After spending more than a decade in the baseball wilderness, long-suffering fans of the Baltimore Orioles have reason for hope on this Opening Day.
When the O’s take on Tampa tonight in Florida, they’ll do it with a solid lineup stocked with sluggers like ?Vladimir Guerrero, Derrek Lee, Nick Markakis, Adam Jones, Luke Scott, Brian Roberts and Mark Reynolds. They’ll have promising pitchers, and – perhaps most importantly, a hard-driving leader in Buck Showalter who proved last year how much he can get out of his players.
In this week’s Catholic Review, my good friend Matt Palmer has a cover story about the high hopes of O’s fans this year. You’ll want to check it out here. Also, a day after the O’s legendary Hall of Famer Brooks Robinson was admitted to the hospital, you might also want to look at this story I did last year on the great third baseman’s Catholic faith and how it helps him with his health challenges.
1997 was the last time the O’s had a winning season, when they went wire-to-wire in the American League East. It’s time the Birds got back in the game. I know this season ticket holder is as about excited as you can get. Let’s go O’s!
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