O's successful road show now brings the act to Camden Yards

TORONTO - The Orioles did the unexpected. A team predicted for another 100-loss season began the year winning four of six and taking series at New York and Toronto. They've played with energy and enthusiasm, displayed solid defense, gotten some clutch outs from their pitchers and watched Trey Mancini get off to a torrid start at the plate.

For a rookie manager in Brandon Hyde, what started in spring training has for now carried into the season.

A team that was expected to be outmatched just about everywhere they turn could still prove to be that. There are 156 games left. But the team that showed a spark in Florida, showed the same to start the year in Yankee Stadium and Rogers Centre.

"I hope that our fans have enjoyed watching us play, like the energy in our ballclub and (think) that we're an exciting team to watch," Hyde said Wednesday afternoon in the visiting dugout. "That they're behind us and they know we are trying to win every single game. I hope they like our players. I want our players to be fan favorites and I want people to feel good about what is going on with our organization. We're off to a good start and I want our fans to feel good about what is going on here."

The Orioles have forced other teams into mistakes at times and the aggressiveness they were told to play with in the spring continued on the first road trip.

"I thought we played well in spring and improved a lot over the course of the month," Hyde said. "I felt like our players were starting to get the idea of what we're about. Starting to come together a little bit and we carried it over. Those games in New York really helped, especially a young team, playing in a tough environment and pulling out wins. I think that is so beneficial for young guys. To come through gave us confidence."

But in a 5-3 loss to Toronto on Wednesday in the road trip finale, the Orioles made mistakes that cost them. Third baseman Rio Ruiz made a throwing error as Toronto took a 1-0 lead in the last of the first. Renato Núñez was the first Oriole to be caught stealing when he was gunned down in the second. Ruiz was doubled off second on a liner in the fifth.

"We played well and there's going to be mistakes made," said Hyde. "We're going to make errors, we're going to make baserunning mistakes and we're going to leave pitches up that are hit for homers. That's part of the game and that's big league baseball. But I like the way we came back. We went down five, the wind's kind of out of our sails a little bit, and all of a sudden, we hit a three-run homer and we're back in the game and their closer has to get in the game. I'm really proud of our guys for the week they had, I like the way we fought back today in the ninth inning. If we do those things, it's going to be a good year."

In the Toronto series, O's starters David Hess, Andrew Cashner and Nate Karns combined to throw 14 1/3 innings, allowing seven hits and one unearned run. The rotation ERA that was 8.38 after the series in New York is now down to 3.38.

The Orioles, who began last year 3-17 on the road, are now 4-2. Their last five games were all decided by two runs or less and they won four of them.

The defense had made just one error heading into yesterday's game. Now they've made two, but have still allowed just that one unearned run.

Mancini, who has homered in three of his last four games, is batting .417/.400/.833 with six runs and a team-leading eight RBIs. He's hit safely in every game. His three-run homer in the ninth yesterday went 425 feet.

After walking 22 in three games in the Bronx, O's pitchers walked just eight batters at Rogers Centre. Four pitchers already have saves. They've used the opener twice and Karns has an ERA of 0.00 over four innings.

They could use a few more guys hitting on offense, so there are things to work on. Núñez is 2-for-15, Richie Martin is 1-for-14, Cedric Mullins is 1-for-17 and Chris Davis is 0-for-14.

But their skipper and new coaches helped the youngest team in the league set a good tone back in February and March, and now we'll see how far that can carry them. On to the next step. The home opener at Camden Yards is a few hours away.