Did Davis call his shot?

Each day seems to bring another batch of statistics on Orioles first baseman Chris Davis. Club records he's on pace to crush. And records belonging to legendary Hall of Famers from the early 1900s. Every home run or extra-base hit brings him closer to another milestone or moves him from select company to a place all his own. Last night's opposite-field shot gave him 31 homers, a franchise record before the All-Star break. He's on such a roll, he'll probably pad the stat during the flight to Chicago. The Orioles' PR staff did some extra digging yesterday and came up with another gem. It's more quirky than historic, but it deserves mention. Davis has committed three errors this season. In those games, he's 4-for-10 with three homers, seven RBIs and four runs scored. Davis didn't come up with a grounder from the Yankees' Robinson Cano in the top of the first inning Saturday night. It was ruled a hit, but he knows that he should have made the play. In the bottom of the first, Davis drove a curveball from David Phelps into the Orioles' bullpen in left-center field for a three-run homer, the ball slamming off the bench as relievers scattered. With two outs in the top of the sixth, Davis charged a bouncer from Lyle Overbay and booted it for an error, the ball deflecting off the heel of his mitt. Perhaps you've seen the shot of manager Buck Showalter, captured by FOX television's cameras, resting his cheek on his arm as he leaned on the dugout railing, a smile creasing his face. It's directly related to what happened after the error. "I told J.J. (Hardy) when I walked over to short, I said, 'God, I can't believe I missed that ball,'" Davis recalled yesterday before batting practice. "It kind of took a high hop, the last hop, and I looked at J.J. and said, 'Well, I guess I'm going to have to hit another home run now.' Because of the first ball that kind of went under my glove, the one Cano hit his first at-bat, kind of the same thing." Hardy relayed the story to Showalter before walking to the on-deck circle, just before Davis sent an Ivan Nova curveball over the out-of-town scoreboard and onto the flag court in right field for a two-run shot. "I was joking around and, obviously, it's really funny after I hit another home run," Davis said. "Just one of things things where you try to keep it light at the time. Then I crossed home plate and I looked up and J.J.'s like (nodding his head). "I wasn't calling my shot, if that's what you're asking." Davis grinned, similar to the expression on Showalter's face that night. During yesterday's pregame media scrum, a reporter asked Showalter whether he saw the photo, which fans had plastered all over their Facebook pages. "I've had more people ask me about that today. No, I haven't," Showalter said, surprised by the attention it's received. "Now, looking back on it, it was a reaction to something J.J. said to me right before he went on the on-deck circle. "Why is that so...? I have a belly laugh every game in the dugout. I do. I just may not be where everybody can see it. Especially, if you go up the runway there with (Wayne) Kirby in the fifth or sixth inning, he's got something." Hardy had an amusing anecdote for Showalter. And Davis delivered more than a punchline.