Game 16: Dodgers (7-8) @ Orioles (8-7), 7:05

This game has been postponed due to rain. It will be made up as a split doubleheader tomorrow.

It's been eleven years since the last time the Los Angeles Dodgers came to Baltimore to play a baseball game. A lot has happened in that time, including a lot of losing Orioles seasons.

The last game played in Baltimore between these two teams, current MASN color analyst Mike Bordick was the shortstop for the O's. Marty Cordova was the DH, Melvin Mora was the left fielder, and Brian Roberts was the second baseman. Sidney Ponson pitched a complete game and lost because the offense scored only one run.

The farther away we get from the 00s, the more I realize how totally not-fun they were as a fan.

I can offer no insightful commentary on this year's Dodgers team, because if I paid attention to a National League West Coast team, I would have to surrender my AL/East Coast Bias cards. There are some familiar faces on the team, though, thanks to their salary-raiding trade with Boston last season. Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez are known to O's fans. So is Ramon Hernandez. Seriously, though, how is he still in baseball? Now that I've said this, he'll probably hit two home runs tonight, but he still sucks.

More interesting will be how the Orioles perform against a left-handed pitcher they've never seen before: Hyun-Jin Ryu. No one has seen him before, because this will be his fourth start in MLB since coming over from Korea. Given that the hitters sometimes seem to display no evidence of having seen a scouting report or observing tendencies of pitchers they've seen repeatedly, there's really no reason to believe they will have any idea how Ryu pitchers or any way to handle him. Perhaps Ryu and the Orioles hitters will endlessly fire Hadoken fireballs at one another.

Mother Nature herself may have a role in the game, specifically whether it is played tonight at all, or if it's played on time. A tornado watch is in effect for the Baltimore area until 10pm, and forecasts suggest it should be rainy during the scheduled game time. Unless there's lightning or monsoon-like rain, they tend to play through rain at Camden Yards - but there could be either tonight.

Jason Hammel starts the game for the O's tonight, and maybe he could avoid giving up a first-inning home run, or indeed any home runs at all. That Rays series was getting a little ridiculous, though of course, all is well that ends well. A wet infield could be a slow one, which could be good for the ground ball-inducing Hammel. Or not. I don't know, man. I can't think about baseball in the midst of all this craziness in Massachusetts. But a distraction from all that would be good - so rain, rain, go away, come again some other day.