masn-baseballs-orioles.jpgIt was opening day in minor league baseball on Thursday and three of the O’s four full-season affiliates were on the field while Single-A Frederick plays its opener tonight.

Charlotte beat Norfolk 4-3 in a game where Nolan Reimold homered and Tyler Henson went 2-for-3 with a pair of doubles in his Triple-A debut. Double-A Bowie lost 5-0 at Harrisburg and struck out 15 times in being shutout. Single-A Delmarva used a big hit by last year’s first-round pick, Manny Machado, to win its…It was opening day in minor league baseball on Thursday and three of the O’s four full-season affiliates were on the field while Single-A Frederick plays its opener tonight.

Charlotte beat Norfolk 4-3 in a game where Nolan Reimold homered and Tyler Henson went 2-for-3 with a pair of doubles in his Triple-A debut. Double-A Bowie lost 5-0 at Harrisburg and struck out 15 times in being shutout. Single-A Delmarva used a big hit by last year’s first-round pick, Manny Machado, to win its opener.

Below are links to some O’s minor league video. Found some of this at orioleshangout.com and some on the Shorebirds blog.

There is this video of Xavier Avery’s first at bat last night at Harrisburg and his stolen base. We told you this week he’d be running alot this year.

The poster added also this video of a Robbie Widlansky double.

Meanwhile, the Delmarva Shorebirds blog has some video with Birds’ GM Chris Bitters and fans at Delmarva’s opening game last night. Machado’s two-run triple led Delmarva to a game one, 2-1 win over Greensboro.

In the minors tonight, Norfolk plays at Charlotte with Michael Ballard on the mound. The lefty went 6-8, 5.09 last year in Triple-A with Oklahoma City. Steve Johnson is the starting pitcher when Bowie plays at Harrisburg. Johnson will look to build on his solid second-half from last season.

Frederick opens its season with a Carolina League game at Salem at 7:05. Righty Ryan O’Shea is the Keys stater, returning to Frederick where he went 7-8 with an ERA of 3.84 in 28 starts in 2010. He was the O’s organizational player of the month for August last summer when he went 1-1 with a 1.93 ERA over six starts.

Tim Adleman is on the mound for Delmarva tonight at home in game two of that Greensboro series. Adleman, a 24th-round pick last June, was 2-4 with an ERA of 3.44 over 13 starts last season for Short Season Single-A Aberdeen.