Bird Talk: O's shine defensively, Santana getting "close," power rankings and more

Last week, the Orioles played a pair of American League East opponents, the Tampa Bay Rays and Boston Red Sox. The club was in Boston during the Red Sox's emotional tribute for Boston Marathon bombing victims. While Roch Kubatko and Steve Melewski have you covered with wall-to-wall Orioles coverage, here are some stories from other media outlets. * ESPN's Buster Olney touched on the Orioles' stellar defense in his column from Sunday. Heading into last Sunday's game, the Orioles had only made four errors on the season, which was the fewest in the majors. The pitching staff had only allowed only two unearned runs. * Late in the offseason, the Orioles signed a number of free agents, including Ubaldo Jimenez, Suk-Min Yoon, and Nelson Cruz. They also signed former two-time Cy Young Award winner Johan Santana, who is recovering form a shoulder injury. According to Peter Gammons, Santana is "not far away" from pitching in a game and says the left-hander's velocity is up to 85 mph. Santana wants to set the career wins total for Venezuelan born pitchers. Currently, Freddy Garcia holds the record with 156. Click here for more on Santana. * Last week, top Orioles pitching prospect Hunter Harvey faced top Nationals pitching prospect Lucas Giolitio. The pitchers threw a combined 11 scoreless innings, allowing eight baserunners and striking out 13 between the two of them. ESPN's Keith Law was at the game in Delmarva and raved about both pitchers. He also touched on Baltimore catcher Chance Sisco and center fielder Josh Hart. Here's more from Law. * Finally, the Orioles rose two spots in FOXSports.com's power rankings. FOX notes that although Chris Davis is hitting home runs at a much slower pace this year, he does lead the team with 10 walks. That's a wrap of this week's Bird Talk. Don't forget to check MASNsports.com daily for complete Orioles coverage.