Duquette: "This should be a big year for the O's"

Who's ready for opening day?

Orioles executive vice president Dan Duquette couldn't hide his excitement for the team and the start of the season as he stood on the edge of field during yesterday's workout.

"This is our first opportunity to see our new team and for everybody to see the boys. The boys are back in town," he said.

"Should be a big year for the O's. Twenty-fifth anniversary of Camden Yards. Still one of the most beautiful ballparks in America. And we have a new playing surface, which looks terrific, by the way. All it needs is about five or six more growing days and it will be in midseason form. Nicole (McFadyen) and her crew did a great job."

The Orioles set their roster earlier in the afternoon, with eight relievers among their 11 pitchers.

"It's always a relief to get the 25-man team together, so we started with over 50 and we've been able to whittle it down," Duquette said. "Looks like we've got a pretty solid lineup. We should hit a lot of home runs. Hopefully, we get some guys on base a little bit more this year so we can leverage that, have guys on base when we do hit our home runs.

"Seth Smith is a good on-base man, Joey Rickard's back and he's a good on-base man. And hopefully we added some better defense to our outfield. That was one thing we were trying to improve. Certainly the addition of (Craig) Gentry on the team will add to that. And I think Seth Smith will be an upgrade for our defense in the outfield and we're looking forward to a good year."

Buck Showalter is getting ready for his seventh opening day as Orioles manager and he insists that the experience never gets old, is never taken for granted.

Asked what moments he takes in during the ceremonies, Showalter replied, "History. A lot of voices.

"If you dwell on it too much, you can forget the task at hand, and that's to win a ballgame against a really good team. I try to respect everybody's history and what have you, but it just seems to be getting more and more special. Maybe it's just to me. But you see fans come here and we see them in Sarasota. They've been coming out for three or four years, making the trip."

And here's where Showalter delivered the line that so many people embraced after I passed it along yesterday.

"I just want the weather to be good, the beer to be cold, the baseball to be good and everybody have a great time and the Orioles win and they want to come back."

Shortstop J.J. Hardy also will experience his seventh opening day with the Orioles.

"Here is one of the best," he said. "It's always a great atmosphere and it's fun to play in front of all of these fans."

What makes it fun?

"I think it's the atmosphere for one, but the orange carpet, the way the fans are, it always just seems like a playoff atmosphere on the first day," Hardy said.

Hardy also will enjoy seeing it through the eyes of first-timers like first baseman/outfielder Trey Mancini and relievers Oliver Drake and Donnie Hart.

"Yeah, it's always fun," he said. "It brings back memories for me. It's something that they're going to remember for their whole lives. I'm sure their families are going to be out there and watching. It's just a great feeling. I'm sure they're going to be nervous. I'm sure we're all going to be nervous. But it's fun to watch, too."

I was surprised that a veteran like Hardy still gets nervous on opening day.

"I do," he said. "It's a big deal. You've got a lot of people out there watching, so it's fun."

Hardy's back no longer brings him any discomfort. It's no longer a thought to him unless someone asks about it.

"It's really good," he said. "Spring training was kind of a long process for me this year, but I feel like I got to where I need to be to be ready for (today)."

The media will try to play up the rematch angle for today's game. The Blue Jays beat the Orioles in the wild card game, in case anyone forgot. They met in spring training, but this one counts.

"I don't think it has anything to do with (today)," Hardy said. "It's a new season. I think we've all kind of turned the page from that. It hurt for a while. As long as baseball was being played last year, I think it was crossing all our minds, but once the season was over for everybody, then I think we moved on. At least I did."

The club will hold its annual moment of silence today for members of the Orioles family who passed away over the past year. The list will include former pitcher Todd Frohwirth, 54, a scout in the organization who died on March 26 after being diagnosed with stomach cancer.

Frohwirth worked with reliever Darren O'Day in the spring of 2014 and a friendship was born.

"It all came about because they were hoping I would work on a changeup and Todd threw a good changeup throwing similar to me, so I think Buck asked him to come down," O'Day said.

"He's a guy who took two weeks out of his spring to come work with me and we got to know each other during that time. The changeup didn't take, but it was awesome that I got to know him. And every time that we'd go to Chicago, we'd sit in the dugout during batting practice and talk. I got to meet his son and give him a glove, all kinds of good stuff.

"I consider myself lucky to have known him. He was a funny dude. He had a real passion for baseball and basketball. I didn't even know what he was going through. I didn't know anything about what he was fighting. I feel lucky to have known him. He was a great guy."