Offense Picks Up Hammel, Puts Up Runs on Price, McGee

I'm not going to be writing regular game recap posts, but I did notice at least one interesting thing about the Orioles' 7-4 opening day win over the Rays:

• Jason Hammel (6 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 2 K, 1 BB) was fine in this game, but the offense, primarily in a five-run seventh inning, was the main contributor in the win. The O's collected 13 hits and four walks, with 11 of those hits and three of the walks coming against two very talented lefties: David Price (2.56 ERA in 2012) and Jake McGee (1.95 ERA in 2012). Last season, the O's only had seven such games:

Rk	Date	Tm	Opp	Rslt	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	IBB	SO
1	2012-09-17	BAL	SEA	W 10-4	46	42	10	15	3	0	2	10	4	0	6
2	2012-04-16	BAL	CHW	W 10-4	51	46	10	15	3	0	4	10	5	0	15
3	2012-09-22	BAL	BOS	W 9-6	55	50	9	15	6	1	2	9	5	1	11
4	2012-09-16	BAL	OAK	W 9-5	49	39	9	13	4	0	2	9	9	1	7
5	2012-07-27	BAL	OAK	L 9-14	46	40	9	15	2	0	2	9	5	0	13
6	2012-05-06	BAL	BOS	W 9-6	69	59	9	15	4	0	4	9	10	0	15
7	2012-07-14	BAL	DET	W 8-6	59	47	8	14	4	0	3	8	9	2	8

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 4/3/2013.

• The Orioles scored at least eight runs in all seven of those games last season, though they only scored seven runs yesterday (while stranding eight baserunners). Oddly enough, the O's also managed to strand at least nine runners in all seven of those 2012 games.
• In those seven 2012 games, though, four of them were extra-inning games: the April 16 win over the White Sox (10 innings), the crazy, Chris Davis-pitched win on May 6 against the Red Sox (17 innings), the July 14 win over the Tigers (13 innings), and another win over the Red Sox on September 22 (12 innings). So the Orioles really only accomplished the (at least) 13-hit, four-walk effort in only three nine-inning games last season -- all against AL West teams (twice vs. the A's and once vs. the Mariners).
• A couple other quick notes: Steve Pearce was the only O's batter without a hit or a walk. And Nick Markakis (single) and J.J. Hardy (double) were the only batters to reach base only once.