Mark Trumbo and Adam Jones talk about Manny Machado

The more he continues to play well at an incredibly high level, it seems the more Orioles players are getting questions about Manny Machado. What has been behind his great season, they are being asked.

A couple of Machado's teammates fielded such questions yesterday including outfielder Mark Trumbo. He played with Mike Trout, now he plays with Manny. What impresses him so far about Machado?

"He takes care of what he needs to take care of," Trumbo said. "He's got a nice routine and he knows what he is doing. The most impressive thing to me is when he gets pitches to hit, he doesn't miss them. That is the sign of a good hitter.

"He is also very patient. He doesn't chase those breaking balls out of the zone. He takes his walks when they're there. If they choose to come at him, he makes them pay.

"You know the parallels are there betweem him and the other quality players I've played with. You know the sky is the limit. He's a young guy that is in, who knows if he is in the prime of his career now, or it is yet to come. It is pretty scary if he does keep getting better."

Machado had yet another multi-hit game last night. He went 2-for-5 and scored twice as the Orioles rallied from five runs down to beat Detroit 7-5 at Camden Yards. He has 17 multi-hit games, including 14 with two hits, two games with three hits and one with four hits.

Machado extended his hitting current hitting streak to six games last night. He is batting .440 (11-for-25). He has also hit safely in 12 of his last 13 games (.415/.475/.774) going 22-for-53 with nine multi-hit games in that stretch.

In 19 home games this year, Machado is batting .423 (33-for-78) with 11 doubles, seven home runs, 17 runs scored, 19 RBIs, an .833 slugging percentage and an OPS of 1.304.

After Machado hit two homers and drove in six runs on Sunday against Oakland, O's center fielder Adam Jones sent this out on his Twitter account - "Told u he was special."

It was a pretty clear reference to Machado. But yesterday, given a chance to talk further about what makes Machado's play so special this season, Jones preferred not to analyze or over-analyze what he and all of us have been watching.

"When you are good, you're good," Jones said. "If you just try to figure out reasons why, that just creates pointless rhetoric, I think. Just sit and watch him play and just embrace it. Don't try to think too much about it, just watch him play. That is all I'm doing. I'm just a spectator like everybody else."

There has been some discussion this year about comparing Machado to the Nationals Bryce Harper. Does Machado compare favorably? On the stat sheet right now, not only does he compare favorably, but in several stat categories Machado exceeds the reigning National League MVP.

Machado: .360 avg., .416 OBP, .691 slugging, 1.107 OPS, 15 doubles, 10 homers, 23 RBIs, 29 runs.
Harper: .264 avg., .441 OBP, .604 slugging, 1.045 OPS, 6 doubles, 10 homers, 27 RBIs, 22 runs.

That doesn't even bring defense into the discussion and we all know how good Machado is with his glove and arm. Anyone that feels right now that you can't favorably compare Harper and Machado is doing it wrong.