BOWIE, Md. - Chris Davis arrived in Bowie a little after 4 p.m. today. There was no on-field batting practice, so he took some swings in the cage and took a few ground balls on the field.
Now it's almost time for him to play a rehab game at 6:35 p.m., one that could soon lead him back to the lineup in Baltimore. Davis has been on the disabled list since April 27 with a left oblique strain.
Will this will be a one-night appearance in Bowie? He's able to come off the DL on Sunday.
"I don't...
BOWIE, Md. - The last time Chris Davis played in Double-A Bowie, he batted third and played third base. It was Sept. 5, 2011. Davis had been in the Orioles organization for just weeks and the Orioles were still weeks away from ruining Boston's season on the final day of the year.
So, yeah, it's been a while.
Tonight's Baysox lineup is out and, as expected, Davis will bat second and play at first base. He is wearing No. 24.
The last time he played at Bowie, Davis was on the major league...
Watching Manny Machado, LJ Hoes and Jonathan Schoop all play in the same game last night, I could have been easily confused and thought I was watching a game at Single-A Frederick or Double-A Bowie.
But this was Baltimore, this was the big leagues, and those O's developed players all had good moments in the game last night.
Schoop's single put the Orioles ahead in the seventh. Schoop has four RBIs his last three games. When he bats eighth, Schoop is hitting just .146 but as the No. 9 hitter...
A lot of Orioles came through tonight in a 4-3 win over Houston. That included 22-year-old rookie second baseman Jonathan Schoop. His two-out single in the seventh broke a 2-2 tie and was a clutch hit for the Orioles.
"Just was looking for a pitch I could hit to put us on top," Schoop said. "Think it was a fastball or a cutter. I was ready for it and drove it up the middle.
"I am trying to be more relaxed if I can and don't try to do too much. Go up there, look for your pitch and hit...
Orioles manager Buck Showalter was talking about the clutch nature of two-out, run-scoring hits before tonight's game. Then his team went out and came up with a couple of big ones to lead the O's past Houston 4-3 tonight in front of 28,875 at Camden Yards.
After Houston tied the game 2-2 in the top of the seventh, the O's untied it off reliever Jerome Williams in the bottom half.
J.J. Hardy led off the frame with a double and was at third with two outs. Then Jonathan Schoop lined a sharp...
Now that the Orioles are playing well with a record of 13-8 against the American League East, they will try to win a few series outside of the division.
It's not like they haven't done that. They swept a doubleheader against Pittsburgh. But the Orioles lost two of three to Detroit, Kansas City and Minnesota.
They went 0-3 in those series and 5-2-1 in the other eight series they've played.
After coming off their sweep against Tampa Bay, and with six wins the last eight games, the Orioles host...
Before he took the field and had an impressive batting practice session today, Chris Davis talked earlier in the Orioles clubhouse and wondered just how long his oblique injury has hindered his swing this year.
"I've looked at a lot of swings from the first couple of weeks and my follow through just didn't look the same, just didn't look right. Felt good yesterday (hitting in an indoor cage) to get back on track," Davis said.
Davis, who has just two homers in 22 games, indicated the...
Single-A Frederick right-hander Matt Hobgood is seeing a doctor today after leaving his relief outing last night with shoulder tightness and stiffness.
The Orioles' 2009 first-round draft pick came on to pitch in the sixth inning against Winston-Salem, gave up a single and then got a strikeout before leaving the game.
After pitching at a velocity between 92 and 95 mph most of this season, his fastball was only touching as high as 88 mph last night.
"He just felt some stiffness in his shoulder...
Tommy Hunter had pitched in five of the last seven games and Zach Britton had pitched in three in a row. Even without two of their key bullpen arms, the O's relievers did a great job in closing out that game last night.
Ryan Webb, Brian Matusz and Darren O'Day pitched the final 3 2/3 innings without allowing a run and giving up just two hits. Both hits came off O'Day to start the last of the ninth, but three quick outs followed over the next six pitches and the sweep was secured.
The O's...
Steve Pearce homered, Ubaldo Jimenez gave up just one run and the Orioles' bullpen pitched 3 2/3 scoreless innings as the Orioles beat Tampa Bay 3-1 tonight to complete a three-game sweep.
There was some bottom-of-the-ninth drama again tonight. With Tommy Hunter having pitched in five of the last seven games, Darren O'Day came on to get the save. He got it after the first two batters singled to put the tie runs on. A double play ball and a grounder to first followed to end the game.
The...
Right-handed pitcher Matt Hobgood, the Orioles' 2009 first-round pick, left a relief outing tonight after facing just two batters for Single-A Frederick due to tightness in his shoulder.
Hobgood came on to pitch in the top of the sixth at Harry Grove Stadium for the Keys against Winston-Salem. He gave up a single, got a strikeout and then was removed as Lex Rutledge came on.
The Orioles' top pick, taken fifth overall in the 2009 draft, Hobgood had shoulder surgery on April 2, 2012 and...
Sometimes the stat sheet doesn't tell the whole story. For O's reliever Zach Britton right now, it tells a lot.
He is pitching well, he is pitching often, and he is pitching with great sink on his low to mid 90s two-seamer.
Britton is 3-0 with an ERA of 0.89 in 15 games. He has already pitched 20 1/3 innings to lead all O's relievers. No one else has thrown more than the 12 2/3 frames pitched by Tommy Hunter and Ryan Webb. Britton has faced 79 batters this year and no other O's reliever...
The Orioles go for their first three-game sweep against Tampa Bay on the road since April 1-3, 2011. This would be the O's third series sweep of the season, because going 2-0 in rain-shortened series against the Rays and Pirates does count.
The Orioles lost six of their last seven games at the Trop last season and went 3-7 there on the year.
A win tonight would give the O's a 9-4 record in American League East road games. They won just 15 of 38 AL East road games all of last season.
The...
A few observations after the latest Orioles win which featured the latest escape by Tommy Hunter as he picked up his 10th save in 11 chances:
* The most analyzed and over-analyzed Oriole I can ever remember, Adam Jones, got his homer swing back last night. He crushed two balls to center field and not one person complained he swung at the first pitch. At least not to me.
Jones was due to hit some homers with just one on the year before the game. Many theories were thrown out about Jones here...
The longball returned to the Orioles offense tonight. Tied for 12th in the American League in homers at game time, the O's blasted three tonight as they beat Tampa Bay 4-3 at Tropicana Field.
It got interesting in the last of the ninth. Tampa Bay's Ryan Hanigan singled with one out to bring Tampa within 4-3 and put runners at first and third. But Tommy Hunter got out of the jam, getting a soft line drive to second and then a liner back to the mound that he gloved to end the game. It's...
Let's start with this stat that could get your attention: If the Orioles win one of the next two nights, they will have three road series wins this year in the American League East. They didn't win their third AL East road series in 2013 until Sept. 13-15 at Toronto.
After going 15-23 (.395) in AL East road games last season, the Orioles are 7-4 (.636) so far in 2014, winning two series and tying one.
They are 3-0 this year against the Rays, after losing 11 of the final 13 games to Tampa Bay...
So where have all the homers gone?
The Orioles have hit 23 homers over their first 30 games. That ties for 12th in the American League and just five teams in the majors have hit fewer. After 30 games last season, the Orioles had hit 34 homers.
Last year at this point, the O's had eight multi-homer games and now they have just four.
This from the team that led the majors in 2013 with 212 homers, which was 24 more than Seattle, the next-closest team. The Orioles had four players hit 20 or...
Does Tommy Hunter need to put runners on base before he dials it up and gets hitters out?
Is he really the new Don Stanhouse, as MASN's Rick Dempsey said?
The new Orioles closer is 9-for-10 in save chances after getting out of a one-out, runners on second and third jam against Tampa Bay last night.
Hunter's stats after he gets a runner or runners on base are very impressive. Opposing batters are just 5-for-26 (.192) with nine strikeouts against him when they bat with one or more on base....
Ryan Flaherty began tonight batting just .194 with just three hits over his last 20 at-bats. But his bases-loaded single in the eighth gave the Orioles the lead and they beat Tampa Bay 5-3 at Tropicana Field to open a three-game series.
After Tampa Bay tied the game 3-3 in the seventh, the Orioles scored twice in the eighth. Matt Wieters singled and went to third on Steve Clevenger's double. A walk to Steve Pearce loaded the bases for Flaherty.
His single off Joel Peralta made it a 4-3 and...
The Orioles return to Tropicana Field tonight. That is the place where the 2013 season unofficially ended. The O's lost an 18-inning game there late last September and three more losses followed. They fell out of any wild card contention with a week left in the season.
Going 6-13 last year against Tampa Bay didn't help their chances either. In 2012, when the Orioles returned to the playoffs, they had a winning record against every American League East team, including a 10-8 mark against...