Hardy

There's nothing quite like having your favorite athlete sitting on your desk, bobbing along as you slog through the work day. So when the Orioles decided for the first time to let fans vote on the subject of their September bobblehead giveaway, there was some serious responsibility put in your hands. The fans have spoken, choosing shortstop J.J. Hardy over Robert Andino, Mark Reynolds, Jake Arrieta and Tommy Hunter, the team announced today. The J.J. Hardy AT&T Fans' Choice Bobblehead will be distributed to the first 20,000 fans age 15 and over who attend the Sunday Sept.

Thursday's off day - which halted a span of 20 games in 20 days for the Orioles - was a needed respite for everyone on the club. But perhaps nobody appreciated it more than J.J. Hardy, who also had Wednesday off because manager Buck Showalter said his shortstop was dealing with a "barky" right shoulder. Truthfully, Hardy said Saturday, his shoulder has been screaming and howling for the past couple weeks - hurting so much that he considered receiving a cortisone shot similar to the one he had in March when the problem first arose.

Thursday's off day - which halted a span of 20 games in 20 days for the Orioles - was a needed respite for everyone on the club. But perhaps nobody appreciated it more than J.J. Hardy, who also had Wednesday off because manager Buck Showalter said his shortstop was dealing with a "barky" right shoulder. Truthfully, Hardy said Saturday, his shoulder has been screaming and howling for the past couple weeks - hurting so much that he considered receiving a cortisone shot similar to the one he had in March when the problem first arose.

Behind the black metal doors leading into the visiting clubhouse at Kauffman Stadium, Orioles players bobbed their heads to the bass-thumping music that filled the room Thursday afternoon. Travel bags in front of each player's locker, the Orioles were ready to barnstorm out of Kansas City, having completed a road series just 40 hours after arriving here. Their stay was brief, but they swept through the Midwest with a pair of more-than-meaningful comeback wins at Kauffman Stadium -- wins that came within less than 24 hours of each other.

Tonight has been a night of firsts for Orioles rookie outfielder Xavier Avery. The 22-year-old Avery, making his second big-league start since being called up Sunday, tallied his first major-league hit in his first at bat Monday against the Yankees, then drove in his first big-league run in the fifth. Both hits were critical parts of Orioles' rallies. Avery's double into the right-center field gap started a two-run first-inning rally for the Orioles. Avery's hit was the first of three Orioles hits in the first.

Following the Orioles' 8-2 win over the Red Sox on Saturday, center fielder Adam Jones thought about how dangerous the Baltimore lineup could be if two of their most important bats started heating up. "Just imagine if we can get Reynolds and Hardy going," he said. And on Sunday, both third baseman Mark Reynolds and shortstop J.J. Hardy showed signs of breaking out of season-long hitting slumps. Boston seemed to be the perfect remedy for Reynolds, who was 6-for-11 in the three-game series at Fenway, including five extra-base hits (two homers, three doubles)

J.J. Hardy has done plenty to help the Orioles this season with his glove, but it wasn't until Sunday when he felt his bat was catching up. In the Orioles' 17-inning 9-6 win over the Red Sox, Hardy had a career-high five hits, including two solo homers and a double, with two RBIs and three runs. Following a 5-for-8 day, Hardy lifted his average 30 points. Now hitting .217, it was the first time he's had a batting average above .200 since April 17. "Maybe today was the first day I felt OK," Hardy said.

Orioles shortstop J.J. Hardy received some scary news when the team's charter flight touched down in Chicago Sunday evening. That's when Hardy got word that a storm system that terrorized many parts of the midwestern U.S. and spawned numerous tornadoes leveled the condominium of his grandmother, Carol Shinn, in the town of Creston, Iowa on Saturday evening.  Shin was uninjured, but her home was destroyed. “I wasn't really following the weather so I didn't even know about the tornadoes going on,” Hardy said.

A day after Orioles reliever Kevin Gregg 's abysmal relief appearance in Sunday's 9-2 loss at Toronto — an outing in which the right-hander went through seven batters to get one out with two down in the sixth inning, allowing five runs to score — manager Buck Showalter expressed support for the maligned pitcher. For Gregg, who is making $5.8 million in a bullpen role that's still undefined, it was his second straight rocky outing. He allowed a decisive two-run 10th-inning homer to Nick Swisher in a 6-4 extra-inning loss to the New York Yankees on Wednesday.

Jason Hammel didn't begin the scoreboard watching until the end of the sixth inning Sunday afternoon. The right-hander took his seat in the Orioles dugout and thought to himself how quickly his first start of the season was going. He had thrown just 65 pitches through those six innings. He was making quick work of the Minnesota Twins with a bevy of ground-ball outs. His teammates started inching away from him on the bench. "After a while you kind of realize, 'Man, we're moving along here pretty quick.