"Let's talk O's: Ordoñez and Orioles.

Detroit Tigers rightfielder Magglio Ordoñez said today he will return to the lineup Monday in Baltimore.

"I am fine," Ordoñez told the Venezuelan newspaper Lider at Yankee Stadium.

Manager Jim Leyland removed Ordoñez in the sixth inning Saturday against the Yankees because Ordoñez's surgically repaired right ankle was sore.

It's good Ordoñez plans to play, because unlike most of the past 13 years, a visiting team might need all its big hitters to win in Baltimore.

Under the intense and charismatic managing of Buck Showalter and an off-season lineup bolstered by general manager Andy MacPhail, the O's have a chance at their first winning season since 1997.

MacPhail added middle-of-the-order threats Vladimir Guerrero and Derrek Lee, plus all-or-nothing slugger Mark Reynolds. And the Orioles still have Tigers pounders Luke Scott and Jake Fox. (Fox angered the Tigers last week when he swung at a 3-0 pitch in a spring-training blowout; keep that in mind if you see a pitch come close to him in this series.)

The Orioles swept a three-game series in Tampa Bay. "They are a much better team," Leyland said. As the Orioles enter their home opener, there may be another "O" in Baltimore: optimism."