The Baltimore Orioles lost today on their Opening Day of the season.

The Tampa Bay Devil Rays won, 6-2.

What Happened?

The O’s scored their only two runs of the game in the bottom of the first inning.

The runs came on a double by Kevin Millar that scored Brian Roberts and Nick Markakis.

The double hit by Millar should have been caught by Carl Crawford. Instead, the ball went off his glove and two runs crossed the plate.

I’ll take it.

The Rays scored three runs in the third, one run in the fourth, and two runs in the sixth frame.

One of the three runs in the third inning came on a Melvin Mora error.

The other two runs in the inning scored on a single by BJ Upton.

The lone run scored in the fourth came off a home run by Eric Hinske. 

Dioner Navarro and Jason Bartlett both had RBI singles in the sixth.

And the O’s fall in the opener…

Guthrie

Jeremy Guthrie started for the Baltimore Orioles today.

“How did he do?”

Not very well.

Guthrie pitched 5.1 innings, giving up six runs (five earned), on nine hits and a walk.

Guthrie was today’s losing pitcher.

“I thought Guthrie threw strikes, but his location wasn’t what we’re used to. The location of his secondary pitches is what got him in trouble,” manager Dave Trembley said.

So, not a good day for Guthrie.

Opening Day

Here are some pictures from the O’s Opening Day.

Cintron

Alex Cintron was signed to a minor league deal today.

Cintron was added to the Orioles Triple A team, a move that could impact the Orioles later this year.

Orioles Player Of The Game:

Brian Roberts wins!

B-Rob went two for two with one run and two walks and a stolen base.

“That’s Brian Roberts. He’s one of the premier leadoff leaders, not only in this league but in the game,” Trembley said. “I wouldn’t expect anything different from him. I don’t think anything bothers him.”

Number Of The Game

Six Orioles who played today without getting a hit.

Coming Soon

The Orioles are off tomorrow and I might take the day off tomorrow too! - John T.

To all who read this blog:

I know I didn’t post for the last two days, but I was out of town. I will try to post as much as I can and hopefully I will post daily. However, I am very busy…

With that said, here are a lot of notes about the Baltimore Orioles.

A Lot Of Notes

• Brian Burres was named the fifth starter for the Orioles.

He will be available to pitch in the bullpen for the first two games due to Tuesday’s open day.

“It feels good,” said Burres. “The roles are set up, and it’s nice to know where everybody stands.”

• Now that you know who the fifth starter is, here is the rest of the rotation.

1. Jeremy Guthrie
2. Daniel Cabrera 
3. Steve Trachsel
4. Adam Loewen
5. Brian Burres

And now you know…

• Luis Hernandez was named the Orioles starting shortstop.

Hernandez made seven errors this spring, yet still won the starting shortstop job.

“I’m all for giving people an opportunity and to show [Hernandez] that I have confidence in him in what I saw when he played here last season. I’m confident that he could do that again,” Trembley said.

Trembley also said: ”I really didn’t want him to go into the season feeling as if he had to look over his shoulder, and when he went out there and played, he had to be perfect or if he made a mistake he wasn’t going to play. You show guys your confidence and you give them an opportunity. That’s the philosophy and the direction we’re going to take with all our players, especially our young players.” Hernandez will bat ninth in the O’s line up, which will look like this…

1. Brian Roberts 

2. Melvin Mora

3. Nick Markakis

4. Kevin Millar

5. Aubrey Huff

6. Ramon Hernandez

7. Luke Scott

8. Adam Jones

9. Luis Hernandez

• So, now what happens to Brandon Fahey? Fahey was the loser of the shortstop battle.

Well, Fahey will now be the fifth outfielder.

• Adam Jones is nervous about Opening Day tomorrow.

“I’m nervous, to tell you the truth. I’m so nervous about Opening Day,” he said. “I’ve had opening days in the minors, but that’s nothing. That’s in front of 7,000, 8,000 people. I’m going to be tremendously nervous from the time I arrive at the ballpark to the time the game starts.”

• The Orioles released Jay Gibbons today.

Scott Moore beat out Gibbons for the final spot on the roster.

“I was not going to be able to find playing time for Jay Gibbons with the roster being what it was right here and right now,” said Orioles manager Dave Trembley. “He agreed with that. He got his release and we’re going from there.”

“For Jay to be a productive player, he’s got to get a lot of repetitions, he’s got to get a lot of at-bats. I just don’t see that happening here,” MacPhail said. “I put a value on flexibility on the roster, not just the fact that Scott can play extra positions, but obviously, it gives you flexibility going forward. It was a difficult decision for me. That’s never a fun day. But to me, it was what we had to do. And I really believe it is in everybody’s interest to go forward.”

However, Baltimore will still have to pay the $11.9 million left over two years on Gibbons’ contract.

• The O’s will open their season tomorrow!! I’m excited!!!

Go O’s!!!! - John T.

The Baltimore Orioles lost today to the Washington Nationals. The final score was 2-1.

What Happened?

The Orioles scored in the top of the first.

It didn’t exactly set the tone for the game on the Orioles side…

Oscar Salazar hit a grounder that brought in the run.

The Nats scored two runs, one in the third inning and one in the seventh inning.

The run in the third inning came on a Felipe Lopez homer.

The run in the seventh came on a single by Jesus Flores.

And the Nationals win.

Trachsel

Steve Trachsel started for the Baltimore Orioles today.

Trachsel went six innings, allowing one run on four hits while walking one and striking out two batters.

“Trachsel is what we came here for,” Trembley said. “Command both sides of the plate, good tempo, pitched very good.”

Not a bad outing…

Notes

Guillermo Quiroz will likely be the Orioles back up catcher this year.

This is due to the fact that Chris Heintz will be reassigned to minor league camp later this week.

Eider Torres, Chris Roberson and Oscar Salazar all have also been reassigned.

Orioles Player Of The Game:

Oscar Salazar wins this award! He had one hit and one RBI today.

Not great numbers, but no other Oriole really stood out…

Number Of The Day

Three times Scott Moore struck out today.

Coming Soon

Baltimore will face the Mets tomorrow, with Daniel Cabrera starting for the O’s.

I’m Predicting…

I’m predicting that the Mets will win tomorrow.

I hate to say it, but it’s what I think will happen… - John T.

Remember my blog I wrote yesterday, where I said that the Baltimore Orioles would snap their losing streak today against the Florida Marlins? Well, I told ya so!

The O’s won today, 8-1.

The Run Down

The O’s scored a run in the first inning, five runs in the second inning, and two runs in the sixth inning.

The run that scored for the O’s in the first frame came off of a sacrifice fly from Kevin Millar’s bat.

Millar had just come back from getting stiches. Well, actually just a stitch.

Anyway, in the next inning, the Orioles scored five runs.

Jay Payton scored on a wild pitch, Brandon Fahey had a two-run triple, Scott Moore hit an RBI grounder, and Millar drove in another run.

The O’s scored two more runs in the sixth, with runs scoring on a Jay Gibbon’s sacrifice fly and a run scoring after Aubrey Huff drew a walk with the bases loaded.

The Marlins scored in the eighth inning to kill the potential shut out. The O’s still won though!

(Can you tell I’m a little excited?)

Burres

Brian Burres started today for the O’s.

I know, I know, Jon Leicester was supposed to start today.

However, Leicester was outrighted to Triple-A Norfolk before the game, so Burres started.

And Burres did a good job too.

Burres pitched five 1/3 innings, allowing six hits while giving up no runs and walking none, and Burres struck out four batters.

Not a bad day at the office…

“It’s always nice to get out there and do that,” he said. “I haven’t pitched bad so far, but I haven’t pitched good, so it’s nice to go out there and have a good outing.”

“The timing is good for him to do that,” manager Dave Trembley said. “We got 75 pitches out of him. His tempo was good. Pitching sets the tone for the game, and he did.”

Roberts

Brian Roberts was scratched from today’s game.

“Why?”

B-Rob was not in the line up due to his back flaring up. He recieved a shot to ease the pain, and this isn’t expected to be serious.

Orioles Player Of The Game:

This award goes to… Kevin Millar.

Millar went one for one, with two RBIs and two walks.

Whooooo!!!

Number Of The Day

Zero walks the Orioles gave up as a team in today’s game.

Yes, the Orioles pitchers combined to walk zero batters today!!!

Coming Soon

Baltimore will face the Cardinals tomorrow.

Jeremy Guthrie will start for the O’s.

I’m Predicting…

Can the Orioles turn this into a two game winning “streak”?

Well, I’m predicting that they can!

Yes, I’m predicting an Oriole win tomorrow! - John T.

The Baltimore Orioles lost again today. The New York Mets won, 1-0.

What Happened?

The only run of the game came in the Mets’ half of the third inning.

The run came on a Luis Castillo single.

And no more scoring occurred in the game.

The Pitchers’ Duel

Orioles starter Adam Loewen and Mets starter John Maine both did well today.

Maine did better though, as he allowed one hit and a walk in six innings.

How did Loewen do?

Loewen went five innings, giving up two hits and one run while walking three and striking out three.

He threw 77 pitches with 47 going for strikes.

“That was the best he’s been all spring,” Trembley said. “A great outing for him. We got him up just a little over 75 pitches, so that’s where we wanted him. And the other guys followed suit. That’s a well-pitched game on our side.”

A well pitched game on the other side too…

Orioles Player Of The Game:

The Orioles pitching (starters and the bullpen) wins this award!

The O’s gave up only three hits all game! Nice!

Number Of The Day

This is a new section, but I want to include it. It’s a number from the game.

Two Orioles with a hit in today’s game.

Coming Soon

The O’s will face the Marlins tomorrow.

Jon Leicester will start for Baltimore.

I’m Predicting…

I’m predicting an Oriole win!

The O’s have to break their losing streak sometime, and why not tomorrow? - John T.

The Baltimore Orioles lost today—again. I know, you’re tired of hearing that line already, but you might as well get used to it.

Anyway, the final score was Twins 3, O’s 1.

What Happened?

The Twins scored a run in the first inning, and then two runs in the fifth inning.

The run in the first frame came on a Craig Monroe groundout.

The two runs in the fifth inning came after Orioles starter Daniel Cabrera walked in a run and after Cabrera made an error that brought in the Twins third run of the game.

The O’s scored once in the eighth inning.

The Orioles lone run of the game came when Brandon Fahey bounced into a double play.

D-Cab

How did Daniel Cabrera do today?

I’ll let you decide. Here are his stats:

Four 1/3 innings pitched, five hits allowed, three runs (one earned), four walks and three strikeouts. Cabrera did make a few errors though…

“Today was the best game I’ve felt in spring training,” said Cabrera. “The things that me and [pitching coach Rick Kranitz] have been trying to put together this spring training came today. I’m not looking at the couple of walks they got, the errors they got. I’m feeling strong and everything’s working.”

“I thought he held it together pretty good,” said Orioles manager Dave Trembley. “There were only three balls hit good against him. Obviously, the fielding [mistakes] hurt us. The secondary pitchers were good. We got him up around 90 pitches, so that was a plus. From what we’ve seen from him in the past, in these kinds of situations that happened today, the wheels would have come off the wagon. But he pitched well enough where he didn’t let that happen. That’s why I’m encouraged.”

Orioles Player Of The Game:

Tike Redman!

Why?

Well, Redman was the only Oriole with multiple hits in this game, so he gets the award.

Coming Soon

Baltimore will face off against the New York Mets tomorrow.

Adam Loewen will start for the Orioles.

I’m Predicting…

I’m predicting that the Mets will win tomorrow.

I know I’ve picked against the O’s a lot recently, but they’re slumping now, and I can’t see them turning it around.

Yet. - John T.

Jeremy Guthrie will start for the Baltimore Orioles on Opening Day.

It was between Guthrie and veteran pitcher Steve Trachsel. They were the remaining candidates for the job, and Guthrie won.

“I think the fans can look at [Guthrie] and see, number one, the direction of where we’re going,” Kranitz said. “I think we put a guy a out there that is extremely aggressive. He’s going to be here a long time. He’s a competitor. He’s everything you would want in a pitcher. We’re looking at the future of this organization. I think it’s a very good choice.”

The rest of the rotation was not revealed though.

“I thought about the entire situation for a long time, and I just think at this particular point in time it’s well deserved,” Trembley said. “The guy certainly showed us what he could do last season. He’s had a tremendous spring, and I think it’s the right thing to do.”

“It’s a great honor to have the confidence from [Trembley], and I felt the same from my teammates, that they feel like if I’m out there, we have a chance to win,” Guthrie said. “That’s the most important thing, to know that they’re putting me out there knowing we have a chance to win the game. That’s what we’ll try to do. I’m sure we’ll have a great crowd. It will be a lot of fun with the festivities that they do on Opening Day in Baltimore. Maybe we can start the season 1-0. It will be a nice way to get going.”

Congrats Guthrie!

Side note: The Orioles did not play yesterday due to rain.

Another side note: Mike Costanzo, Omir Santos and Luis Terrero were all sent to the Orioles minor league camp.

Go O’s! - John T.

The Baltimore Orioles lost again today. This time the St. Louis Cardinals won, 7-4.

What Happened?

The O’s began the game by scoring two runs in the first inning.

Melvin Mora doubled and then scored on a Nick Markakis single. Markakis eventually came around to score on a single by Ramon Hernandez.

The Cardinals tied the game by scoring a run in the bottom of the first and a run in the bottom of the second inning.

The run in the first came on a Chris Duncan single, and the run in the second came on a double by D’Angelo Jiminez.

The O’s took the lead in the top of the third frame by scoring two more runs.

Chris Roberson doubled to bring in one run, and an RBI grounder from Hernandez brought in the second Oriole run of the inning.

In the bottom of the fifth inning, things got messy for the O’s. The Cards scored four runs in that inning, taking the lead.

Troy Glaus hit a single that brought in two runs and tied the game. Later in the inning, Ryan Ludwick hit a two run homer, thus giving the Cardinals the lead. For good.

The Cardinals did tack on a run in the bottom of the eighth inning though…

Tomorrow

Dave Trembley is expected to announce the Orioles opening day starter tomorrow.

He needed to consult with some of his staff…

Millar

Kevin Millar got hit by a pitch today.

“Where did he get hit?”

Millar got hit on his left pinkie finger by a pitch.

X-rays showed no breaks, but Millar was left with a one-inch gash on his finger. The gash required one stitch to close it.

“Anytime you get hit in the hand, you always have to worry,” said Millar. “You don’t know, and there’s so many bones. But the good news is there’s no break and it will probably be a two-day thing.”

Millar also said: ”It’s a good finger to have, because I hang that finger off [the bat]. It’s not on my throwing hand. If we were playing the Yankees tomorrow, I’d probably tape it up.”

Guthrie

Jeremy Guthrie started for the O’s today.

He went 4.2 innings, allowing four runs on eight hits, while walking none and striking out five batters.

“Everything felt good,” Guthrie said. “Fastball location wasn’t great, changeup wasn’t great on the location, either. I felt a little rusty out there, but for the most part I threw strikes. I had a tough time putting a couple guys away and that led to a couple hits, but not walking anybody was real good and getting ahead of guys, I was real happy about that.”

Guthrie also said: “I feel great. If I’m throwing strikes and getting ahead of guys, you can always adjust off that. They got a lot of base hits early on, some funky ones, balls going over bags. But overall I just didn’t make as good a pitch when I needed to and that’s why they were able to get the bat on the ball.”

Orioles Player Of The Game:

Melvin Mora wins this award!

Mora had three hits, one walk, and two runs scored.

Coming Soon

The O’s will face the Marlins tomorrow.

Daniel Cabrera will start for the O’s.

I’m Predicting…

I’m predicting that the Marlins will win tomorrow.

As I’ve said before, the Orioles aren’t doing well at all.

It’s gonna be a long season… - John T.

The Baltimore Orioles lost again yesterday. (Sorry I didn’t post last night). The New York Mets won, 7-0.

What Happened?

The Orioles loss was a because of…

A) Bad Calls

B) Facing A Great Pitcher

C) All Of The Above

If you picked “C”, you’re correct! The O’s lost due to bad calls by umpires and because they faced a great pitcher in Johan Santana.

Anyway, the Mets scored once in the bottom of the first inning, and once more in the bottom of the second inning.

In the first inning, Jose Reyes hit a ball that bounced over the first base bag for a double.

“So what?”

Well, the ball was actually foul. Well foul.

Orioles first baseman Aubrey Huff and Orioles starter Jon Leicester just looked around after the play, as if they were waiting for someone to call Reyes back to the plate.

Nobody ever did.

When Reyes was on second base, cameras caught him saying, “Wow.”

Even Reyes knew that ball was foul.

(Oh, and for the record, the first base umpire was James Hoye).

You can bet if this was a regular season game, O’s manager Dave Trembley would still be out there arguing with the ump.

Anyway, Reyes later scored on a Carlos Beltran single.

The run for the Mets in the second inning came on a Reyes’ single.

Johan Santana (Yes, he’s a pitcher!) doubled right over Jay Payton’s head and later scored on the single by Reyes.

Now get this: Leicester was so mad, he knocked over a chair that was in front of the dugout steps.

Can you blame him?

In the eighth frame, the Mets scored five runs.

Gustavo Molina and Fernando Tatis both hit two RBI doubles.

All five runs in the inning came off of reliever Lance Cormier.

(Shakes head in disgust).

At least it’s spring training, right?

Ace

The Orioles number one starter could be announced later today.

It’s down to Jeremy Guthrie and Steve Trachsel.

Guthrie should get the job, considering that he has allowed three earned runs, while Steve Trachsel has allowed ten earned runs.

But, the O’s might want a veteran presence at the top of their rotation…

I’m still betting on Guthrie though…

Orioles Player Of The Game:

This award goes to Aubrey Huff.

Huff went two for three, and was one of only two Orioles with multiple hits.

Coming Soon

The O’s will face the Cardinals, with Jeremy Guthrie starting for Baltimore.

Adam Wainwright will start for the Cardinals.

I’m Predicting…

I’m predicting that the Cardinals will win.

The O’s aren’t doing well right now, and I doubt they’ll turn that around against the Cards. - John T.

Just so you know, I didn’t forget to post about the Orioles game today. The game simply hasn’t been played yet, and it won’t start until later tonight.

The O’s are facing the New York Mets.

Anyway, here are some more things that you should know…

Line Up

It’s been confirmed.

“What’s been confirmed?” 

Kevin Millar will be the Orioles’ cleanup hitter on Opening Day (and beyond).

I hate to say I told you so, but…

Also, Aubrey Huff will bat fifth, with Ramon Hernandez sixth, and Luke Scott seventh.

Go O’s! - John T.