Saying goodbye to the sunshine state

TAMPA - The Orioles will hold an informal workout today at Camden Yards.

By "informal," I mean players will report to the ballpark and get situated in the clubhouse. Get comfortable with their surroundings. And get out of there at a reasonable hour.

Media is invited to watch the grounds crew paint the field logos. Bring an umbrella.

"It's always happy to be home, especially with the fans waiting for us there," said outfielder Alejandro De Aza. "We're going to try to make a good show there."

Sweeping the Rays would have been nice, but the Orioles took two of three from a team within their division. Not a bad start to the season.

"We want to get the three, but we still won the series," De Aza said. "We want to keep going. One of us had to lose. Unfortunately, we were beaten. That doesn't take nothing from us. We're just going to keep grinding."

De Aza is off to an interesting start atop the order. He had two of the Orioles' three hits last night and is 4-for-13 with a home run, two RBIs and a team-leading six strikeouts.

"It's something I've done for my whole career. I've been a leadoff (hitter) a long time, in the minor leagues and the major leagues. It's nice to be there," De Aza said.

"As long as I'm in the game, I don't care where they put me. I just want to be a part of the team and playing in the field."

So does shortstop J.J. Hardy, but he's restricted to taking dry swings today, no matter the weather. He can step inside the indoor batting cage.

Manager Buck Showalter again must choose between Ryan Flaherty and Everth Cabrera as his shortstop for Friday's home opener against the Blue Jays. He's gone with Flaherty in two of the first three games.

"J.J. Hardy won back-to-back to back Gold Gloves, so we're looking at one of the elite shortstops on a daily basis," said third base coach and infield instructor Bobby Dickerson.

"When you put Flash in there, you're going to have a dropoff, but what we like about Flash is he's dependable. Most times, outs are outs. He made a great play (Monday) night on a tag play at second base. That's an out that doesn't get recorded by a lot of players.

"He's real detail-oriented in his work at all the positions he plays. We may lose a little at shortstop with his arm strength and his release going to the backhand and maybe a little bit of his range, but he has body control on a slow roller and so forth. Flash is one of the best utility guys in the league. He can play shortstop for a short period of time and we appreciate him."

Shortstop is Cabrera's natural position, but he arrived at spring training competing for the second base and utility jobs. No one anticipated that Hardy would strain a muscle in his left shoulder and land on the disabled list.

"Cabrera, when he came over we knew he had a couple years of shortstop experience and we saw him do some things in early camp that we addressed and worked on," Dickerson said. "You're starting to see a little tighter game, especially toward the end there we saw him make forehand plays and backhand plays.

"Something we've told him constantly is it's very important to play defense here. We want to control the ball, we want ball security, and for the most part, if you look at our track record, that's the type of players we have, guys that don't take things for granted. Routine plays, we make them routine for the most part. He's gotten on board with that and he has addressed it and worked hard at it. He looks good."

Let's see how much longer the Orioles go with 13 pitchers. As I wrote again yesterday, Showalter prefers the extra bench player. However, Hardy and outfielder David Lough won't be ready to come off the disabled list on Saturday. And how do the Orioles remove a pitcher from a bullpen that offers such little flexibility?

Miguel Gonzalez walked five batters in 5 2/3 innings last night, but he held the Rays to one run and has posted a 2.14 ERA in 12 starts since the All-Star break. He's allowed 18 earned runs in 75 2/3 innings.

I've got a 6:55 a.m. flight home. I tried unsuccessfully to stuff this Florida weather in my suitcase. My fault for buying all those spring training t-shirts.

How much room can smediums take up in a suitcase?