Showalter: "White pants, gray pants, it's still baseball between the lines"

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The Rays are going out of their way to make the Orioles and media feel right at home, including the shipment of Bergers cookies from Baltimore to Tropicana Field. Boxes are stacked in the press dining room for dessert.

That's the icing on the cookie.

The Orioles took batting practice first at Tropicana Field, the usual order for the home team. The Rays came out of the dugout to stretch in their road gray pants, many of the players greeting the Orioles with hugs.

"I think sometimes people underestimate the challenges that people go through," said manager Buck Showalter, who isn't trying to elicit sympathy for his club. "We start games at 11:15 at Yankee Stadium, we start games in Boston at 11 a.m. We played five straight days at different start times. You play in different venues. You're kind of a traveling - I don't want to say entertainment group because some nights it's not very entertaining - but it's kind of what they do. You make adjustments so many times during spring training.

"The other day at our ballpark, once the game started, it was baseball between the lines. The things you've got to do to be successful you have to do. White pants, gray pants, it's still baseball between the lines. We lost basically four home games, so it's just another challenge that we're going to have that some other clubs may not. I hope they don't. But it's just like overcoming (Matt) Wieters, J.J. (Hardy's) not with us, (Ryan) Flaherty's not with us, Wes Wright's not with us, (Jonathan) Schoop's not with us. Some of the things you've got to kind of rally around. But we all understand why, and rightfully so.

"I would like to say a thank you to Tampa's organization. They've been very cooperative in a time of need, not only for the game of baseball but for our city. They've been very cooperative in trying to help, so I'd like to thank them."

Showalter addressed his team before Wednesday's "zero attendance" game against the White Sox and did so again today.

"We'll have an advance meeting after batting practice," he said. "We never have advance meetings after batting practice on the road, but we will here because we have that time slot. We'll bring it up a little bit, but I'm not going to dwell on it. It falls underneath the Captain Obvious situation.

"We're at a different hotel because we couldn't get our hotel, different airline, just a lot of different things. We're such creatures of routine in this game, so you're always real protective of things that take your team out of routine, but Tampa has that, too."

Baseball is a game of adjustments. This is just an extreme example.

"There's so many challenges in a baseball season," Showalter said. "Well over 200 games counting spring training and hopefully the playoffs. If you can't make those adjustments mentally and emotionally and you have to have a certain environment to perform in... There's nothing consistent about it.

"This is obviously something different. There's not some blueprint to hang up on the wall and say, 'Here's what you do now.' There are going to be some things that happen tonight that you go, 'OK, wow, I wasn't expecting that. That was a little different being a home team on the road.' You're trying to make things as normal as possible. I think everybody's looking forward to actually playing the games. And it's going to be a while before we feel that we're back in that sense of consistency and routine. It'll be a while."

Showalter was asked what moving the weekend series to Tropicana Field does for the city of Baltimore.

"I hope it's a positive thing," he said. "That's the only thing I hope. Like I hope it's a real positive thing when we get back there, but we've got to try to stay in the moment here. Our thoughts and prayers are very concentrated back in Baltimore. Even though it's in another city a long way away from Baltimore, I think we're still very close to the situation back in our city. Everybody follows it and everybody's aware of what's going on. We just hope that when we get back there. ...

"We're trying to stay in the moment of this game. Someone asked me today if we're going to get on a plane and go back and play now back home. I haven't heard that, but even if that was the case, it's just something we'd adjust to. It's a small thing to ask us to adjust to some things compared to some other people having to make some huge adjustments in their lives."

Everyone here is hoping that today's news of charges being filed against six officers in Freddie Gray's death while he was in police custody will calm the tension in the city.

"Sometimes what you think and what you hope are two different things, but it's a step in the process," Showalter said. "And you hope the process goes the way that it was designed to."

The Orioles pondered a variety of alternatives to moving the series to St. Petersburg.

"There's a lot of reasons and I heard all the scenarios and possibilities, some that haven't been written or talked about," Showalter said. "They explored everything. The only two things with Mr. (Peter) Angelos was what's best for the city of Baltimore, and what's best for the safety of our fans and the city. Not once was it about revenue or anything. That never came up.

"There's no solution. You're just picking your poison, so to speak. This was the best solution, all things considered. We had talked about flip-flopping the series, but that's not fair to Tampa. They've got things planned for those days. Those are their home dates. They've got things planned for their fans and that's not fair to them, either.

"There's no easy solution. You're trying to keep the integrity of the schedule, you're trying to get the games played. I couldn't imagine another scenario thrown out. They even talked about Philadelphia. Everything around close by, and this was the best. None of them were good."

Tonight's lineup includes Steve Pearce at second base for the first time in his life.

"Everybody here has played shortstop in high school and college. Stevie was a shortstop until I think his sophomore year in college. He's an infielder," Showaler said.

"It's funny, when we started out with him at first base last spring, he ended up making himself into an above-average first baseman. That's Steve. His ball security is good. I'm not anymore concerned about it than I was, but what if Jonathan doesn't come back? What if Ryan has problems with the groin the whole year? What are we going to do? That's who we are. We're not going to buy another second baseman. We're going to do it from within. That's who we are. We have to look at every possible scenario. And Stevie very quietly has been working there for two days.

"It may not be pretty at times, but Steve's not into looking aesthetically pleasing. What he won't be able to do initially, Stevie always has a way of figuring it out. And he doesn't look at it as an excuse. More than anything, he says, 'This is what the club needs me to do and I'm in.'"

It's a common trait among the Orioles.

"Believe me," Showalter said, "I know Adam (Jones) would love to be playing there tonight."