Hyde: "We're real excited to play in front of our fans"

Orioles manager Brandon Hyde has been warned about the orange carpet on opening day at Camden Yards. He's been prepped and has joked about how he's going to avoid an injury or embarrassing fall.

"I'm hearing a lot about the carpet," he said.

"I saw a picture, actually, this morning of what it looked like. Obviously, it's a very special tradition and can't wait to be a part of it."

Hyde may borrow Deion Sander's high-step to ensure that his feet don't get tangled in the carpet.

"Prime Time," he said. "I'm going to go get a full massage and a full stretch and make sure that I don't tear my Achilles on the way down."

Hyde was a coach with the Cubs at Wrigley Field. Now he gets to manage at Camden Yards.

"I've been really lucky, obviously," he said. "This place is unbelievable. I remember in 2010 when I came here, just how beautiful it is and it really feels like the big leagues with the view behind and the amenities. Just a great feel.

"This is our home and we couldn't be more happy to be playing out there in this beautiful ballpark in front of our great fans."

The Orioles are playing their seventh game this afternoon. They were participants in the opening day at Yankee Stadium. But today is different.

"We're real excited to play in front our fans. It feels like we've been on the road for two weeks," Hyde said.

"Home openers, obviously, are extremely special. There's a lot of newness for a lot of us here, and we're really excited to get in front of our fans and take on the Yankees the next three games. But today is a special day and really looking forward to it.

"We know how much these people care about our club, and we're looking forward to being out there in front of them.

"You don't really want to say this is the 'real' one, but yeah, it's pretty fun here," Trey Mancini said. "It's special. It's unlike any other place. Going down that orange carpet is special. All your hard work throughout your whole life and the offseason, to get to run down the orange carpet on opening day is quite an honor, no matter what stage of your career you're in."

"This is way better than opening on the road," Chris Davis said. "I don't consider (the season opener in New York) opening day. That's like a pre-opening day opening day. Everybody wants to open up at home. I think that's one of the best things about playing in a city like Baltimore is you know that you're going to have a good crowd, you know that they're going to be loud and they're going to be out in force, and that's something you look forward to. Something that I think kind of keeps you going.

"Even when you have to start on the road and play a couple series, you can continue to look forward to coming home and knowing that you're going to get a chance to play in front of your home fans."

Hyde didn't get much sleep before his first game last Thursday, but rest came easily to him last night.

"I slept pretty good," he said. "Similar situation, honestly, and there's obviously going to be some excitement and a lot of adrenaline in our clubhouse and in our dugout, and we're excited to hear some cheers for us. Came off a good road trip and feel like we want to keep it going."

The Orioles can walk into their ballpark with a little bit of swagger, winners of four games while playing in tough venues in the Bronx and Toronto.

"Not only winning, but look at the two teams we won against," Davis said. "I know Toronto isn't technically up there or considered up there as much as the Yankees are, but that's one of the toughest places to play on the road, especially starting the season out, having to go up there and deal with all that. But not only to be 4-2, but to beat two division opponents and to win both of those series to start out the year, that's huge.

"I said it in spring training and I'll continue to say it all year, people may not pick us, they may not think we're going to win a lot or even be competitive, but that doesn't matter to us because in this clubhouse we believe that we're a better team than people give us credit for. We believe that we can win and we believe that the winning can start this year. We don't have to wait on it. So I think you're seeing a little bit of that play out. I hope that we can keep it rolling and kind of stay level-headed through the whole process, and I think we'll be all right."

"We played well this last week," Hyde said. "Truly happy with how we grinded out at-bats. I thought our bullpen pitched in a lot of high-stress situations and did a great job and picked each other up. I like the feel of our club, our clubhouse. I thought our dugout was great, our guys were really engaged every single game and tried to win. It was a really good feel and obviously it's really early and there's a long way to go, but we're off to a good start.

"How we played the first six days, I want to feel like we can continue to play that way. I'm not saying we're going to go 4-2 and win every road series, but I like the way we went about our business and I like the way we played to compete every single game and try to win every single pitch offensively and defensively, and grinding out at-bats and attacking hitters in the strike zone. Coming out of the 'pen with a purpose.

"All those things that we did, along with our defense. Our defense saved us a lot in those two series. We're still making that a big-time priority, aggressive baserunning, catching the ball on defense. Something that we're going to continue working on throughout the season."

The four wins have come by total of six runs. They lost by two yesterday. No real breathers in the bunch, which is fine with Hyde.

"I think when you play in those types of games you get better," he said. "You grow together as a club and you get better individually. Putting yourself in New York in tight spots and playing in front of away crowds and feeling everybody's against you at that moment and being able to come through, that's how you improve and that's how you get confident.

"I think those situations we were put in, especially that first series, were fantastic and great for our guys."

Alex Cobb makes his first start of 2019 after coming off the injured list this morning and taking the roster spot vacated yesterday with reliever Matt Wotherspoon's option to Triple-A Norfolk. Hyde said he will be "a little careful" with Cobb, though he hasn't revealed a strict pitch count.

Cobb threw five innings in a minor league game at Twin Lakes Park before joining the Orioles in New York.

"He feels great," Hyde said. "He's got his pitch count up, but we're going to see how it goes throughout the game. He hasn't pitched in any high-stress situations in a while, so he's going to have the adrenaline going, facing the Yankees, the home opener. He feels great, but we're going to kind of see how it goes, how he responds to innings and make sure his health is the No. 1 priority."

The bullpen is in decent shape and Hyde can provide rest with Friday's off-day.

"They pitched a lot, and in a lot of high-stress situations, and we feel good," he said. "We stayed away from a few guys yesterday on purpose. Wanted to make sure we kind of give extra days for some guys. An off-day tomorrow is going to be a big help, but we're in pretty good shape today."

For the Yankees
Brett Gardner CF
Aaron Judge RF
Luke Voit DH
Gary Sánchez C
Greg Bird 1B
D.J. LeMahieu 3B
Gleyber Torres SS
Clint Frazier LF
Tyler Wade 2B

James Paxton LHP