Setting the tone on the road

[Roy Firestone]

Last night was two games.
The tenatiive,unproductive RISP Orioles with a mistake
riddled effort on defense,poor at bats, and an inability to put a struggling pitcher
on the ropes.
From the 8th inning on it was a diffferent club. Good relief pitching, opportunistic
offense and clutch power. It was an amazing thing to watch this team that usually
rolls up in a ball transform itself DURING a game! Reimold had a huge impact in
the game. Even though it may not have been the wisest play to make that suicide
catch
of a foul ball(it helped a run score),I was impressed by his fire, hustle and later of
course, his immense, locked in hitting.
The whole team picked up from the spark that he brought to the game.
Now heres my point.
If, and theres always a BIG If,this team can build on that game and play well on
the road and win a few series or at least come home with a winning record, I think
the Orioles have a shot at being a major eye opener for the AL East this year.
The Orioles didnt face Ricky Romero in Toronto, but that lineup was not very
impressive to me.
The Orioles obviously have upgraded their pitching, both in the rotation and in the
bullpen. If they can get good seasons from Chris Davis and Reimold to go with an obviously elite players like Wieters and Jones this team might be able to offset
some bad defense and high strikeout regulars.
Im not saying the Orioles will end up better than .500 this year; they may not.
But on the horizon is Machado and Bundy to go with Britton, Tillman and perhaps
Berken. This team could be very loaded with arms and that is what makes great
baseball teams. The Orioles have played 10 games. Its way too early to tell what
they are..but its also premature to tell what they arent.
In short, I feel some optimism. That would be a first for me in quite a while.

[Frobby]

Let's keep winning in Chicago. I like our chances to take this series now that we have Game 1. That's the kind of win that can galvanize a team for a while.

[dan-O]

This Orioles team is pretty weird - I honestly don't know what to expect night in and night out. They could implode or explode at any moment.

Right now, the things that appear likely are: the starting pitcher will be decent, someone will make an error, and someone will hit a home run.

[scottbbfm]

Looking forward to tonight. I think they had a very similar game last year (Saturday night I think) where they came from behind - people were excited and came out and laid a big fat egg on Sunday for no particular good reason. Lets hope it's different tonight.

[crowmst3k!]

Tonight, they'll do as well as Chen can carry them.

If the pitching can hold up this year, they'll win quite a few ballgames. Arrieta looks awesome, Hammel has some good stuff, Hunter gobbles innings. Let's see Chen keep it up, and Matusz rebound or be replaced.

The offense is not worrying me at all, right now...and Reynolds hasn't even started to hit homeruns.