A few notes on Hardy

I'm back home this afternoon after a nice visit with family in Ocean Pines. My fridge is filled with leftovers, the lineup including chicken piccata with angel hair pasta, chicken cacciatore with noodles, roast beef, mashed potatoes with sour cream, soft shell crabs and crab cakes. The beef stroganoff never made it into the cooler - I emptied that container in a few days - but we have homemade chocolate chip and oatmeal raisin cookies for dessert Anybody hungry? Shortstop J.J. Hardy isn't starved for hits over the past four games - you saw what I did there - having gone 5-for-11 with two doubles, a home run, two RBIs and four runs scored. In a strange twist of splits, Hardy is batting .298 with three home runs and 24 RBIs in 245 at-bats against right-handers this season and .242 with one home run and four RBIs in 91 at-bats against left-handers. He's a career .260 hitter against right-handers and .266 hitter against lefties. The Orioles will face two right-handers in their three-game series against the Angels, including Matt Shoemaker tonight in the opener. Hardy is a career .231/.260/.388 hitter in 31 games against the Angels, including a .227/.256/.413 line in 18 games in Anaheim. Hardy's .285 average ranks first among American League shortstops with 200 or more at-bats. A leftover note on catcher Caleb Joseph: His streak of reaching base ended yesterday at seven games.