O, The Power; Beat the Evil Empire 1A, 11-6

At the start of spring training, I surmised as to how the Orioles would score runs this year, much less win over 65 games. With the trade of Miguel Tejada was a little concerned about our bats; however, my concerns were perhaps greatly exaggerated.

Last night, the Orioles downed the Red Sox, 11-5, exacting revenge on starter Clay Buchholz, who tossed a no-hitter against Baltimore last year. Right now, the kid seems to be a completely different pitcher from what I saw last September, as his stuff seems to still be good, but he's got very little command and cannot get guys out right now.

The same could be said for last night's starter, Chris Waters, who didn't look that good either. He doesn't have Buchholz's pedigree, and he too had very little command or focus on the night. Perhaps we saw the real Chris Waters last night, and the start in California might have been an aberration, but he's got to be perfect -- or he will get hit. Despite his rough outing, he got himself under control and finished out the game for the victory.

The power bats of Melvin Mora and Ramon Hernandez led the way as they both had three-run home runs, and both Brian Roberts and Jay Payton had two hits.

It was nice to see a resounding win by the Orioles as they are now 61-65 on the season, and have the original Evil Empire in town for a three game set this weekend.

According to the Orioles website, they are now 75,394 from the 100th million fan, so it might happen on Saturday well after the park opens (assuming Friday is a sellout), or very early Sunday.