Over-analyzing a win

After a 7-4 victory over the Rays on Opening Day, the Orioles are 1-and-0 this season. It’s one game, one victory. That’s all it is and all it can be. One win is always better than one loss, but it feels especially good to win the first one. People say you can’t over-analyze one game, especially the first game of the season. Those people are right too — it’s not good to get wrapped up in one contest of a 162-game marathon baseball season. The O’s, however, showed all of Baltimore a lot in Tuesday’s victory over 2012 AL Cy Young award winner David Price.

I believe the Rays will contend this season, and a lot of that depends on the type of season David Price gives them. To have one victory under your belt against that type of a stud pitcher — though Price was not charged with the loss — will give the Orioles a sense of confidence going forward. As dominant of a pitcher as Price is, his last two outings against Baltimore have resulted in a win for the Birds.

The last time Price went out against the Orioles prior to Tuesday’s opener was last August 5th at The Trop. I remember the game very vividly as both teams were obviously jockeying for playoff positioning. Price was his usual dominant self. He pitched eight innings and allowed a total of five baserunners — two hits and three walks — while striking out five. Miguel Gonzalez matched him on the other side, going seven frames and allowing just two hits and four walks. The O’s ended up prevailing on an RBI double by Taylor Teagarden (shocker, Teagarden came up with a big hit in a big spot) in the 10th inning.

That win was especially important because it gave the Orioles the final two games of the series, and lifted them ahead of Tampa Bay in the standings by a game. I also think that win, coupled with the Opening Day effort against Price, gives the Orioles a sense of confidence against the division’s most dangerous arm.

In Tuesday’s opener, we saw a middle of the order produce virtually all the offense, especially in a five-run seventh inning. The three-four-five combination of Adam Jones, Matt Wieters and Chris Davis combined to go 6-for-12 with three walks and all seven of the team’s RBI on the day. That’s a trio that will obviously be leaned upon heavily this season if the Birds want to produce offensively.

We also spotted a couple of injury-prone players have solid 2013 debuts in Nolan Reimold and Brian Roberts. Both were 2-for-4 and played a relatively smooth game in the field. There’s no doubting the pressure on these two guys to stay healthy this season after spending the majority of the last two years visiting Richie Bancells in the trainer’s room.

Finally we saw a little something from Jason Hammel as well. Hammel was not nearly as sharp as anyone, including Hammel himself, would have liked him to be. Hammel told MASN’s Gary Thorne after the game that he was not on top of his game and didn’t have a great fastball. He attributed his lack of action on the fastball to being too amped up for his first-career Opening Day assignment. Can anyone blame him? For a guy that says he was too jacked up, he still gave the O’s six innings and only allowed three runs. Any time a starter goes out and gives Buck Showalter that kind of effort this season, he will be happy.

This team can compete with anyone. I’m not just telling you that based on one game. That would be over-analyzing, which I’ve done throughout this piece despite telling you at the start it’s something you should never do in baseball. I’m telling you this team can compete because of what they have built under Buck Showalter. They have a confidence coming off last year’s success. Players like Adam Jones, Matt Wieters, Nick Markakis and Chris Davis help that. It’s veteran leadership and a dash of an “us against the world” mentality that makes this team very dangerous.

Last year, everyone doubted the O’s for a reason — they hadn’t proven they could do it. Last year was a ride that all of us were just happy to be on, and the team fed off that. The story is different this year. This year the expectations come with a swagger, and that swagger is going to produce lots of games that Joe Angel gets to put in the Win Column.