Notes on Hardy, Norfolk and Frederick

The Orioles' J.J Hardy is batting leadoff these days, but he is hitting homers like a cleanup batter. Hardy now has 16 homers on the season and he is tied for 16th in the American League in homers. He is averaging a homer every 17.8 at-bats and that ranks 12th best in the AL. His slugging percentage of .500 is 15th in the AL. Since June first, he has hit 14 homers in 46 games and homered once every 13.7 at-bats on average. To put that in perspective, Mark Teixeira, second in the league with 28 homers, has homered once every 13.5 at-bats on the year so Hardy is hitting them at a Tex-pace pretty much for almost two months now. Meanwhile, on the farm, Brandon Snyder's power numbers have cooled at Triple-A Norfolk. He doesn't have an extra-base hit since homering twice on July 3rd. That is 16 games and 59 at-bats without one. Matt Angle tied a Norfolk franchise record with a four-steal game last night. He ranks third in the International League with 26 steals. Since joining Norfolk on July 14, Robbie Widlansky is batting .316 with three RBIs. The Single-A Frederick Keys try to keep their hot streak going tonight when they host Salem. The Keys have won five in a row and 11 of the last 12 games, giving up just 23 runs in that stretch. Frederick is 12-1 this year against Salem, a Red Sox farm club. The Keys are 62-38 on the year, which is the best record of any O's farm team and they are 21-10 in the second half.