A few more pregame words from Showalter

Manager Buck Showalter clearly is upset over the results of Randy Wolf's MRI, which he's keeping private at the moment. Showalter has gained a lot of respect for Wolf in the short amount of time that he's managed the veteran. "Randy's a guy who's going to give you a chance out there," Showalter said. "He knows what he's doing, he knows how to pitch. I think we've all seen that with him. This is a guy who's been in a lot of fires in his time professionally, so it's a loss if we do lose him. Unfortunately, we've had a lot of experience with that this year, as you've seen. "I think we're better with him. I'm still hoping we can get something done here in the next two or three days. A lot depends on what Dr. (Lewis) Yocum and Dr. (John) Wilckens come to an agreement on. Don't think for a second we don't look at it as a loss, if it so happens. "It's not like we have any plans to go in there and shoot something up and mask something and have it turn into something even worse. It's about this season and us, but it's about him and his career, too. I've been around Randy a very short amount of time and you can see why he's pitched effectively through 36 years old. He's a competitive guy. Smart, good teammate, all the things we looked at before we acquired him." On a lighter note, Showalter praised Dylan Bundy for listening to veteran Jim Thome, who's got 23 years on the rookie. "Jim Thome told him yesterday, 'Son, don't ever let me beat you to the park again.' He was here this morning at 11 a.m.," Showalter said, grinning. "I think he called him 'young man.' He could have called him son. But he called him 'young man' out of respect." Showalter said Bundy, named the organization's minor league Pitcher of the Year earlier today, has the "right amount of respect for everything, but not to the point where he doesn't think he can do it." "Some guys get over the top confidence-wise. He's got a lot of respect for the level and the competition. It's not like he went through every start and wasn't challenged. He realizes he found a level that challenged him this year. Really, two of them." Catcher Matt Wieters is batting .329 (24-for-73) with five homers and 17 RBIs this month, with a .430 on-base percentage and .616 slugging percentage. His 1.046 OPS is the highest for any month in his career, and his .430 OBP marks just the second time that he's posted an OBP of .400 or better. It also happened in September 2009 (.425). Wieters is a career .307 hitter in September, his highest average for any month by .033 (April is .274). Wieters' next home run will be his 23rd, which will set a career high. His 82 BRIs are 14 more than his previous high, and his 80 RBIs as a catcher lead the American League and rank second to Arizona's Miguel Montero (88). The 80 RBIs are the third-most by an Orioles catcher since 1974, behind Ramon Hernandez (87 in 2006) and Chris Hoiles (82 in 1993).