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A lot of good baseball in the first series of the season would make me believe that the O's can find themselves in a pennant race sooner than later.
One thing I was very impressed with was our defense.
I really like the way Adam Jones is playing much shallower in center field. He had some great jumps on some tough fly balls but managed to haul them in at the last second.
Although he missed one, I did see the ball fade to the right with the wind, which made it almost impossible to adjust to.
I think we'll also see a lot more line drives go for outs just over the infield, reminding me of the days of Paul Blair.
The infield play with Izturis at short was impressive, reminding me of the Belanger/Ripken days when nothing got through the right side.
What a play by Izturis to stop the ground ball to his left from getting into center and then throwing the runner out at third to stop a huge Yankee rally had it gotten through. You've gotta love the fact that he plays like that, saving the pitcher outs and precious pitches that could save him innings on the back side.
Then watching Gregg Zaun block two Jim Johnson sinkers in the dirt, with the tying run on third base, saving the game at that point, and the possibility of the Yankees coming back to win. Last year for sure, one of those balls was going to the backstop, and maybe even both.
It all may not seem like much during the course of the game, but just ask the manager how it felt to see that kind of consistency on the field.
Very nice boys, very nice--Now lets stop the 12-game winning streak of Tampa Bay vs. the O's with some of that big De-fense!
