Snyder: "It's an awesome, awesome moment."

Brandon Snyder has been pointing to this day for a long time. He's always wanted to play pro ball and dreamed of the day he'd be in the Major Leagues. Today he walked into the O's clubhouse and was on the O's roster for the first time after getting a September callup. "It's so surreal. Ever since I was five years old coming up with my grandfather watching games driving down 95. Coming in the clubhouse, I come here every off season to work out. It doesn't seem like I'm actually here, you know, I feel like I'm in the off season here just to do a workout. "It's extremely special. Especially being drafted by the Orioles, a hometown guy if you will. It's an swesome, awesome, moment. I'm very looking forward to it." Snyder had to knock some sleep out of his eyes when he got the news. "We got back off the road trip from Gwinnett and I had just woken up off the bus and was stepping off the bus when (manager Bobby) Dickerson told me. Pretty awesome. "Honestly, from probably about the last three or four weeks to a month I just put it completely out of my mind. I said if it happens it happens, if it doesn't, it doesn't. This has been the most roller coaster season I've ever been through, with injuries and playing well and not playing well. So I just decided I wasn't even going to think about it and it was an awfully good surprise." Snyder was batting .257-9-43 with 22 doubles in 98 games at Triple-A. He homered last night but was just 5 for 31 over his most recent nine games. From June 18 to July 22 to he missed time with strained cartilage in his ribs and lower back. He says he is feeling great physically now, though. "Yeah, ever since I came back off the DL I haven't had any problems whatsoever. I've felt awesome. I give a lot of credit to the staff in Norfolk. When it happened it was pretty scary and I didn't know how long it was going to be, knowing from other people how long it would take them to get back from the same injuries. Ever since I came back, I've felt 100 percent better than before I got hurt, so it's been good." The O's first-round pick in 2005, Snyder has had his ups and downs at bat this year. He was batting .353 with an OPS of 1.034 in Norfolk vs. lefty pitching and hit .264 in 25 games in August. "I think more or less, it's about the mental side. All season long I kept looking for a reason in my swing or in the little things that I'd always changed before. And it wasn't there. It wasn't because I was wrong, but mentally I wasn't having a good approach and the confidence I had from before. "The biggest thing for me was when I was on the DL, I sat back for a month and was able to watch the game. By doing that I realized, I'm making way too big a deal about this. It definitely helped a lot." Now he is finally in a big league clubhouse and not just for an off-season workout. Maybe he can plant a seed and make an impression to help him try to make it back here next year. "Definitely. We have a new manager and we all watch every night the way they are playing again. It's extremely exciting and I want to be here. I want to show him that I can play up here. It's a tremendous oppurtunity to be seen," Snyder said.