The Home Opener Today; About Last Night

The home opener is just a few short hours away and I'm sure everyone is gettign ready for the festivities and the game itself this afternoon. It's too bad that the temperatures have dipped by close to 25 to 30 degrees since yesterday, but it's nice to see baseball again on your home turf.

Today, Brad Bergesen will be on the mound for Baltimore against Toronto's Brandon Morrow.

Last night, the Orioles finally won their first game of the season defeating the Rays, 5-4. Once again; however, in the ninth inning, Mike Gonzalez decided to make things very, very interesting. It looked like he may have gotten Tuesday's monkey off his back initially by striking out the first two batters, but then decided to take all us fans on a thrill ride.

From the Orioles.com's Brittany Ghiroli: With the Orioles clinging to a one-run lead and three outs to go, Gonzalez struck out the first two batters he faced before issuing a pair of walks, with Jason Bartlett's single sandwiched between. Manager Dave Trembley watched the go-ahead run standing on second, prepared to insert sidearmer Cla Meredith if Tampa Bay's Ben Zobrist reached base.

But Gonzalez didn't let it get that far, getting Zobrist to fly out, securing the save and preserving the "W" for rookie starter Brian Matusz, who gutted out a solid five innings in his 2010 debut.

Gonzalez saved the win for Matusz -- who went five innings, was charged with two runs, but walked five. Let's hope that Gonzalez doesn't bring back the days on Don Stanhouse (for all of those old-school Oriole fans out there).

>>> Read More