Mark Hendrickson was solid, Danys Baez was buck wild nasty in relief, Melvin Mora had three runs batted in, and the Orioles improved to 3-1 with a nail-biting, 5-4 hold-off win over the defending AL champion Rays.

Hendrickson (1-0) went five and a third, allowing just one run on six hits. He walked two and struck out a pair as well. He was relieved in the sixth by Danys Baez, whose pitches all look just filthy right now. Baez struck out the first four Rays he faced before Akinori Iwamura managed to chop one to second base.

Baez was relieved by Jim Johnson with a 5-1 Orioles lead, but Johnson left a sinker up against Evan Longoria, who hit it into the left field stands. The next inning, with George Sherrill in to protect a 5-3 lead, Dioner Navarro got hold of one to cut it to 5-4. Sherrill got the next two outs, though, including a strikeout of Iwamura for the game's final out.

Adam Jones doubled twice for the Birds, and Nick Markakis had the team's other RBI. The fifth run came when Aubrey Huff scored on a wild pitch in a three-run fifth inning.

Tomorrow's game will pit Jeremy Guthrie against Jeff Niemann.

Other Notes:

• Gary Thorne became a grandfather for the second time. Congratulations, Gary!
• Cesar Izturis is quickly becoming very, very Birdland. His good D at short and ability to hit the ball past the pitcher is such a huge upgrade on 2008.

Final Note: Seriously, someone at MASN has to confirm or deny this. This girl in the MASN ad:

She bears a resemblance to Kat Dennings and even talks like her. Are they related? They have to be. THEY HAVE TO BE!

Thanks to The Wayward Oriole for the grab.