Roar from 34's blog
There's no cheering in the press box, but there is plenty of blogging taking place there thanks to a new Orioles policy for the 2011 season.
The team is credentialing Baltimore's baseball bloggers on a daily basis throughout the year, providing press box access to two bloggers per game, with the exception of Red Sox and Yankees games when only one blogger pass is available due to space restrictions.
Should the Orioles lose on Tuesday night, Buck Showalter will match his career-worst losing streak as a manager at nine games. Showalter has already established a unique mark in that he has posted eight-game losing streaks with four different clubs: the Yankees, Diamondbacks, Rangers, and Orioles. Two of those streaks came in his first year with the team (Diamondbacks and Rangers).
Showalter's Rangers lost nine straight games in the early part of 2003, a streak that ran from May 30 to June 8. It was Showalter's first season with the club, and Texas finished with a 71-91 record.
This week's Flashback Friday relates to the Orioles' next opponent, the Cleveland Indians, and Orioles legend Brooks Robinson, who has been released from Greater Baltimore Medical Center after recovering from an infection. Facing the Indians around this time of year, on April 19, 1977, Robinson added a final magical moment to a career full of them with the Birds.
It is the longest Eutaw Street home run and the only one to have been hit by a player for a team that no longer exists. On June 17, 1997, Henry Rodriguez of the Montreal Expos drove a Scott Kamienicki offering 443 feet to right field and hit the canopy over Boog's Barbecue. The long solo shot was part of a fourth-inning rally that tied the game at 3, but the Orioles ultimately won 5-4 to end a 10-game Expos winning streak in the inaugural season of Interleague play.
I will be serving as a guest blogger on MASNSports.com from Monday, April 11 through Friday, April 15. Visit the MASN website for my latest thoughts on the Birds.
In the meantime, take a moment to familiarize yourself with Roar from 34's new home here at Roarfrom34.com. It's a work in progress, but I think you'll find that the new site is a significant upgrade from the previous format and makes a variety of content - including Game Updates, Flashback Fridays, and the Eutaw Street Chronicles - easily accessible.
For the second consecutive year, the Orioles started a pitcher in their home opener age 25 or younger. Brad Bergesen got the call at age 24 last year while Jake Arrieta, 25, did the honors on Monday. Both pitchers had a good three years or more on the Orioles' youngest Opening Day starter.
Orioles baseball has been a conversation between generations in my family, one that now includes my newborn son. We watched this year's Orioles home opener on television together.
While he and I couldn't discuss the game, his first Opening Day provided me an opportunity to consider some life lessons I might teach him as a baseball fan. This is what I came up with:
In the final season of "The Wire," Baltimore Sun journalist Scott Templeton makes up a story about an orphaned child in a wheelchair who struggles to find tickets to Opening Day at Camden Yards after skipping school to be there.
The Orioles open their 2011 campaign in Tampa on Friday night looking to avenge their 4-3 come-from-ahead loss against the Rays in last year's road opener. The Rays accounted for five of the Orioles' eight losses in their first nine games last season. The O's posted a season-worst record for any month in 2010 by starting 5-18 (.217 winning percentage) in April.
The Orioles have reassigned a handful of relievers to the team's minor league camp, including veteran lefty reliever Mark Hendrickson.