Davis feels no discomfort after on-field drills

MINNEAPOLIS -- Orioles first baseman Chris Davis, who did sprints and hip strengthening exercises on Saturday, planned on asking if he could take ground balls on Sunday and hopes to be cleared within the next few days to start swinging the bat.

Davis, sidelined with a left oblique injury, said he has a little "cabin fever" sitting around. After going through Saturday's initial exam with no discomfort, the first day he hasn't had any in that area, Davis was allowed to do some work on the field with strength and conditioning coach Joe Hogarty.

"That's obviously a good sign," Davis said. "I think the big thing now is not getting too far ahead of myself and just continuing to progress and not have a setback."

Davis expected to take most of Sunday off, and he didn't work out at Target Field. It will be difficult to get in a lot of work at Tropicana Field -- the O's next stop -- given the artificial turf playing surface. The Orioles return to Camden Yards on Friday, and Davis hopes he will be able to ramp things up by then with the goal to return as close as possible to the DL end date of May 11.

"When I got the news of what was going on from the MRI, I was surprised, because it didn't feel as bad as they made it sound," Davis said. "I've been happy with the way things have been going. Yesterday wasn't even scheduled. I just wanted to get outside and run around a little bit."

The O's have been careful to publicly say it, but there's a lot of optimism about how well Davis has responded to the injury so far. Davis, who thinks the injury may have stemmed from a couple dives in the field, said throwing will likely be one of the final steps as the oblique gets stretched a little bit when he throws around the infield.

"I've been pretty happy with the way I've been feeling lately," said Davis, who previously never dealt with an oblique injury. "I've tried to talk to a lot of guys who have been through it to see how they felt or what they went through. Right now, it seems like I'm a little ahead of schedule."