by alex
31. May 2009 09:13
Matt Wieters debuted Friday night to a crowd of 42,000-plus, but he didn't really arrive in Baltimore until Saturday evening in front of a slightly smaller -- though still larger than usual -- contingent of fans.
Wieters stroked a pitch from Detroit Tigers ace Justin Verlander to the deepest part of the ballpark. By the time the super-prospect's first career base hit fell just shy of the outfield fence, Wieters was well on his way to a standing triple and a standing ovation from the Balmer crowd. He came down to score when left fielder and fellow rookie Nolan Reimold singled up the middle, putting the Baby Birds on the board for the first time against Verlander.
His next at bat, Wieters hit the ball on the nose again, resulting in his first career double. Wieters finished the evening 2-for-4, but Oriole pitching couldn't contain Detroit's hitters as they had the previous two games in the series and Balmer lost, 6-3.
You play the game to win, there's no argument there. But every now and then -- and especially in baseball, when there are 162 games to be played before the postseason -- whether or not a game gets tallied in the win column or loss column takes a bit of a back seat.
Dan and I were at Oriole Park at Camden Yards the day after Oriole General Manager Andy MacPhail announced that Wieters would be coming up to the big club on Friday. The announced crowd was 13,000-plus, up from the previous evening when a crowd of just over 10,000 set a new Oriole Park low.
But the O's announce paid attendance for a game, not a physical headcount. My guess is if there was a count the actual attendance may have dipped to 10,000 or less.
The O's won that game in exciting fashion -- Reimold hit an 11th inning walk-off homer with the O's down -- and briefly brought the Camden Yards crowd alive. Dan and I jumped up from our seats, hands raised and slapping high-fives with what fans were near us. The O's had just swept Toronto. Reimold was exercising his right to assert that the left field job is his to lose. Unbeknownst to us at the time, Luke Scott (fresh off the Disabled List) was beginning what has become a four-game homer streak, during which time he has hit .533 with six home runs and 14 RBIs.
Combine all this with the excitement of Wieters' impending arrival and the national media swarm descending on the ballpark as a result, and it suddenly felt like baseball was relevant in Balmer for the first time in a decade.
It culminated for me last night as I watched Wieters cruise safely into third base, then come around to score on Reimold's nice piece of hitting. Oriole ace Jeremy Guthrie came out in the top of the sixth and retired the Tigers 1-2-3, recording his 10th strikeout of the game in the process. The bottom of the sixth rolled around, and with third baseman Melvin Mora on base, Scott hit a no doubt-about-it moon shot to tie the game 3-3.
I shot off texts rapid fire style to Dan and Zak, and then did something I haven't done in the last five, six, maybe even seven years.
I picked up the phone to call my dad to talk about the Orioles.
Not the Ravens. Not the Terps or the Retrievers. The baseball team that was my first sports love growing up, the team that I didn't become interested enough in until 1997's wire-to-wire season was only a memory.
The enthusiasm is all over town. Walking to the game Friday night wearing my Orioles windbreaker, complete strangers slowed me down because they wanted to talk about the team while our walking paths ran together. I can't remember that happening to me since I've lived here.
It's something that I held out hope for, but wasn't sure would actually happen. But despite being 23-27 and in fourth place in the American League East, the Balmer Orioles have become a relevant talking point again for Maryland sportsfans.
At least, hopefully, for a few more days.
SUBSCRIBE