The first two days of the season are complete. Here are some first impressions: * Yu Darvish's perfect game was broken up with two outs in the ninth in the Rangers' 7-0 win in Houston on Tuesday night. It brought back memories of April 4, 2001, when the Red Sox's Hideo Nomo, who, like Darvish is from Japan, threw a no-hitter versus the Orioles at Camden Yards. The Orioles' Delino DeShields made the final out. Red Sox second baseman Mike Lansing's tumbling catch of a Mike Bordick's pop...

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Kelly Johnson lined a pitch from Orioles reliever Darren O'Day into right field yesterday leading off the bottom of the eighth inning. I lowered my head to mark a single on my score sheet until realizing that someone had snatched the ball, tapped his glove once and fired a throw to first base to record the out. Second baseman Brian Roberts wasn't playing Johnson deep and right fielder Nick Markakis wasn't playing him shallow. That was third baseman Manny...

The so-called experts have it figured out that there are some areas where the 2013 Orioles can't duplicate the 2012 version. Areas like their 29-9 record in one-run games and 16-2 record in extra inning. The experts might actually have that one right for a change. Another area that may be hard for the Orioles to duplicate is the 2012 record of 43-29 and .597 winning percentage in American League East games. You have to go back to 1980 to find an O's club that had a higher win percentage in...

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Matt Wieters feels right at home in Tropicana Field, which makes you wonder whether he lives in a large storage shed. Wieters' .371 average here is the second-highest among active players with a minimum of 100 at-bats, trailing only Victor Martinez (.402). He had two hits today, including a two-run homer in the first inning off Cy Young Award winner David Price, and drew two walks. Wieters is now 5-for-10 with two homers and three RBIs in three career openers against...

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The first Tampa Bay batter of today's game, Desmond Jennings, sent a long fly ball to left field that Nolan Reimold ran down before slamming into the wall. He held onto it despite the impact. A few of the Orioles probably held their collective breath. Reimold didn't play after April last season because of a herniated disc in his neck that required surgery and a lengthy rehab. He got the start in left today, collected two hits and had one scary moment. "Well, I got...

When I made my season predictions earlier today, my take on the Orioles' offense was that it could be league average or a tick or two above that this season. One game is a rather small sample size, don't you think, but it was an impressive start this afternoon with seven runs, six extra-base hits and 13 overall hits in the win over Tampa. Anytime you can win a game started by David Price - who was 7-2 with a 1.81 ERA at the Trop in 2012 - it's impressive. It sure was. With all the offense...

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Adam Jones doubled twice, singled and drove in two runs today that gave the Orioles a 4-3 lead in the top of the seventh inning. Three hits on opening day? So, what else is new? Jones has recorded three-hit games in three of his six openers with the Orioles. He's 10-for-19 (.526) during that stretch. The Orioles were 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position when Jones batted in the seventh. He fell behind 0-2 to Rays reliever Jake McGee and ripped a two-run double to...

Under normal circumstances, Rafael Soriano picking up his first save as a National on opening day with a dominant ninth inning would be something we'd be discussing immediately following the game. With what Bryce Harper and Stephen Strasburg did yesterday, however, Soriano's performance took a bit of a backseat. Now that we've broken down Harper and Strasburg's efforts backwards and forwards and backwards again, however, we can talk a bit about Soriano's 1-2-3 ninth, which included two...

With one big swing in the first inning and two huge swings in the seventh, the Orioles beat Tampa Bay 7-4 today to win their opener for the 10th time in the last 13 years. Last season, the Orioles scored six runs total in their last four games at Tropicana Field. Jason Hammel had allowed just one run on 56 pitches through five innings until Tampa Bay scored twice in the sixth to take a short-lived 3-2 lead. The Orioles then quickly exploded for five runs in the seventh against lefty Jake...

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The Orioles are 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position today, and it's come back to haunt them. Tampa Bay left-hander David Price is done after six innings and 100 pitches. He served up a two-run homer to Matt Wieters in the first, but that's all the scoring off him. Jason Hammel carried a 2-1 lead into the bottom of the sixth, but he walked No. 9 hitter Kelly Johnson to lead off the inning. As you know, nothing good ever comes from a leadoff walk, especially to...