Orioles' bats making noise in quiet ballpark

A group of fans have gathered at Gate H beyond left-center field today and are offering their support for the Orioles, who batted around in the bottom of the first inning and scored six runs.

The fans yelled "O" during the anthem, spelled out O-R-I-O-L-E-S and began a chant of "Let's Go Orioles." We can hear every letter and word from the press box.

Chris Davis hit a three-run homer to right, the ball landing on Eutaw St., as part of the offensive onslaught against White Sox starter Jeff Samardzija. We heard MASN's Gary Thorne yell "Goodbye, home run" as though we were watching at home.

The Orioles have batted around and scored six runs in three of their last seven innings dating back to Sunday's game against the Red Sox. The next two games were postponed due to safety concerns.

Leadoff hitter Alejandro De Aza walked and singled in the first. Jimmy Paredes reached on an error and grounded out to end the innning.

Adam Jones lifted a sacrifice fly with the bases loaded and no outs before Davis' home run. Manny Machado and Everth Cabrera doubled and Caleb Joseph poked an RBI single into right field.

Joseph also had an RBI single in the third to increase the lead to 7-0. Cabrera is 2-for-2 with a pair of doubles.

A recorded version of the anthem was played before the game and some players are using their walk-up music when they're introduced over the PA system. Foul balls clank in the empty seats, making me wonder if they will be cleaned up later like peanut shells.

Delmon Young popped up leading off the bottom of the second and first baseman Jose Abreu easily could be heard calling for the ball while first base coach Wayne Kirby yelled "Run it out."

The scene really does remind me of a spring training intrasquad game.

Ubaldo Jimenez has thrown four scoreless innings, allowing one hit and striking out four.

Manager Buck Showalter met with the media earlier today as he always does and provided updates on the injured Orioles.

"(Ryan) Flaherty took 75 swings today," Showalter said. "He's doing well. I feel real confident he's going to make the DL period. In fact, I think you'll see him out playing the first part of the week on a rehab assignment. His day is the 8th. Does that sound right? Somewhere in there.

"This is J.J. (Hardy's) third day and he's going to hit today, so we'll get a pretty good feel for where he is with his shoulder. Hope we get some good response there. Matt (Wieters) will catch tomorrow down there. Not today. Decided to get one more day there. Jon (Schoop) got his knee aspirated just so we could get that last fluid out of there and get with some strengthening exercises. Wes Wright, I think we're going to see him out there throwing the first of the week, so that's good to see. He's going to move quickly once that happens."

Showalter knew that the interview room was packed with media because of the historic circumstances surrounding today's game. He spent more than three hours yesterday in owner Peter Angelos' office discussing the alternatives.

"Peter and the front office and everybody took input from a lot of people," Showalter said. "Obviously, it's uncharted territory and nobody's got experience at it. In fact, I know we were asked to keep notes in case we get to this again, there are some things you can refer back to, the things you did that worked out well and things that looking back on you might want to do differently next time. That's kind of the world in general. But I think a lot of people are kind of... Do you remember when they had the football game with no announcers? Why didn't they continue to do that? So it must have not worked well."

The Orioles didn't want to postpone this game, as well, and wipe out the entire series.

"Our problem is the doubleheader in May, the 28th, was there, but after that making up the other game..." he said. "And we thought it was in some ways important to get some things going. You don't want to have the first time you play here be a week or two. You don't know what tomorrow's going to bring, a week from now is going to bring.

"It makes you realize how unimportant really in a lot of ways this is compared to some things that are going on, so you try to keep that in mind and look at things realistically about where this fits in the scheme of things. I'm talking about the baseball game. There are so many things and you prioritize what's most important. We tried to do that."

Showalter said no consideration was given to moving the weekend series against the Rays to Sarasota.

Everybody's got a thought or a suggestion. Believe me, we heard them all," Showalter said. "First of all, I try to, and we do, put myself in somebody else's shoes. If Tampa had called us about flip-flopping a series. I think they have a concert scheduled. There are so many things. People have booked... At the same time we have three games here that are going away. I was thinking about all the businesses and everything that depend on those games being played here. There's so many people impacted by it. But I don't know. Two wrongs make a right type thing? I don't know.

"I know they talked with Tampa. Yesterday, we had to decide who was going to wear the white uniform and the gray and who was going to take BP first. There was another one. Oh, start times. They make them or do we make them? So it's just a lot of uncharted territory and you try to do what's right and know you're going to make some mistakes along the way."

Showalter has been watching footage of the rioting like everyone else

"I think we all have a reaction, we all have an opinion, we all have a thought on it, but does it help you get to the end game? he asked. "What is the end game? I'm trying to be cautious about it. We have enough people weighing in on something and a lot of people don't know all the facts. And I'm not an expert on... I have some opinions.

"I've watched it very closely like we all have and I just hope at the end of the day when it's all said and done we can grab some positive out of it. But I do. You know I have an opinion on it and a thought on it. I'll tell you what, it's sad on a lot of fronts. And keep in mind how we got to this point. I think I'm kind of past pointing a finger. I just want to see the city, I want it to be like it was. There are some things you don't want it to be like it was."

What about the impression that the violence has left on new players?

"I thought about that," Showalter said. "That's probably something I'll think about more. I don't want to be cold to it, but it's like what the agent says when it's not about the money, it's about the money. But we've been offering something here and we will continue to be able to do it, which is opportunity. But I think it's yet to be seen how it will reflect on something like this down the road.

"Every city's got their challenges, OK? That would be a question for the players, how much they really consider that. We have a lot of great things to offer here and when this is said and done, I think there's a chance that our city will be better than it was before in a lot of ways, if you know where I'm going. I hope."

Showalter also was asked about the mindset of his team.

"There's no blueprint," he said. "I wish I was that reader of the tea leaves. We were talking about whether we're going to have a workout tomorrow before we left and I decided I want to see what level of rustiness there is. We've got an advance meeting today. We've never had an advance meeting in the daytime. There's a lot of new things.

"We're going to hit in the home team's slot in Tampa. We're going to wear white pants on the road. There's a lot of different things, but it's what these guys do a lot. They make a lot of adjustments on the fly. You play with a team and you get traded and three days later you're across in the other lockerroom. I don't think a lot of us can identify with what a challenge that is. And every night I'm (amazed) by the concentration level they're able to have.

"In the spring we piped in a lot of loud sound to try to simulate stadium noise. We didn't practice the quiet one. You've also got to be careful about the sweet nothings you throw out of the dugout with umpires. They're going to be able to hear everything."

So can the White Sox from the opposite dugout.

"When it's all said and done I guarantee there are some things that go on out there that we really haven't thought about being different," Showalter said. "Like replay or no replays on the board. We can hear the phones. There are certain stadiums that I try to time when I call the bullpen because there's nothing worse than a pitcher standing on the mound and they know the sound of the bullpen phone and he's thinking as he's getting ready to throw, 'Geez, he's getting ready to get somebody up for me in the bullpen.' Here, I could just about holler down there."

I'll have more from Showalter in my next entry.