After a 10-5 win
(I'm re-typing this entry from memory because, for the second time today, I lost an entire body of work after the wireless in the press box decided to go out as I was filing. Good times.)
Brian Roberts and Adam Jones, your No. 1 and 2 hitters in today's lineup. were a combined 6-for-7 with a double, triple, three walks, two RBIs and five runs scored.
So how do you like Jones batting second?
Melvin Mora batted cleanup today for the first time. Ever.
Cesar Izturis' home run was his first since May 19, 2008. He didn't think it was gone when he hit it.
"It was a good feeling, especially today," Izturis said. "Especially on Opening Day, you're just trying to get your first base hit, your first RBI. Right there, I was just trying to put the ball in play and put a good swing on it."
The Yankees still think they were the victims of fan interference.
Yeah, it's a drag when that happens.
Izturis' diving stop of Derek Jeter's grounder up the middle in the sixth inning, and his throw to third base that nailed Xavier Nady for the final out, might have been the play of the day. He rated it ahead of the home run.
Chris Ray hadn't surrendered a home run since June 29, 2007 (Howie Kendrick). He hadn't pitched in a major league game since July 20, 2007.
I'll have more later from manager Dave Trembley and pitcher Jeremy Guthrie.
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Categories (click for archive)Roch Kubatko | Roch Kubatko Orioles |
This win is credited I believe to G. Zahn when he blocked those to balls in the dirt with a runner at 3rd (key to the game). Of course kudo's to Izturis and his homerun and that defensive play to throw behind Nady. Great job Roch! GO O's!
1st place!! I'm going to enjoy this while it lasts.
Roch,
Haven't read a damn thing post wise 'cause I just got home.....we got lucky with the weather and opening day was AWESOME.....it was great, especially since the two people sitting to my left were Spankees fans. I think I need a nap but can't do that until after the NCAA final.
The O's looked good tonight..all up and down the order did a desent job....excpet for a blip in the bullpen not a bad pitching game..top of the order is really going to be good..the O's should just be plain good on offense..if we get any decent pitching we should do wel..
Then I geekishy suggest control-A, control-C before hitting Submit on your posts. Sure is nice seeing Teix have an .000 batting average for the Evil Empire.
There are many great story lines within this win. One of the best to me is that Guthrie pitched well and got the win after doing so. Wins were hard for him to get last year.
Buddy, I used to be a reporter, and I've had whole stories wiped out and had to create them. Be happy you lost an entire 10 grafs, several of which were one sentence. What a day! It is clear that 1-thru-5 are pretty dynamic, to say nothing of the bottom of the order.
Little unhappy with the 'pen, however.
Come on, Koji!
Great game. Great ending. Great coverage here.
MASN on-line complaints: I'm not a fan of MASN's other blog promotions getting in the way of other guys' (and gals') comments. Stuff like this makes it less and less fun to be part of your MASN experience, Roch. I've checked your blog almost every day since your first days at the BS, but the new guys are losing me. I know you don't control a lot of these things, but I'd appreciate you passing this on.
The time is here and we all have been waiting
We are in our seats and ROCH is aiding
The O’s have worked hard and trained this Spring
In hopes for a Series and a beautiful Ring
They have uniforms on, with Baltimore on the chest
Ready to play after a long winter’s rest
They will hustle on the field to cheers from the crowd
Huff and Scott will hit the long ball and it will be loud
Wiggy, Freel, Pie, Koji, Izturis are names that are new
But make no mistake, they are Orioles thru and thru
The off season was busy with deals and trades
And a bum named Tex , oh my memory fades
Now let’s all get behind them and cheer for the O’s
We could be the sleeper, Oh I hope so
The future is bright with our young pitchers below
When they get to the majors, they will put on a show
Roberts is ours, which is good to see
And Markaris is locked up, our franchise to be
Well is it time to play ball by the call from the ump
And maybe JACK will realize that he is a CHUMP!
Roch many thanks for all of your hard work this Spring!!
Not to nit-pick, but did Mora hit 4th in spring training? You have to like the line-up though. Before Huff hit that double, Marte would have been brought in to face Markakis AND Huff if Mora wasn't hitting fourth. Not that Markakis can't hit lefties, but they probably would have done it anyway. And who knows what would have happened.
Roch, I grew up in Conowingo, Rising Sun and Elkton. The phrase "bottle of pop" as in soda pop came from my cousins in Welch, West Virginia when I visited them in 1977 while vacationing with my parents. I know that they are not the origins of the word itself, but when I walked to the store with my cousins Paul and Paula, Paul had asked me if I wanted to get a "bottle of pop." I was dumbfounded because I never heard that before. So anyway, it's not where I grew up, but where I vacationed.
How about Markakis' career numbers against the Yanks. I think we may actually have a bonafide Yankee killer on the roster. Having lived in Boston since 2002 I know how important that is to get over the hump in the al east (see David Ortiz 2003 and 2004).
Roch-
Any word on why teams have gone back to the traditional helmets this year as opposed to the ones used last year?
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I haven't heard. I'll try to remember to ask. Might need you to remind me tomorrow. - Roch
Seriously, what is the O's magic number to clinch the division? Orioles Magic!
What a great day for the Orioles. Wish I could have been there. Easily the two highlights of my day were, 1 - Orioles win, 2 - all the responses to Jack's ridiculous post before the game started. I haven't laughed that hard in a while. Jack, I can only say I hope you read every last response and laughed as hard as I did.
And who was it again that was convinced the Orioles would begin this season 0-21? Care to own up to your prediction? Didn't think so.
Let's kick their asses again on Wednesday.
Guthrie did better than I expected. There has to be something to adrenalin flowing. I hope some of the other starters take heed.
Izturis' stop and throw in the 6th was big as was the play of Z-Power behind the plate.
Roch,
The Orioles always seem to focus better against the Yankees and on opening day - we got the best of both today. They played like they wanted it. What do you think about Dave Trembley keeping the team's intensity up like that through the whole season?
I noticed a couple of Os baserunners talking to the Yankees infielders (A.Jones to M.Texiera in particular - also someone talking to R.Cano) and getting nothing but long stares in response. Any idea what that was about? Bad blood? Poor social skills on the part of the Yanks? Trash talking on the part of the Os? It would be interesting to learn about that part of the game if you happen to hear anything.
I'm sitting in the stands at the Angels game, its not even sold out. How pathedic is that! I keep looking at the out of town score board and I get a big grin on my face! You made me proud O's fans, with the way you greeded that piece of crap Mark Texiera! And who's that old guy playing short stop for the Spankee's
Great job Oriole nation.
Go Orioles!
Great game! I am hoarse from shouting "LUUUKE" and booing Teixeira. There were mainly Oriole fans in the section I was in. There were some questionable calls. First, Mora was safe at home in the fifth. I was expecting Dave Trembley to come out and argue the call. Second, Nick Swisher's double looked foul to me, but I'll have to see it again. Finally, I could not tell from where I was sitting whether the home run Izturis hit would have gone out without fan interference, but the first thing I felt was a slight bit of redemption for the Jeffrey Meier interference, even though that was in the playoffs. Whoever caught that ball tonight, God bless you.
Tech tip - as a victim of bad wireless myself, if you can, always compose in a text editor (for instance notepad on a laptop) then cut > paste > send when complete.
I'm out of town and missed the game - I said to my son once I got on the Net "let's see how bad the O's got beat". I'm glad I was wrong. I expected a high scoring game. Guthrie's been sketchy so far and Sabathia is overrated IMO. Both offenses are potent. Just figured we'd fall short.
The boxscore from today is frame-able and it goes a long way toward making me want to attend games. Well done Andy McPhail.
Hi Roch, My son and I were at the game today. I was suprised when I seen all the NY fans downtown. I was realy proud of the O's fans for drowing them out all day. Tex's reception was perfect.
Jack, how can our starters be worst than last year when they haven't thrown a pitch this season? If the O's signed what you would consider a quality starter you would complain that they were blocking the way of our minor leaguers. So no mater what "ANDREW" did you would have found fault with him. Another round of orange kool-aid on me.
S W E E P !
Roch,
Suggestion. While you are typing, occasionally hit CNTR-A and then CNTR-C. This will first select all of your text and then copy it. Then if you lose your data, once you go back to your typing area just press CNTR-V to paste it back. You might also be able to do a right mouse button click and do a select all from the pop up menu and then do it a second time to do the copy.
(Note CNTR = Control key on your keyboard so press that and the correct letter key at the same time).
It might save you some typing and generally works in most programs.
Rich
My vote for play(s) of the day were the two blocked pitches by Zaun in the eigth inning with the O's hanging onto a one run lead. Wouldn't have happened last season!
Roch, It was an awesome win today. Some things weren't so pretty. I saw some nonchalant base running today. 1) Roberts jogging to first in the 8th inning. I remember seeing Corey Patterson run flat out and it caused the 2nd baseman to make a bad throw to 1st base. 2) Mora looked like he jogged off of 3rd base when he was tagged out at the plate. 3) I was nervous at watching Adam Jones making those one handed catches. The first catch he made was with two hands. Players forget the fundamentals real quick. I thought Trembley taught fundamentals in the minor leagues.
I'm I wrong here Roch?
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I didn't notice the first two. - Roch
It has been awhile since I've been this into a baseball game on TV. The O's showed it all: offense, defense, bouncing back from a sticky situation. They picked each other up and pulled out an awesome victory. I'm even more pumped to see them in Arlington next week (and I REALLY didn't think that was possible).
Guts looked great, B-Rob did what he does, AJ is gonna be lots of fun to watch this year. I was booing Tex from my armchair. Knocking CC out without a K is quite a feat. And Ray was juuuuuust missing on a lot of those pitches before the HR (another ump'll wind up giving him those). All in all, a quality day at the office for the Birds.
Can't wait to see Koji!!!
It's nice that the players came up and introduced themselves to Angelos. Did he even know who half of them were? Did he ask where Bonilla and Wells are? When was the last time he met the players?
Still... Trembley alluded to positive changes around here, so this is a good thing.
"You got 48,000 peoples and Secret Service out the ying-yang."
The Yanks have as many -or more- question marks as the Orioles do. Remember, this is a 3rd place team. How did they improve?
Sabathia may win 20 games. That replaces Mussina's from last year.
Teixeira may hit 33 homers. That replaces Giambi's 32 from last year.
Burnett won't win 15 games. Neither will Wang, Joba, or Pettite.
Their outfield is atrocious defensively.
Their bullpen is suspect.
Jorge Posada is a poor defensive catcher.
Hideki Matsui is hitting behind Tex????!!!
I said this after Christmas... and it's still true now. The Yanks stink and won't make the playoffs this season either. I do believe Sabathia will win 20 games and that today was just a bad start. And even when A-Rod comes back, this team will do just as poorly as last year.
Had the time of my life today at the yard! Just read all your game blogs made me relive the best day ever! Was sooo happy to find out that I was part of the opening day record at camden yards! 48,607 people...wow!!
The boos were awesome! My dad loved the video I took of his last at-bat. 0-4 what a great thing!
I love the fact that Jonesy is batting second! Brian and Jonesy were both 1.000 for about the whole game, until the last time Brian came to the plate. But still not a bad job today!
Now I have to work on school work so I can get my dream job at the yard!
Let's Go O's!
Just got back from the best opening day I have ever been to (I have been to 4) and the obvious first thing to do is take some time to go to the School of Roch.
A few observations from the game:
To everyone that says you have to spend alot of money to build a great team...I present to you - CC Sabathia. Now maybe it was just a bad day, but the Yankees spend 161 mill to watch him get POUNDED on opening day by the team that many still project to be in last place this year.
To everyone that says pitching is more important than defense...I present to you - Cesar Izturis. Probably the best fielding I have seen out of a shortstop in years. If only he could hit too. But wait, didn't he hit the only Oriole Home run today.
To all the Baltimore Yankee fans. I am thrilled to be at a game where the Oriole fans overpowered the Yankee fans.
To Mark Teixiera. Get used to the excessive booing because it will not stop anytime soon.
Great outfield - Great lineup - Pitching could still use some work though.
I don't think we are going to break any records this season, and we very well could be in last place by the all star break. However, the bottom line for today is - It was a BEAUTIFUL day in Birdland!!
The strange thing about the home run call on Itzuris is that the O's got ANY IMPORTANT CALL their way from the umps vs. NYY.
It took them only 13 years for the make-good.
Yes, ain't the beer cold.
I took the day off here in Portland and sat in front of the TV from morning till night.
I even got to see the MASN telecast because all the games were free today on DirecTV
Observations from the pre-game festivities: when they introduced Joe Angel and Fred Manfra, and later Gary Thorne and Jim Palmer, I think that was Jon Miller in the booth both times. When the Yankees non-starters were introduced, they were playing Beck's "Loser".
Hoping you can help me with a bet I have with some friends. Who was the first major league team to have a $100 million payroll and when?
When the reporter asked Dave about the fans booing Mark Texiera, Dave should have said "who?"
I was waiting for it!
Sorry if anyone has already pointed this out, but - Pie as a defensive replacement in LF in the 9th - are you kidding me!!? I had visions of him botching a fly ball leading to a 6 run Yankme rally!
The Yankmees can complain about Izturis' home run all they want. There was fan interfernce on a ball earlier in the game that wasn't called that allowed them to score a run. It should have been ruled a ground rule double and the lead runner sent back to third.
Also, it's just a small measure of payback for that little punk in the 1996 ALCS.
Awesome day! With Jones and Huff locked in and Roberts and Markakis always consistently getting hits, and a number of professionals 4-7 with solid (and sometimes spectacular Izturis and Pie), this offense could be something special. There don't seem to be any easy outs. A solid lineup generates so much pressure on the other team. By the way, Izturis was crushing Guthrie in the WBC so I am glad he gets to take it out on the other guys and I am very very relieved to see Guthrie throw a nice ballgame. 3 runs against the yankees is a major contribution. koji gets a very early test in the AL East.
At least Ray didn't point to the sky as he got shelled. :) Any idea whether he just gets too much of the strike zone or whether the ball gets a little flat when he overthrows? Sherrill looked very good. Zaun saved JJ's bacon. ALright, 161 more!
The game was great as the only thing better than beating the Yankees is to win a World Series. However, watching the game on TV, I thought both the umps and MASN did a poor job. The umps missed several plays for both teams and yep, the Izturis HR was one, but were both those O's really tagged out at home and was Swisher's double really a fair ball? The umps didn't really seem very alert, but maybe it was opening day jitters.
MASN was apparently in very early spring form as graphics were frequently wrong (Sabitha left after throwing 67 pitches according to one??), cameras slow to respond to action, telephoto shots were nauseatingly shaky, and there was a near absence of replays on close plays. The announcers did fine, but MASN has to improve or O's fans are going to be yelling at the TV in frustration in no time. Maybe MASN had opening day jitters also.
A great start to the season by the O's, which makes all else forgiveable!
I did notice the lack of replays on close calls. I wanted to see if that ball was really fair or foul, but MASN was slow.
They, did however, give me a great shot of Sabathia throwing a pitch once. It took over a minute to watch Sabathia make a goofy face as the ball was coming out of his hand. Hmmmm.... It was entertaining, but not valuable.
I also noticed wrong graphics... or untimely graphics. But the one thing that STUCK out most was when the pitcher would throw over to first base.
We never got a clean look at the throw over. Sometimes we'd see Roberts as he's dusting off his pants after he'd stood up already!!!
MASN needs to take lessons on how to produce a ballgame. Look, I hate to throw stones, but every other network has a standard and they do things a certain, specific way. It pleases the viewers and gives lots of info. That's what draws ratings. I found myself yelling at the tv several times, wanting to see from another angle.
Oh well... I hope the Wharehouse is reading this...
GaryB - ESPN didn't do much better as far as replaying questionable calls. They spent a little bit of time with the Izturis HR but they didn't really show a good replay of it and then just kind of shrugged it off, "oh well I guess the umps thought it must be a home run...". Little or no replay or discussion of the other iffy calls, or some of the crappy balls and strikes umpiring. And, watching on ESPN, half the time you'd think the Yankees were just out there playing themselves. What about the team that actually happens to be winning here, guys?
Nice game and so great to see a full ballpark pulling for the O's!