Now That's How You Make A Debut

Many Orioles fans including many of my friends hated the Teagarden trade this offseason. They said I told you so when Teagarden got hurt. Who is laughing now? Teagarden, didn't start the game (his 1st as an Oriole), but man did he ever finish it. The backup catcher launched a walk off homer in his 2nd at bat for the birds. Now, it is my turn to say I told you so. I was pumped when Teagarden replaced Paulino. Turns out I was justified. Actually, I was watching the at bat with my wife and I said "come on Teagarden you have to hit a homer because Mark Reynolds is up next and Kevin Gregg is pitching." Next thing you know, he does. I then leaped for joy. There have been few times as an Oriole fan I was more excited than tonight. Feel so good for Teagarden.

Speaking of Oriole debuts, another Oriole made his regular season debut. Actually for Miguel Socolovich, it was his major league debut. Socolovich looked great in an extremely high pressure situation. He retired the Tigers 1, 2, 3 in the 10th inning. One of the batters he retired was Miguel Cabrera. Socolovich did give up a run in the 10th, but it was just a guy he left on, Patton was the guy who actually gave up the run.

Wei Yin Chen actually pitched 6 brilliant innings and only gave up 1 run. It should have been an easy win, but Ryan Flaherty had a huge error in the 9th (some defensive replacement) and Jim Johnson blew the save. It's a shame Chen couldn't get the victory, but that's just how it goes sometimes.

Kevin Gregg picked up the victory for the Orioles. Gregg pitched 1/3 inning and lowered his ERA to 3.86. Gregg improved to 3-2 on the season. Seems like a perfect time to trade him! I mean he picked up the win and lowered his ERA, it isn't going to get better than this. Offer to pay his entire salary and see if we can get a prospect or two or a spare part. Gregg and Reynolds for Rickie Weeks?

While we are on topic of getting rid of guys, I must bring up Ryan Flaherty. Do we have to keep this guy? He is dead weight on a team trying to make the playoffs. I hate to give him up for free too, but he offers nothing at this point. A defensive replacement cannot be making huge errors that turn the game.

In other news, JJ Hardy also hit a 13th inning home run to break out of a huge slump. As a huge Hardy fan that thinks some fans have been way too hard on him, this was an awesome sight. Very happy for JJ.

Finally, Nick Markakis had 3 doubles! 3 of them. What an awesome performance. If I ever said Nick wasn't my favorite baseball player, I sincerely apologize. I apologize to Nick and Orioles fans everywhere. This guy has been the heart and soul of our team in recent years. He has been all we had on many nights. Thank God that he is back in an Orioles uniform. The guy can play baseball.

Also Robert Andino had a homer tonight. More Andino!

Finally, it was Jim Palmer night at the Yard. Great to see the O's honoring their best pitcher ever. Palmer is a class act.

-Noland