicted the Orioles would win 63 this year. They’ve already won 72. They’ve got their first postseason appearance since 1997 clearly in sight. Much of the credit has to go to Showalter. Yes, his managerial career has been somewhat mercurial. He has a .512 career winning percentage but has never managed to stay in one place more than four seasons. He was the AL manager of the year in 1994 with the Yankees but was gone after the ’95 season. He lasted just three years in Arizona with a club he built from scratch, a club that would win the World Series the year after he departed. He was AL manager of the year in 2004 with Texas but was gone after the ’06 season. If the once-proud O’s make the postseason this year, it’d be shocking to see Showalter leave anytime soon. Heck, they might erect a statue of him at Camden Yards. P.S. Former Ole Miss standout Alex Presley has been recalled from Triple-A by Pittsburgh, which is still in the NL playoff hunt despite its recent struggles. The lefty-hitting outfielder was at .234 with eight homers when he was sent down.