An Opening Day To Remember

Opening Day brings a sense of optimism. There is nothing like the feeling of beginning a fresh year tied for 1st place. Despite 11 straight losing seasons, hopes were high, and the enthusiasm was greater than I've ever seen it at Camden Yards. Even the terrential rain that hit Baltimore on Monday didn't seem to touch the bright attitudes of Oriole fans. Everyone has in their hearts that this is the season we break our losing-record streak, and who better to start off strong than against the most hated team in sports, The New York Yankees.

The Baltimore Orioles hold one of the best Opening Day records in the history of Major League Baseball. The last time the Yankees and Orioles met on Opening Day was back in 2002. Tony Batista hit a Grandslam as the Orioles roughed up "Future Hall of Famer", Roger Clemens, for 8 Earned Runs. Final Score: Orioles 10 Yankees 3. A similar situation occurred Monday as the Orioles once again slaughtered one of the best pitchers in the league. C.C. Sabathia was the Yanks starting pitcher. He went 11-2 last season with 7 complete games and an extremely impressive ERA of 1.65. Those poor Birds never stood a chance against the 6'7'' 290 pound power lefty. But I guess the big man C.C. was thinking more about what sort of deli spread there would be in the locker room after the game. The O's beat up on Sabathia pretty badly. They put up 6 Earned Runs, and never looked back. It's almost as if the Orioles thrive off of embarrasing not only the best pitchers in the league, but the New York Yankees, on Opening Day. If only they knew how to play this well in September. My blood pressure would be lower, and I would probably have more hair because I hadn't pulled all of it out by All-Star Break. I guess the $161 million contract for Sabathia is really paying off, Steinbrenner!

The highlight of the game was not Sabathia's poor performance. It was the opportunity that Baltimore fans got to boo hometown kid, Mark Teixeira. For those of you who are not following, Teixeira grew up in Baltimore and always watched the Orioles when he was younger. It would've been a great chance to have a hometown hero born and bred play in his backyard. Fans were excited for this possibility. He eventually landed a deal with his own Baltimore rival, The New York Yankees. We understand that the Yankees are able to dish out hundreds of millions. No harm, no foul. Although the press conference in New York was a slap in the face to the entire city of Baltimore. When Teixeira officially became a Yankee, he gave his speech about how he always looked up to Yankee Hall of Famer, Don Mattingly. He continued to jabber about how he would go to Oriole games as a kid and wear his Yankee hat, and support the Yankees. Not exactly the safest thing to do in Baltimore. Teixeira says, "It was worth it." It wasn't the fact that he signed with the Yankees that made Baltimore feel betrayed, it was the extremely positive statements about New York that was the twist of the dagger. When Teixeira took the field for the first time as a Yankee, he wasn't exactly welcomed with open arms.