Gausman eager to pitch Orioles into the postseason
Starter to get the ball at Yankee Stadium
NEW YORK — The Orioles announced before Saturday’s game that right-hander Kevin Gausman is scheduled to start the team’s regular-season finale today at Yankee Stadium with a postseason berth on the line.
“When the smoke clears we’ll look and see if there’s anything that might change that, but I don’t foresee that right now,” manager Buck Showalter said after the Orioles’ 7-3 loss to the New York Yankees.
The Orioles entered Saturday’s game with the chance to clinch a postseason spot with a win, but their loss to the Yankees meant their playoff fate wouldn’t be decided until today’s final scheduled day of the regular season.
Gausman — who has a 1.32 ERA in two starts at Yankee Stadium this year and is 2-0 with an 0.85 ERA in five starts against New York this season — will be pitching in a game with serious implications.
“It’s going to be fun,” Gausman said. “If you had told me at the beginning of the season this is the situation that I was going to be in and had the chance to secure a spot for us, I’d say I’d take that chance and take that responsibility, so it’s pretty exciting.”
Not only has Gausman had success against the Yankees, but his second-half ERA of 3.15 is a full run lower than it was in the first half, and he is 4-2 with a 2.38 ERA over his past seven starts dating to Aug. 25.
“I think I always get better as the season goes on,” Gausman said. “It seems like every year I’m at my best towards the end of the year.”
In the Orioles’ most recent trip to the postseason two seasons ago, Gausman was used out of the bullpen after spending the entire year in the rotation. Though he didn’t start, he played a key role, allowing just one run in eight postseason relief innings, including 32⁄3 innings of long relief that
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kept Game 2 of the American League Division Series against the Detroit Tigers close before Delmon Young’s game-winning three-run double.
Now, there’s no question any postseason contributions will come as a starter.
“I think in 2014, I really didn’t know for sure what I was going to do and then obviously they told me, and I was excited about that,” Gausman said. “I felt like I was throwing great, so when I went out there, it was kind of doing the same thing and you just throw a little bit harder. You get that adrenaline in the playoffs, so I’m kind of excited to kind of start the game and be the guy who gets the ball to start a postseason game and I’ve always thought, being a starting pitcher, it’s your game, especially more in the postseason than ever.” Showalter saw Teixeira overcome hazing as a rookie: Yankees first baseman and Severna Park native Mark Teixeira will play in his final major league game today against the Orioles at Yankee Stadium. He will be honored during a pregame ceremony.
Locally, Teixeira will be remembered for his decision to sign with the Yankees over his hometown Orioles before the 2009 season, something Baltimore still hasn’t forgotten eight years later. During Teixeira’s final game in Baltimore earlier this month, he was still booed heavily.
But Showalter, who was Teixeira’s first big league manager with the Texas Rangers, has another story about Teixeira enduring adversity, detailing how impressed he was with how a 23-year-old Teixeira overcame a massive amount of hazing from Rangers veterans as a rookie.
“When I first got to Texas, we had some bad role models … and some of the hazing, Mark rose above it,” Showalter said. “Mark worked his way through it. … I’d check with him about once a week and some of those guys beat up him pretty good, and I said, ‘You know the thing that bothers me the most is when you’re trying to get to the big leagues, you think it’s going to be the best clubhouse, the best fields, the best umpires, the best teammates.’ ”
Showalter said that over Teixeira’s 14-year career, he’s seen the player take that to heart as he’s taken it upon himself to mentor younger players.
“I said, ‘Mark, someday you’re going to be that guy and you’re going to have the chance to make somebody’s path easier, so remember all the stuff you’re going through and think about what a great impact you’re going to have on some young players lives,’ ” Showalter said. “And I watch him a lot. … He goes out of his way now.” Around the horn: The Peter Angelos-owned horse named after the Orioles manager placed second in its first race of the year, the seventh race at Laurel Park on Saturday. Showalter, who suffered a hoof injury in his previous race in December, received national attention after winning his first race in October. The 3-year-old’s second-place finish Saturday netted $11,466. Showalter is owned by Angelos’ Marathon Farms. … After Michael Bourn’s two-run single in the second inning, he reached base in six straight plate appearance (four hits and two walks) . ... Mark Trumbo’s four hits Saturday matched a season high and marked the fifth time in his past eight games that he’s had multiple hits.