Davis ready to return to lineup

SARASOTA, Fla. - If it's left to Chris Davis, he will be in the Orioles lineup for Saturday's game against the Blue Jays and celebrate his birthday with a home run and animated trip around the bases.

Davis is confident that he's avoided a trip to the disabled list. The stiffness and discomfort in his right elbow/forearm has subsided and he's performing full baseball activities in anticipation of returning to first base this weekend.

"I feel good, I feel really good," he said. "Midseason form yesterday. Just kind of let it eat, didn't really hold anything back. Just kind of gripped and ripped it. I feel good."

Davis, who received a cortisone injection in his elbow on Saturday, was on the field yesterday for workouts while teammates rode the bus to Jupiter.

"We did everything yesterday, so it was basically heat up, stretch, throw, swing, take ground balls. Pretty much everything. And I felt good," he said.

"I think it was definitely an issue of just kind of getting the fluid out of there and calming down some of the inflammation, staying after somewhat of a shoulder program, some forearm manuals, just little things I'm going to have to do here and there on top of already working out.

"I look forward to that. Just really embracing the situation."

Davis hasn't played since March 2 against the Pirates, but he can accumulate the necessary at-bats from the remaining Grapefruit League schedule and perhaps with visits to the minor league complex, where he'd be allowed to lead off every inning. He's 2-for-13 with a home run, three RBIs, three walks and seven strikeouts in five games.

"I'm sure I'm going to be making some road trips," he said. "The important part for me is making sure that I was healthy. These games are not games that you want to go out there and have to grind through as a starter, as a guy that you know is going to be there every day. If you're grinding out games in spring training, it's just going to make in my opinion the season that much tougher.

"You have to be conservative with what you have. Do you want to play 30 spring training games or do you want to play 162 games? I'd rather play regular season games that mean something."

The Orioles are back home on Saturday following today's game against the Mets in Port St. Lucie. They've lost designated hitter Mark Trumbo, who's headed to the 10-day disabled list with a Grade 2 strain of his right quadriceps muscle, but Davis could resurface.

"I would like to play tomorrow, but I'm not going to guarantee that, so I'll let Buck (Showalter) make that decision and we'll go from there," Davis said.

"Tomorrow is my birthday. My wife and one of daughters is here. I'd like to hit a home run on my birthday and dance around the bases like a little leprechaun, but we'll see if that happens."

Enjoy the visual.

"I'm going to go outside and let my hair down," Davis said, concluding today's interview.

Trumbo wasn't at his locker this morning while the media had clubhouse access for an hour, but there's really no update for him to provide. He's expected to miss at least three to four weeks with the quad injury.