If there is such a thing, we are in the dog days of spring training. The excitement of baseball coming back after a long winter has long since worn off. Now we just want the regular season to start, but there are six more games like this one to be endured before we get there.
It doesn't help that, since this is one of the O's two remaining road spring games, they are putting the following lineup on the field:
1. Xavier Avery CF
2. Paul Janish SS
3. Pedro Alvarez 1B
4. Nolan Reimold DH
5. L.J. Hoes RF
6. Steve Tolleson 3B
7. Julio Borbon LF
8. Garabez Rosa 2B
9. Audry Perez C
SP - Ubaldo Jimenez RHP
This lineup originally looked slightly less crappy than it is right now because it had Ryan Flaherty at one time. Flaherty was a late scratch with flu-like symptoms that may in fact actually be the flu. A number of Orioles have battled it throughout spring training. Better to get that out of the way now, anyway.
So really, you can't look at a game with that lineup and say that the O's consider it to be of paramount importance. They could get shut out and it wouldn't matter because maybe only one of those guys will make the Opening Day 25-man roster. Maybe two will, if Reimold is lucky.
It would be nice if Jimenez looks OK instead of crappy. We can dream.
This game will be on both Pirates television and radio but it will not air on any Baltimore outlets, so unless you're an MLB.tv subscriber, you're out of luck. Or perhaps you're quite in luck, because it means you don't have to have your attention turned to a game where your outfield left to right is Borbon, Avery, Hoes.