Quick Hits: O's News...

We are only about 12 hours away from the 2007 baseball season! The New York Mets and St. Louis Cardinals take on one another tonight at Busch Stadium in a rematch of the 2006 National League Championship Series.

The Birds of Baltimore start their season Monday night facing the American League Central Champions, the Minnesota Twins. With the improvements to the team this year, everyone is hoping that the Orioles finally do move up in the standings and are one step closer to disrupting the hierarchy of the American League East.

If you’ll be in the Baltimore area today, the Orioles are holding their annual Fan Fest today. The event will run from 11:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m (season ticket holders get in an hour early). For more information on the event, click here…

Let’s move on to the latest with the Orioles plastered throughout the various newspapers and websites.

Well, it finally looks like the 25 man roster has been settled upon. Jorge Arangure of the Washington Post reports that the team will indeed carry 13 pitchers, and only have three guys for the bench spot.

The three men who got the coveted bench spots were Freddie Bynum and Chris Gomez as the utility guys, while Paul Bako will be the backup catcher.

However, reliever Todd Williams got sent down to Norfolk and Brian Burres made the team.

In light of it all, Baltimore Sun writer Roch Kubatko expects things with the roster to be set in stone this morning.

The Orioles beat the Nationals in Washington D.C. 6-3 yesterday, as both Corey Patterson and Aubrey Huff homered in the victory. Big Adam Loewen only allowed one run in the victory.

There’s more on the game from the Orioles.com.

O’s manager, Sam Perlozzo is trying to get the team on track this season by stressing fundamentals and good baseball, reports Peter Schmuck.

The Sun has a great article on Nick Markakis, the next emerging superstar in baseball. As most O’s fans know, Nick is a quiet, modest and shy guy and Jeff Zrebiec does good job reinforcing it in his piece; however, the article also points of one tragic event that has helped to shape Nick, and his focus on the field that has made him the “next big thing”.

The Sun has a great Q&A with Kevin Millar.

The Baltimore Examiner is polling fans as to who their favorite Oriole is…