Friday Bird Droppings

Greetings from Birdland. We'll set aside any comments on the weather for the moment (though, the outlook for tonight's series opener in New York is bleak), but the Orioles sit atop the division having just taken their second series from a division rival in as many tries. This weekend's series against the Yankees is as meaningful as an early season series can be, I suppose, but if ever there was a time to nip a few, the time is now. If Manny Machado is heating up and Chris Davis has shaken off his mini-funk, all bets are off, but don't count on C.C. Sabathia to be as charitable as Alfredo Aceves.

Goose Gausman continued burnishing his rep as a top shelf prospect with his second start at Bowie last night. Our man on the scene will have more on that later this morning.

What's up this weekend? Anyone going to the games in the Bronx? Watching the Masters? Opinions on "42"?

Orioles win second straight, 3-2 over Red Sox | CSN Baltimore Rich Dubroff has the skinny on postgame reax.

Steve Melewski: Orioles will field two Dominican Summer League teams (plus other notes from Bowie) A plethora of newsy tidbits from the player development side of things from Steve-O.

Orioles prospect Dylan Bundy cleared to resume throwing | HardballTalk Saints be praised. O's are going to be very careful here.

PressBox: Five Unnerving Things About The 2013 Orioles Early optimism check.

Huh? New study links home-run hitting to face size | Big League Stew - Yahoo! Sports Science Friday.

It's the birthday of noted hitting guru Charley Lau. Lau caught for the Birds a few seasons and served as hitting coach in 1969.