Melvin Mora

The Orioles acquired Melvin Mora in a July 2000 trade that sent shortstop Mike Bordick to the New York Mets. A two-time All-Star third baseman, Mora hit .274 last year with 16 home runs and 83 RBIs while playing a career-high 155 games. Mora, who signed a three-year contract extension with the Orioles in May, lives in Fallston with his wife Gisel and six children. The couple had quintuplets on July 28, 2001. What's the hardest part of being a father of quintuplets? -- For me, the hardest part is when we have a meeting in the school.

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Orioles first baseman Chris Davis left Friday night's game against the Los Angeles Angels in the middle of the fifth inning with what was initially diagnosed by the teams as a right knee injury. Davis hobbled off the field after coming up lame running out a ground ball to third base to lead off the top of the fifth inning. Replays showed that the his right leg appeared to buckle as his foot touched first base. Davis limped into the Orioles dugout on the first-base line and down the stairs toward the visiting clubhouse, grasping to the stair railings and unable to put weight on the right leg. Davis was replaced by utility man Ryan Flaherty at first base in the bottom of the fifth.

What is the best part of playing in New York? Melvin Mora, Orioles third baseman Their fans are exciting. They have fun on every pitch - every pitch we throw and every pitch they throw. At Shea Stadium, they are a little more quiet. The Bronx is loud. I like to go to New York. It's my favorite city in the big leagues. I met my wife there.

It has been nearly five years since he set foot in Camden Yards. But if the Orioles advance to host American League Division Series games this weekend, Jay Gibbons will be there, clad in orange and black, whooping it up in the cheap seats with a mob of playoff-starved fans. "Are you kidding me? That is something I just can't miss," said Gibbons, an Orioles outfielder from 2001 through 2007, during the team's darker days. "Things were so tough for so long, and I always wanted to make the playoffs.

Melvin Mora, Orioles third baseman Do you have to change your approach when you move from second to fifth in the batting order? Of course I have to change it. Hitting second is not the same as hitting fifth. Hitting second, you need to sacrifice your at-bat and try to move the runner over. Second is not easy, especially for me. I like to drive in a lot of runs.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.-- --For established major league veterans, dodging the long exhibition road trips is one of the rites of spring. That's why Orioles manager Dave Trembley found it so refreshing when Melvin Mora came into his office last week and asked for permission to make the 130-mile trek down Alligator Alley to play against the Boston Red Sox in Fort Myers, Fla. "I wasn't taking him on that trip," Trembley said. "He saw Luis Hernandez was on the trip, and he said, `I'll go to Fort Myers, but I don't want to take the bus. I want to drive myself and take Luis with me so I can talk to him.' " Hernandez is the leading candidate to start at shortstop this year, but it hasn't been a happy spring.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Melvin Mora's body language has been the gauge, the telltale sign to decipher the Orioles' fortunes without looking at the scoreboard or standings. And far too often the past 2 1/2 seasons, Mora's slumped shoulders and dour demeanor have revealed all anybody needs to know about the Orioles. However, since arriving at spring training camp last week, Mora has worn a look of confidence and focus. He has mixed smiles with laughs off the field and maintained a no-nonsense approach on it. "I'm more excited this year," Mora said yesterday.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Melvin Mora's eyes widened and his jaw nearly hit the clubhouse floor. The numbers couldn't be right. No way he was 1-for-21 at the plate to begin the season. There must be a mistake. "That's what I have?" the Orioles third baseman asked a visitor before a weekend game at Yankee Stadium. Assured that the figures were correct, Mora replied: "Wow. I thought I was 1-for-40." It only seemed that bad. A .340 hitter last year, the highest average of his major league career, Mora has stumbled out of the gate in 2005.

Melvin Mora thought he established himself as a regular last year, but about two weeks into the new season, he realized he was wrong. It was mid-April, and he had started six of the Orioles' first 16 games. His batting average stood at a paltry .136. Before one game against Tampa Bay, he checked the lineup card and found his name in a recurring place, with the rest of the team's reserves. "I'm right here if they need me," Mora said, a smile crossing his humble, Venezuelan face. "They can call 1-800-MORA.

As a third generation baseball executive, Ed Kenney has several vivid memories of growing up around the game, like the time in 1970 when his father took him out for pizza with a promising Double-A catcher named Carlton Fisk. Thirty years later, Fisk would enter the Hall of Fame as one of the most prolific offensive catchers in baseball history, but at the time he was a big, strong kid with impeccable defensive skills batting .229. Kenney, who was 13 that summer, remembers saying, "I hope he can hit because if he can hit, he's going to be good."

Orioles right fielder Chris Davis continued his recent tear at the plate Monday night in the Orioles' 5-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field. Davis' two-run homer in the ninth off Rays reliever Kyle Farnsworth, his career-high 32nd of the season, was his sixth homer in five games. He's now homered in five consecutive games, the first Oriole to accomplish the feat since Melvin Mora on Sept. 30, 2005 to April 5, 2006. It's also largest consecutive-game homer streak in the same season since Reggie Jackson homered in six straight games on July 18-23, 1976.

Orioles right-hander Jason Hammel finished third in the AL All-Star Game final vote fan balloting, which concluded Thursday afternoon. As expected, Rangers rookie right-hander Yu Darvish won the vote. White Sox right-hander Jake Peavy placed second. Hammel, who is 8-4 with a 3.43 ERA in 16 starts with 97 strikeouts and 86 hits in 99 2/3 innings this season, placed ahead of Royals closer Jonathan Broxton and Angels reliever Ernesto Frieri. He won't be joining Orioles all-star selections outfielder Adam Jones, catcher Matt Wieters and right-handed closer Jim Johnson for Tuesday's game at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.

Melvin Mora's retirement has been greatly exaggerated. Or at least exaggerated for this country, he claims. A report out of Venezuela last month said that Mora, who played most of his career with the Orioles, issued a tearful retirement announcement while playing winter ball in Venezuela. The story ran in several places, including The Sun. But Mora said that was news to him. Despite multiple reports to the contrary out of Venezuela, Mora said what he announced was that he was no longer going to play in Venezuela because he didn't want to leave his family every year.

According to a report out of Venezuela, former longtime Oriole Melvin Mora announced his retirement from major league baseball Thursday while in his home country. Mora, who will turn 40 in February, was released by the Arizona Diamondbacks last June after hitting .228 in 127 at-bats for the Diamondbacks. He said earlier this winter that he wanted to play again if he could find the right opportunity, but apparently that did not happen. Mora was traded to the Orioles by the New York Mets in July 2000 as part of then-GM Syd Thrift's fire sale.

When the 2011 American League All-Star team is revealed Sunday afternoon, the Orioles expect one trend to continue. Even with perhaps more worthy All-Star candidates than in the past, a group that includes shortstop J.J. Hardy , center fielder Adam Jones and catcher Matt Wieters — three players who have been among the best at their position through the season's first half — the Orioles understand the reality. Last-place teams with low national profiles are probably only going to be represented by one player.

A week after publicly questioning the team's direction and its offensive approach, Orioles right fielder Nick Markakis met with principal owner Peter Angelos Thursday afternoon to air those concerns. The meeting, which lasted about an hour and a half at a Little Italy restaurant, was requested by Markakis, who during his eight years in the organization hadn't had an extensive conversation with the owner. "I wanted to give him my input and tell him the things I thought we lacked and needed, and what we needed to change," said Markakis, 26, the team's highest-paid player and the second-longest-tenured member of the club behind injured second baseman Brian Roberts.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Slumped down in his chair after a hard day of work, he starts off slowly, measuring every word in a hushed tone. Then, the words start to spew from Melvin Mora's mouth, gaining decibels with each sentence. His face contorts, shifting from smile to scowl at a moment's notice, and his mood appears to fluctuate as often as his tone. Mora, an All-Star third baseman and the longest tenured member of the club, may not be the face of the Orioles' franchise because Miguel Tejada is more celebrated and Brian Roberts is probably more revered by fans.

When Gisel Mora married Orioles' baseball player Melvin Mora last summer, she had no illusions about the life she signed up for. He proposed from a road trip, they married over the All-Star break, and she wanted to get pregnant early this year, because they knew it would be too stressful once the season started. Even her baby shower was held between a double-header at Camden Yards. And when life handed her more than she bargained for, when her pregnancy turned into twins and then quintuplets, Gisel, 27, didn't hesitate.

— Wait around long enough and anything can happen in baseball. Case in point: Melvin Mora, now of the Colorado Rockies, thinks the Orioles' horrendous start is not the fault of manager Dave Trembley, a man Mora didn't exactly mesh with in Baltimore. "In the bottom of my heart, I don't think this losing has [anything] to do with Trembley," Mora said in a phone conversation with The Baltimore Sun on Sunday. "But somebody needs to get fired or somebody needs to start winning.

Heading out of Camden Yards shortly after the Orioles' 5-2 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays, second baseman Brian Roberts said he has been given no official word that he would be placed on the 15-day disabled list today with a strained abdominal. "They haven't told me anything, I don't know what we are doing yet," said Roberts, who was injured stealing second base in the first inning of Friday's home opener and hasn't played since. Yet when he was informed that the Orioles had summoned second baseman Justin Turner from Triple-A Norfolk on Sunday, Roberts said, "Well, I guess I am going on the DL then."