The Machado (2013) - The Criterion Collection.

Yesterday, Bill James wrote (subscriber-only) about Manny Machado’s chances of breaking the all-time, single-season double record. Here’s the meat, or rather the top and bottom buns; I snipped out most of the mathematical meat:

  Manny Machado has hit 31 doubles through the Orioles’ first 71 games. At that pace he would hit 73 doubles this season, which would break the major league record for doubles in a season, which is 67 (Earl Webb, ...

Manager Buck Showalter downplays the notion that he suddenly found religion on the shift.

“People were doing it years ago,” he says. “It’s not something new. Ask [1960s slugger] Willie McCovey. But a lot of it then was really tough, because you were basing it on just what your gut told you.”

...Orioles closer Jim Johnson, a ground-ball pitcher when he’s throwing well, says the shift has become too popular. “It’s fine on certain guys, but I think sometimes it gets a little carried ...

As Jonah points out…“Chris Davis feature with enough stats and .gifs to choke a horse.‏”  Peakness Stakes, if you will…

For the first 1,495 at-bats of his career, Chris Davis looked like a thousand big, lumbering, mediocre sluggers before him. He didn’t run well and didn’t field well. He had a terrible batting approach, one that could best be described as swing for the moon, then offer every fan on the third-base side a nice, cool breeze. Sure, he would close his eyes and launch balls fairly ...

A University of Maryland Medical Center official says the condition of a man injured in a fight and fall at an Orioles game has worsened.

Screw Gaspard Monge…Michael Young can do it all!

Crazy, in that Davis began the season with a lifetime .258 batting average and 77 homers in 1,520 at-bats. He attributes his lofty numbers this season to some advice he got from a former teammate with the Rangers.

“A long time ago Michael Young told me this is a game of routines and you really need to hammer a routine down,” Davis said. “It took me a while to kind of understand what he meant. I’d come in here and put my socks on the ...

Matt Fortese came 75 miles from Hagerstown to meet Taylor Queen at Camden Yards. She drove more than three hours from Virginia. Their second date was going well, Queen said, until an hour of taunting from two fans boiled over into an altercation that left Fortese fighting for his life.

Fortese, a lifelong Yankees fan who wore his team’s cap to Wednesday’s game, suffered severe head trauma and a skull fracture. He was listed in serious condition at Maryland Shock Trauma Center Saturday. Police ...

This year, Miguel Cabrera is even better. His batting average is 38 points higher. His on-base percentage is 51 points higher. His slugging percentage is 50 points higher. He is walking more, striking out less, hitting for more power, hitting more line drives, hitting in the clutch, and basically making his Triple Crown MVP season look like a warmup lap. But guess what?

Chris Davis has been better.

Maybe you already knew this. Maybe you didn’t. If you didn’t, get ready to be blown away.

...

Guess Seymour Siwoff’s childhood fave “Techno-Cracked” link was busted…so he had plenty of time on his hands.

Amid the Orioles hitting a season-high four homers and tying their season high for runs, Manny Machado put his name in the record book again when he singled in the seventh inning.

It was his fifth straight road game with three hits or more. According to Elias, the only other player younger than 21 with a streak of four or more consecutive road games with at least three hits was Ty ...

What a waste of damn fine Canadian beer.

In the bottom of the sixth inning, McLouth chased down a fly ball towards the left-field foul line off the bat of Cobly Rasmus. McLouth caught the ball, but his momentum carried him into the stands.

After disappearing into the (not-so filled) seats, an uninjured McLouth stood up and showed umpire Manny Gonzalez that the ball was still in his glove. Some Toronto fans claimed the nine-year veteran didn’t hold onto the ball, but Gonzalez ruled it an out.

...

Guys, the Orioles have pitching prospects not named Dylan Bundy!

The Baltimore Orioles hope this year’s high-profile midseason call-up is as good as last year’s high-profile midseason call-up.

The Orioles will promote right-hander Kevin Gausman from Class-AA Bowie to make his major league debut Thursday against Toronto, major league sources told FOXSports.com.

Gausman is reaching the majors less than one year after the Orioles selected him in the first round of the 2012 draft. He is 2-4 ...

Primer’s own Mr. Megdal takes a break from his contractually obligated ball-busting of the Wilpons to point out that Serious You Guys, the Orioles really are a pretty solid team now:

BALTIMORE—A pair of diametrically opposed views exists about the Baltimore Orioles, 2012’s winner of 93 games and a playoff spot, off to another strong start in 2013.

Outside the Baltimore area, skeptics abound. Sure, the Orioles won 93 games, but their Pythagorean record—a measure of expected wins and losses based ...

Eeeww, grotle. Now I’m touch and go on pulling out the Blüd Sausage EP.

Ever since Powell entered the major leagues in 1961, Orioles fans have known him as an affable giant, whose Popeye-esque muscles and robust 6-foot-4 frame stood in stark contrast with his easy smile and kind-hearted demeanor. For 14 years, Powell readily accommodated the Baltimore aficionados, signing autographs by day, swatting homers by night. So beloved was Powell that even after he went to Cleveland in 1975, toward ...

Manny o’ WAR: Stud record.

On leading the league in WAR:

“You’ve got to play baseball. That’s the main thing. We don’t think about the stats. You don’t think about (WAR) and all that other junk there is out there. Go out there and play baseball and win games. That’s the main goal. This organization, we’re out here to win games and be better every day.”

On at least temporarily leading the league in hits:

“I didn’t know that. Just go out there and keep playing. It’s still a long season to go. ...

Pontoon points out ~ “Dennis Martinez ERA+106/4000 IP ~ Jack Morris ERA+105/3800 IP”.

On his legacy: “I think maybe I am [underappreciated]. I don’t feel I got the credit I deserved, maybe because of where I came from. I was a Spanish-speaking kid from Nicaragua who didn‘t understand the language real well, and I got a reputation in the Orioles organization as a hot-headed pitcher who didn’t want to go along with the system. The reason was that I fought for my rights. I fought for what ...

Woo-hoo! I smell a “The Chris Davis Kidnap Caper” episode on tap!

Five major league scouts — three from the National League, two from the American League and none from Washington, Baltimore or Los Angeles — were asked this week to rank those players in order of preference if they could select just one to build a club around.

“That’s like asking me which Charlie’s Angel I’d most want,” one veteran scout quipped. “All three are so very good, young, talented and play the game the right way. ...

Latest Robothal…including some horning around.

• Francona loves the willingness of veterans such as Nick Swisher, Mark Reynolds and Mike Aviles to move between multiple positions without complaint. He says of the effervescent Swisher, “Just when it seems you need a little encouragement, he’s standing right there.”

• Designated hitter Adam Dunn on the White Sox, who entered Tuesday ranked last in the AL in runs per game (3.47), last in on-base percentage (.283) and next-to-last in ...

Wonder if Stan “The Fan” would consent to lie detector test about Alomar dogging it?

By 1998, Johnson was gone, replaced by skipper Ray Miller. Gillick, although still on duty, was barely heard from as he waited out his time to get out of Baltimore. Alomar, for his part, was a shell of his old self. Embittered by a fine that Johnson had levied against him at the All-Star Break in ‘97—incidentally, it was Johnson’s fine that ultimately cost him his job—Alomar went through the motions for much ...

This should be acted out in full Rick Santelli sub-human meltdown fashion.

One thing I like about listening to Jim Palmer on the Orioles’ telecasts is he’s not afraid to beat a topic to death if he feels strongly about it. For instance, take the so-called “quality start.”

Take it. Please, take it. Pretty please.

Take it and bury it along with every other irrelevant statistic you can imagine. You think the game-winning RBI was meaningless? That little number was a sabermetric gem compared ...

Hell, I had a plum Gov-job lined up for the building of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (plays taps)...and I didn’t go.

His RBI single to close the 2011 season and knock the Boston Red Sox out of the pennant chase — known as the “Curse of the Andino” — will forever be remembered by Baltimore’s fans. He smiled when told he is part Orioles lore.

“It’s cool. I did something for them,” Andino said. “They showed me the love, so I’m good with it. I’m cool.”

Andino said he couldn’t choose one ...

MoneyDUKE: I made baseball as much fun as re-doing your taxes.

Much has been made about Beane’s infatuation with on-base percentage — that was a major focus of the book and movie — and Duquette is also a big fan of seeking out hitters with high OBPs. But this current Orioles club isn’t exactly an on-base machine — with a .324 mark heading into the road trip.

“We are still working on that,” he said with a laugh.

Duquette points out that OBP was something he focused on when he was ...

Maybe Frenchy can hook up Burnett with some Delta miles.

Go back to last October and the number reaches 20, making general manager Alex Anthopoulos the undisputed heavyweight champion of the baseball world in bottom-feeding.

“Alex claims everybody,” Baltimore Orioles general manager Dan Duquette said with a hearty laugh…..

While clever from a management perspective, it can be trying for players caught in the cycle, like right-hander Alex Burnett.

Claimed by the Blue Jays from the ...

Plus…Boof Bonser is third on his Similarity Score. (Posting Rule #1: Never pass on a Boof Bonser mention)

Some people may have forgotten, but Arrieta’s baptism in baseball was one by fire. He has pitched the O’s home opener three years in a row—not so much because he deserved it, but because he was the best option. Before making his big league debut in 2010, he pitched 336.2 innings in the minor leagues, which was enough to get his feet wet, but hardly enough to master his craft.

...But ...

Rex, brothers!

The Super Bowl champion Baltimore Ravens can’t open the season at home because the Orioles play a game on September 5, when the season opener is scheduled to be played, and the two teams share a parking lot. While there was talk of the Orioles potentially moving their game to another time, Ryan proposed something more ridiculous—moving its location—during a rant against the Baltimore baseball team.

“Well who really cares, you’ve got 81 at home, maybe you could have done ...

Rear Admiral Upper Half ‘A.J.’ Showalter on Conor Jackson’s retirement.

Orioles manager Buck Showalter found out about first baseman/outfielder Conor Jackson’s retirement today during a text exchange with Triple-A Norfolk manager Ron Johnson.

“He loved being with the organization and all that, but he’s at the stage of his life where it wasn’t something he wanted to continue to do,” Showalter said. “I know a little bit more than that, but that’s something that should come from Conor. He’s ...