Manny Machado

Manny Machado probably couldn't have asked for a much better start to his first full season in the majors. In April, the 20-year-old batted .304 with 11 doubles, two home runs and 16 RBIs. His on-base percentage was .344 and his slugging percentage was .470. Outside of one costly error, he was sublime at third base, so much that the folks over at ESPN just named Machado their Defensive Player of the Month for the month of April. His slick fielding has gotten him the most attention . He has five defensive runs saved and has made 13 “out of zone” plays -- both tied for the most among major-league third basemen, according to ESPN.

Each Wednesday, blogger Matt Vensel will highlight five statistics that really mean something for the Orioles. 29:1 -- Kevin Gausman's strikeout-to-walk ratio in his first five starts at Double-A Bowie. Kevin Gausman, the team's first-round draft pick in 2012, is settling in at Double-A Bowie. After consecutive starts in which he allowed just one earned run in each, the 22-year-old is 1-3 with a 3.77 ERA in five starts during his first full professional season. But most impressively, he has walked just one batter while striking out 29, including eight Sunday, his most recent start.

OAKLAND, Calif. - A week ago, Manny Machado was about to head onto the field from the dugout at Camden Yards when someone yelled out to him, "Hey Manny. " It's not an unusual occurrence these days for the young third baseman, who is increasingly becoming the center of attention for fans and national media. But this one was different. It was Hall of Fame third baseman Brooks Robinson who wanted a few seconds of Machado's time. "He actually called me out, 'Hey Manny,' and he introduced himself," Machado said.

When the topic of winning streaks arose before Wednesday afternoon's game against the Toronto Blue Jays, Orioles manager Buck Showalter insisted that his players don't pay much attention to them. “I don't think they had a thing up there where they were X'ing out [and saying] 'There's one more,'” Showalter deadpanned. “Our guys, they don't get too bogged down.” But later Wednesday, a streak that has defined the Orioles' resilience ended as they dropped a 6-5 decision in 11 innings at Camden Yards, snapping their remarkable franchise-record run of 17 straight regular-season extra-inning wins.

Hardly a day goes by without Orioles manager Buck Showalter being reminded in some way just how young Manny Machado, his prodigious 20-year-old third baseman, is. And Showalter believes that it is a good thing. “I said something the other day about some musician or an ex-player that wasn't that removed [from today], and he had no idea what I was talking about,” Showalter said Wednesday morning. “And I went, 'Wow, OK.' ” Showalter later paused for a moment before asking a room full of reporters to remind him just how young Manny Machado is, as in which year he was born.

The last time the Orioles faced knuckleballer R.A. Dickey, they were mystified by pitches with so little spin that you could nearly make out Bud Selig's signature on the baseball. But Tuesday, the Orioles figured out the reigning National League Cy Young Award winner at Camden Yards in their first meeting against him as a member of the bolstered Toronto Blue Jays. The Orioles batted around in a four-run second inning against Dickey, slapping his fluttering knuckleball around the holes in Toronto's infield, and then held on for a 4-3 win. Almost as impressive was how the Orioles bullpen closed out another late-inning, one-run lead for the team's 100th consecutive regular season win when leading after the completion of the seventh inning, a run that began Aug. 8, 2011 and correlates with the team's transformation into a winning ballclub.

Buck Showalter says it all the time: "Sleep fast. " And after spending more than 12 hours at Camden Yards Saturday for a split-game doubleheader, surely some of the Orioles' heads hit their pillows pretty quickly. The Orioles go for the series sweep against the Dodgers this afternoon. They've already won the series, their first ever against the Dodgers -- well, if you're not counting the 1966 World Series of course. One thing's for sure: Adam Jones will be happy to be back in center field this afternoon.

Orioles manager Buck Showalter might not be a fan of doubleheaders, but he couldn't complain about the result of Saturday's split twin bill against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Camden Yards. The Orioles won both games of the doubleheader, getting a career-high four RBIs from Manny Machado in a 6-1 nightcap win that followed their 7-5 victory in the early game. In between, the team honored former manager Earl Weaver, the legendary Orioles skipper who preached the importance of pitching, defense and the three-run homer.

The sight of Matt Wieters' home-run trot ending in a frenetic pile at home plate conjured memories of the 16 straight extra-inning wins the Orioles orchestrated last season. But Thursday night's 10-inning 10-6 win over the Tampa Bay Rays - which ended with the Orioles' first walk-off grand slam in 14 years - deserves its own spot in Orioles lore. The Orioles' first extra-inning game of 2013 came nearly a year to the date that Wieters hit a grand slam to help the Orioles to their first extra-inning win last season, a 10-4 win against the White Sox in Chicago last April 16. His blast Thursday was the Orioles' first walk-off grand slam since Harold Baines' on May 4, 1999 against the White Sox. “Any time you get a get a walk-off and get to celebrate with your teammates, it's a good day,” Wieters said.