We are counting up to the regular season. With each passing game, the "It doesn't count!" excuse for poor performance will mean a little less. So will such platitudes as "It's early!" and "They're still shaking off the rust." Sometimes players are bad coming out of the gate in spring training and they never get better. It happened with Bud Norris last year. Let's hope it doesn't happen to anyone on the Orioles this year.
Longtime readers of Camden Chat have maybe noticed my disdain for spring training, because its resemblance to real baseball is almost accidental. That's true, but today it will at least feel a bit more like real baseball. This game will be on the airwaves in Baltimore, on the O's flagship station of 105.7 FM. And it features a starting lineup that actually kind of looks like a regular season lineup:
1. Manny Machado 3B
2. Hyun Soo Kim LF
3. Adam Jones CF
4. Chris Davis 1B
5. Mark Trumbo RF
6. Matt Wieters C
7. Nolan Reimold DH
8. J.J. Hardy SS
9. Jonathan Schoop 2B
SP - Ubaldo Jimenez RHP
If Kim is good or even decent, I could see that exact lineup happening often from 1-6. At the bottom, well, that's maybe open for some debate, but if the order of one's 7-9 hitters matters too much then things are not in a great place anyway.
Not all is going perfectly smoothly, though:
Showalter has Reimold at DH to rest his shoulder for a few days. #Orioles
— Rich Dubroff (@RichDubroffCSN) March 2, 2016
If it's March 2 and you're already having to rest your shoulder, well, it's just not a good sign. I love the idea of what Nolan has always represented, but it does get a little ridiculous sometimes. No wonder the O's got serious about trying to sign Dexter Fowler, and no wonder they at least inquired about re-acquiring Nick Markakis. Sometimes, Reimold is no kind of answer, no matter how much we want him to be.
The Orioles are back on the radio. Today is a good day.