Notes and quotes with Dan Duquette, Kevin Gausman and more

The Orioles may have a losing record at the season's halfway point, but for now, they are not considered sellers with the July 31 trade deadline approaching.

It is all subject to change, but Orioles executive vice president Dan Duquette has made that clear in a few interviews now. The latest was Sunday when he was my guest on "Orioles Baseball Tonight" 105.7 the Fan in Baltimore.

I asked Duquette to size up the first half.

"I think everybody has seen the same thing," he said. "We were in the lead at the quarter-pole and then we have not played as well the second quarter of the schedule. We all know it's a long season. But I still have hope for this year's team.

"The reason I still have hope is that I've seen our players perform a lot better than they've performed in the first half, notably a lot of our veteran players. I've seen a lot of good things in the last couple of years from Chris Tillman and Kevin Gausman. So far, they haven't made the contribution to this year's team that I expect they'll make by the end of the season."

Duquette feels improvement from the two starters, coupled with the impending return of closer Zach Britton, will help stabilize the pitching. He said he still expects a hot streak from Ubaldo Jiménez. He expects more out of veteran hitters like Chris Davis and Mark Trumbo.

"I have a lot of hope that Manny Machado is going to return to form," Duquette said. "He has not had the year he's capable of. We've seen fits and starts, but we haven't seen consistency this year with the bat.

"I don't see why all of those guys can't contribute more. ... I think we have the pieces to contend but I've got to tell you this is a tough division, man. ... There is time between now and the trading deadline for us to decide how we are going to strengthen and improve our club for the future."

Gausman was good: Gausman has said he expects to have another strong second half. Maybe he is getting a jump start on that now.

Gausman has put together back-to-back scoreless starts after throwing seven shutout innings of two-hit ball at Tampa Bay on Sunday. In those two starts, he lowered his ERA from 6.47 to 5.61.

"I thought he was really good," catcher Caleb Joseph said after Sunday's game. "Had nice command with the fastball. Splitter had a lot of bite. I think one of the main things was he kept attacking, and when you attack and stay ahead in the count, hitters sometimes get a little more tentative. That makes the fastball more explosive and we saw quite a few. Guys swing through the fastball. Where when you are in an even count or behind, those become foul balls and run your pitch count up."

Gausman continues to use his split-finger pitch more and more. He threw it 30 percent of the time yesterday and got 10 swings and misses on 34 splits. He has averaged throwing the split on 26 percent of his tosses the last four starts. In the four starts before that, he averaged throwing it just 12.5 percent of the time. On Sunday, the combination of a lively fastball that touched 99 mph and an improved split had Gausman again looking like a pitcher that could indeed have a big second half.

Hey, now, you're an All-Star: Orioles second baseman Jonathan Schoop will be in the All-Star Game as a reserve on the American League squad. He is the lone O's rep, as they get just one player in the game for the first time since 2011. But Schoop truly earned it at a position of great depth in the American League. Machado was truly delighted to hear the news.

"I am beyond excited," Machado said. "I know how much he's worked to get here and know what all the struggles he's been through to just get to the big leagues. Now to have the opportunity to represent his country, represent his team and himself in the All-Star Game, I mean, it's unbelievable. I couldn't be more excited he will participate and enjoy it. Words can't describe how much I am happy for him. I'm rooting for him."

Recently, I wrote this about Schoop's improvement this season.

He's a hero: The Orioles honored former Ravens linebacker O.J. Brigance Sunday as a Birdland Community Hero. Brigance was honored for sharing his perseverance and love of life with others who suffer from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). In 2007, after his ALS diagnosis, Brigance and wife Chanda created The Brigance Brigade Foundation, which works to equip, encourage and empower people living with ALS. Two days before the 78th anniversary of Lou Gehrig's famous speech on July 4, 1939, Brigance yet again brought awareness to the illness.

Today's #BirdlandHero is former NFL linebacker and founder of @BriganceBrigade, @OJBrigance ! #IBackTheBirds pic.twitter.com/JGfEfyZGao

-- Orioles on MASN (@masnOrioles) July 2, 2017