Another Opening Day has come and gone, and the Orioles won. It’s been a good one.

I’m a little more dedicated to this sport than the average human. Today, though, I took a new leap – I did the most delinquent, naughty thing I’ve ever done in my life.

I watched the Orioles game in class.

I wasn’t going to miss Opening Day for the Orioles – that’s a very important game to watch, after all. Unfortunately, one of my graduate school classes starts at 3:30 every Tuesday and lets me out at 5:50. The Orioles started playing today at 3:00. I have MLB At Bat on my phone, so I sidled into class, plugged my phone into the wall to keep it charging, and started watching the game on mute.

Without further ado, I present my notes from my Introduction to Information Professions course. I hope Cooperstown needs a new archivist soon.

I even drew baseball enthusiasts Buster Keaton and Joe E. Brown in my notes. But my stupid Comedian Heaven project isn’t the point here.

This was a wonderful day. For the first time, I had to suppress my reactions to a three-run homer (that was for you, Earl Weaver, I’m sure of it) in a public place where I shouldn’t have been watching a sporting event. I was living the dream. Best 1.13 GB of data I’ve ever used.

Your basic scoring summary is this:

• Matt Wieters 2-run homer in the 1st after an Adam Jones double
• Ben Zobrist solo shot in the 4th
• Rays string together some hits and tie things up in the 6th, then take the lead 3-2
• Orioles come roaring back in the 7th; Jones doubles in Roberts and Markakis, and after Wieters is walked Chris Davis hits the aforementioned three-run homer (in honor of Earl, let’s say)
• Matt Wieters actually doesn’t throw someone out at second; the error leads to a fourth run scoring for the Rays

Jason Hammel looked pretty good in his first start of the year, although he did run into trouble and allow the two runs that allowed the Rays to temporarily take the lead. Fortunately for him, the team was very offensively strong today and bailed him out. Jim Johnson was old reliable in the 9th, so no worries there. The rest of the bullpen also looked delightful, so they’re still a strength.

Actually, today the entire team looked really, really good. I’m excited.

I just can’t imagine my professor would be if she knew what I was actually taking notes on during her PowerPoint presentation.

The Orioles had three Gold Glove nominees this year. All three won.

I’d say that just about caps off the incredible season these guys put together, don’t you?

Check this out:

Shortstop J.J. Hardy, center fielder Adam Jones and catcher Matt Wieters were named American League Gold Glove winners at their positions on Tuesday night. It’s the first time since 1998 that three Orioles have earned baseball’s annual benchmark of fielding excellence in the same season.

The Orioles’ three Gold Glove winners — which are chosen by a vote of managers and coaches — are the most of any team in the majors this season.

Weets and Jonesy have won before, but this was J.J. Hardy’s first time winning the coveted award. Congrats to all three of them!

In the meantime, please continue to stay safe from Hurricane Sandy’s aftermath. I’m going to go and do a celebratory dance in my house.

This is going to be a quick and dirty post because I’m not sure how long I’m going to have power here before Sandy strikes, but here we go.

The Orioles have three Gold Glove finalists – announcements will be made Tuesday night, when I might not even have power. Anyhow, the Orioles nominees are:

• Matt Wieters, C
• J.J. Hardy, SS
• Adam Jones, CF

…which pretty much shocks nobody who’s been watching the Orioles at all this year, but you get the point.

More importantly, if you’re able to still read this, stay safe. Don’t do anything rash in the storm – take it easy and take care of yourselves. Hang in there, everyone!

So here we go. It all comes down to this for now.

LET’S DO IT.

I’ll be live-blogging the game inning by inning, so stay tuned for my ridiculous commentary here!

Top 1st: The Orioles manufactured a quick run – Nate McLouth got on base, stole second, and was driven in by J.J. Hardy. (In the meantime, I’m finding it very hard to root against Yu Darvish since he’s a pitcher that I’ve been watching since 2007.) Orioles 1, Rangers 0.

Bottom 1st: Joe Saunders can’t throw strikes. It led to Ian Kinsler walking, getting to third on an Elvis Andrus single, and scoring on a double play. Orioles 1, Rangers 1.

Top 2nd: Mark Reynolds was hit on the hand by a pitch with one out. He ended up stealing second base. Machado grounded out to end things, though, so no score. Orioles 1, Rangers 1.

Bottom 2nd: Despite his inability to throw strikes, Joe Saunders recorded two strikeouts in this inning. No, I don’t know either. Orioles 1, Rangers 1.

Top 3rd: Yu Darvish threw a 1-2-3 inning. I’d complain, but I find that I have an irrational inability to complain about Yu Darvish being on my television. Orioles 1, Rangers 1.

Bottom 3rd: A double play helped Saunders escape this inning relatively quickly. Orioles 1, Rangers 1.

Top 4th: Jim Thome singled down the left field line, but that’s about it. Orioles 1, Rangers 1.

Bottom 4th: Men on first and third with only one out. Saunders struck out Napoli and then induced a force out to second to escape. Orioles 1, Rangers 1.

Top 5th: Yeah, we’ve got nothing at this point. Orioles 1, Rangers 1.

Bottom 5th: Kinsler led the inning off with a single. However, Andrus hit into a double play with one out, which cleared things up. Saunders is pitching disturbingly well so far for someone who hasn’t been hitting the strike zone too consistently.

Top 6th: J.J. Hardy led the inning off with a single like Kinsler did last half-inning. However, Chris Davis decided to vary from what the Rangers did and singled into right field, advancing Hardy to third with no outs. And then magic happened – Adam Jones came through with a long sacrifice fly to score Hardy! Orioles 2, Rangers 1.

Bottom 6th: Did you realize Joe Saunders only walked one person tonight? After two outs, he handed the ball to former Ranger Darren O’Day. O’Day got the out. Phew! Orioles 2, Rangers 1.

Top 7th: Ryan Flaherty singled with one out. He immediately left the game for Robert Andino, Postseason Hero at least if you’re a Rays fan, who came on as a pinch runner. Machado sacrificed Andino over to second and Yu Darvish left the game. This made my eyes very sad. Andino then stole third on a wild pitch to McLouth, the first pitch by Derek Holland, appearing in a relief role. McLouth proceeded to single to left, bringing in Andino! Holland, evidently stressed, tried a snap throw to first, but the ball got away and McLouth ended up on second. J.J. Hardy struck out, though, and the inning ended there. Orioles 3, Rangers 1.

Bottom 7th: Darren O’Day recorded three easy outs. Nothing spectacular to report here. Orioles 3, Rangers 1.

Top 8th: My boy Koji Uehara came in to pitch the 8th! I MISS YOU, KOJI. His first batter was the man he was traded for, Chris Davis, whom he promptly struck out. Actually, he struck out the entire side. I REALLY MISS YOU, KOJI. Orioles 3, Rangers 1.

Bottom 8th: Mark Reynolds started the inning off with a nice play to stab a ball at first. Kinsler ended up getting on with a bloop of a ball that got stuck in the grass and made it very difficult for J.J. Hardy to pick up. And then Darren O’Day decided it would be a great idea to throw the ball over to first, which he missed. Kinsler ended up on second. Amazingly, O’Day recovered and induced a groundout to short from Andrus, then was replaced by Brian Matusz. Matusz struck out Josh Hamilton on three pitches – THREE – to end the inning. Orioles 3, Rangers 1.

Top 9th: Joe Nathan came in to pitch the 9th for the Rangers. He walked Jim Thome to start things off, then struck Mark Reynolds out in an epic battle that lasted several pitches. Andino then just missed a home run, doubling off the left field wall and moving Thome to third. Lew Ford came in as a pinch runner for Thome. Manny Machado then slapped a blooper past short to drive Ford in (I swear that wasn’t a bad car joke) and move Andino to third. Chris Davis hit a sac fly to center to bring in Andino. The inning ended with J.J. Hardy grounding out to second. Orioles 5, Rangers 1.

Bottom 9th: One pitch, one out for Jim Johnson. Nelson Cruz then singled to left. Michael Young grounded out to second to advance Cruz, bringing up Mike Napoli with two outs. Johnson walked Napoli. A 19-year-old whose name didn’t even appear on the TV screen promptly singled, but David Murphy popped up to McLouth for the final out. Orioles 5, Rangers 1. FINAL.

Bring those Yankees on, baby!

(Unrelated footnote: I am now 2-for-2 so far in the postseason bracket I filled out for the annual competition at the school where my mom teaches. TAKE THAT, MOM’S CO-WORKERS.)

Steve Johnson does it again (even though this screencap is from July)! Screencap by me.

See that kid in the screencap there? He only pitched five innings tonight, but they were five fantastic ones. He walked three, but struck out six and didn’t allow any runners to cross the plate. He’s been excellent so far, although he hasn’t been getting too deep into games. At least he pitches effectively when he’s in there.

Adam Jones couldn’t be contained in the first game of this doubleheader, going 4-for-4 with two runs scored and two RBI. He’s responsible for half of the runs in this game, actually. I’d love to see him do it again in a few minutes if he’s not too tired.

Anyhow, let’s go and watch game two and see how that goes.

WHY DID THIS HAVE TO HAPPEN TWO NIGHTS IN A ROW ON THE WEST COAST?

That being out of the way, tonight we need to tip our hats to Joe Saunders and Felix Hernandez for pitching a heck of a ballgame. Both teams scored one run each in the fourth, but that was it – and Saunders and King Felix matched each other throughout the rest of the game, each throwing eight innings before handing things over to the bullpens. In the end, it was Adam Jones who wanted to sleep the most, crushing a two-run homer in the top of the eleventh inning to let everyone go to sleep at a somewhat reasonable hour tonight.

We almost didn’t because Jim Johnson came on in the bottom of the eleventh and gave up two hits before getting a double play, but he then walked the next batter, Michael Saunders. Then, inexplicably, the Mariners let Saunders try to steal second down two runs and Taylor Teagarden threw him out to end the game. I really have no idea what happened, but I’m going to assume that everyone is really tired and can’t make good decisions.

Anyhow, tomorrow is an off-day. THANK THE LORD. WE NEED IT.

So we hit six home runs in this game, all of them in front of Cal Ripken, Jr.

AWESOME.

Things were running smoothly for the Orioles until the eighth inning, with the team scoring four runs in the first and leading 6-1 until that fateful inning, but then the wheels fell off. After a series of relievers, particularly Pedro Strop, failed to prevent the Yankees from rallying and tying the game up, it was going to take some serious heroics to pull this game back into the Orioles’ favor.

The heroes came in the nick of time.

Adam Jones led off the inning with a homer just one pitch after almost being hit in the face. After a single by Matt Wieters, Mark Reynolds followed him with another homer. Even a pitching change couldn’t stop the barrage, with Chris Davis launching his own moonshot right afterwards.

Jim Johnson came in afterwards and finished the Yankees off, only allowing a base hit in there that was very inconsequential, and the Orioles took game one of the series 10-6.

I cannot even begin to stress how important that eighth-inning rally for the Orioles was. They showed an ability to pick each other up after failure, the energy and strength to keep fighting even late in the game against a strong opponent, and the sheer will to win that’s brought them to this point. They’ve got what it takes to win – confidence, willpower and just enough luck. This team is, simply put, incredible.

I’d love to see them take at least two more games in this series, as that would put them in first place all by themselves by one game, but it’d be even more spectacular if they swept, as tough as that would be to pull off. For tonight, let’s just revel in the fact that we’re once again in first place and have a little party.

I’ll be destressing by watching Novak Djokovic now, thank you very much.

You know how great Chris Davis was last night? Tonight it was Nick Markakis and J.J. Hardy picking up where he left off and driving in runs left and right. Between the two of them, they had five hits on the night. Not too shabby if you ask me, especially since Hardy missed the cycle by a triple.

Everyone played a part, though – Matt Wieters and Adam Jones had two RBIs of their own, and Steve Johnson pitched a heck of a game, only giving up a two-run homer in the first inning and settling down significantly after that (he pitched six innings total). The Blue Jays were stymied after that by Johnson and Luis Ayala – so much so, in fact, that the Orioles were able to close out the game using Kevin Gregg (who struck out the side – what even). That’s an accomplishment for the Orioles.

Basically, the Orioles did everything right tonight. It’s against a team riddled with injuries, so we can’t look at this and go, “WOW OMG THE ORIOLES ARE TEH BESTEST SO GOOD,” but we can acknowledge that at the very least they’ve pulled themselves together and don’t lose to struggling teams anymore. Remember, last year the Jays would have been trouncing the Orioles.

This is this year.

There was originally going to be a Morris Marina and a few paragraphs of me complaining here, but that was all deleted after an incredible seventh inning by the Orioles.

To recap briefly: Zach Britton put the team in a 5-0 hole after two innings, then settled down for a bit before giving up two more runs. Mercy came in the form of Kevin Gregg of all people in the 5th inning after Zach couldn’t record an out in the inning. To put this in perspective compared to Zach’s pitching last year, MASN ran this graphic during the game:

There’s really nothing else to say. Zach’s walks are up and his strikeouts are down, and it’s all being sponsored by Kia. He’s not exactly the Star on a Reasonably Priced Team, now, is he? Look at that thinly veiled Top Gear joke.

Zach’s location is also clearly struggling – I mean, look at those home runs he gave up tonight. It’s like we have two Tommy Hunters on the team right now. Zach was rushed to the front and he’s suffering in return this season; someone on Twitter pointed out that his 2012 is mirroring Matusz’s 2011, and I’m inclined to agree (which is why I retweeted it). I think Zach could use some more time in Norfolk, but he wasn’t exactly doing well there, either, so maybe some time in Bowie will both help him develop and snap him out of this.

Anyhow, that wasn’t so brief, so let’s get to the part where the Orioles were at a 7-3 deficit and CAME BACK ALL IN ONE INNING. Mark Reynolds doubled and was singled in by Omar Quintanilla, Nick Markakis singled, and then J.J. Hardy stepped to the plate and absolutely demolished a ball out to left field. At first I was going to point out Markakis having three hits and Wieters having two solo shots as the only good things from this game offensively, but then the team came through and did this, so I guess I’m in no position to complain.

Nothing happened after that for a very, very long time. The Orioles bullpen even pitched nine scoreless innings of relief – a complete game shutout. It wasn’t until the bottom of the 14th that the Mariners somehow managed to put an Oriole on every base and pitch to Adam Jones, who lined a pitch out to right that wouldn’t be caught. Finally, we were victorious (although the @CharmCityYakyuu Twitter account was working overtime to keep up with this game).

You can all go to sleep now.

Oh, and one last thing that I want to toss onto the end of this recap: DONUTS!

I spy with my little eye a Rube Goldberg machine. And a winning baseball team, but not in this picture.

This game happened whilst I was at work. Naturally, since I was unable to see even a second of it, the Orioles won. We’re going to play I Spy with the MLB.com recap now and find some interesting things about this team.

Chris Tillman won again. It’s amazing to think that he’s doing so well given his struggles, but there’s something different about him that is plainly visible. Do you know what it is?

Joe Maddon does:

The Rays were unable to get anything going off Tillman until the seventh, when a pair of doubles — including a two-run double from Sam Fuld — forced his exit in favor of reliever Darren O’Day. The biggest difference, according to Rays manager Joe Maddon? Confidence.

“He’s definitely a more confident pitcher than maybe the last time we did see him,” Maddon said. “I thought he pitched well. He did not give in.”

What a difference believing in yourself makes, huh?

Also, just look at this quote from the same article and tell me what you see here:

That lead came courtesy of a five-run fifth inning, a rare offensive outburst from a lineup that has struggled for the better part of six weeks. Facing Shields, the Orioles put runners on first and second one out into the fifth inning, with Nick Markakis singling and J.J. Hardy taking Shields’ pitch off his ribs. After Jim Thome walked to load the bases, Adam Jones punched a two-run single into left field to give the O’s the lead. Matt Wieters worked a walk to reload the bases and Davis emptied them on a double into the left-center field gap.

First off, let’s get the concern out of the way – Hardy’s x-rays came back negative. He’s fine; it’s just a bruise. Now that we’ve gone through that, let’s look at exactly what the key element was here that allowed the team to score five runs in one inning (with four of the RBI on the day coming from Chris Davis).

I think it’s confidence again, and here’s why.

Once you see someone in your lineup get a hit, you begin to realize that the pitcher on the mound is hittable. Once you realize the pitcher is hittable, you believe that you can get a hit, too. When your entire team believes that you can all get hits, you actually focus and get them. The hits come in bunches, and you score runs. Only one run today came on a homer (Chris Davis hit a solo shot in the seventh), with the rest being a bunch of smaller consecutive hits. That’s exactly what this team needs to do to get the job done. Home runs aren’t always the answer, but confidence always is.

One more thing before we’re done – we know what was wrong with Gonzalez last night, even if he won’t blame his struggles on it – he has the flu, or something very much like it. Apparently several people in the clubhouse are struggling with the same illness, so here’s some metaphorical chicken soup for you all – YOU WON A GAME, PITCHED WELL AND DIDN’T SCORE ALL YOUR RUNS ON THE LONG BALL. YOU’RE GOOD AT BASEBALL. REMEMBER THAT. Feel better, everyone, and remember that you’re better than you think at this game!

Really, we need you to be confident. Oakland’s coming in tomorrow.