The countdown has started.
Friday evening is the time.
Orioles baseball will be back, and for many, it couldn't have come too soon.
I, for one, have been so impatiently waiting for this 2011 baseball season to start. In fact, I've been much more excited for it than in any of the past five or so years.
I'm sure there are a lot of Balmer Hons who are in the same boat as I am.
The offseason is a great time of year. I love what it brings: Cold weather, Christmas, casually viewing football and keeping tabs on what trades and free agent signings go down in the MLB.
But I always miss watching the game and tracking how my beloved O's perform day in and day out—no matter how poorly.
Sure, I was frustrated with last season, and the season before that, and the season before that one. But I love my O's, and I'd rather have a cruddy home team than no home team at all. It gives me something to look forward to and to hope for.
Everyone knows who was brought into the Orioles' clubhouse by now. Everyone knows there have been significant upgrades made—at least on paper.
It would be a shocker to even the most experienced and well-renowned baseball analyst if at least some of the moves the O's front office made didn't pan out and help the team perform better this season.
Everyone also knows it's all on the young starting pitching.
President of Baseball Operations Andy MacPhail and manager Buck Showalter are going to trot out the same young group—lead by veteran ace by default Jeremy Guthrie—every day to see what they've got in these guys. We Orioles' fans pray that all five of the young, stud pitchers pan out. But more than likely, only a few will, if that, and we are well aware of said fact.
With such uncertainty in how things will turn out this season, it's incredible to see how excited O's fans are. It's evident in the comments section of any website, blog or article where the subject revolves around the Orioles.
The offense has the ability to be one of the best in baseball, with veteran sluggers being brought in to help provide pop to the lineup and protection to the young core of fielders. It's pretty much assumed that there will be plenty of fireworks going off at Oriole Park at Camden Yards this year, where home runs could easily become a consistent, multiple-times-a-day occurrence with the depth of this year's 1-9.
Showalter has brought a new energy into the Orioles' clubhouse and fan base thanks to the team's strong finish last year, his no-nonsense but delicate development attitude and his not taking any crap from any other team. Most recently, he showed this when he controversially called out New York Yankee captain Derek Jeter and bashed Boston Red Sox General Manager Theo Epstein
For the record, those comments had the exact effect on me that Showalter was going for: I became even more pumped up for this baseball season to start—something I hadn't known at the time was even possible.
This Baltimore Orioles baseball season will begin as one of the most interesting in recent memory. This year, there's no such thing as a cheap stopgap player on the team. The year will be as much about development of young players as it will be about winning ball games and being competitive. This team has both the ability and the talent to be able to make a run at the playoffs. Or they could very easily flame out and finish below .500 for the 14th consecutive season.
After breaking in the mitts all spring, the catches are official come Friday evening. So are the swings, dives, pitches and slides. I know I'll be parked in front of the 55-inch to welcome in my weekend.
No one really knows what's going to happen with this team, and that's what makes the 162-game marathon a beautiful thing
Anything is possible.
Why not, O's fans?
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