11:37 am PT: Pregame show. Team introductions. A’s get booed mildly. Ginter’s on the bench, Ellis is starting.

11:39 A’s starting lineup announced:
CF Kotsay
C Kendall
3B Chavez
DH Durazo
1B Hatteberg
LF Byrnes
SS Crosby
RF Swisher
2B Ellis

P Zito

11:43 Orioles coaches introduced. Elrod Hendricks in his 37th opening day with the Orioles!

11:45 The O’s are coming in on a long Orange carpet from center field instead of out of the dugout.

11:49 Orioles’ starting lineup:
2B Roberts
3B Mora
SS Tejada
RF Sosa
1B Palmeiro
C Lopez
DH Gibbons
CF Matos
LF Bigbie

P Lopez

Dang, that’s an impressive lineup.

11:50 Moment of silence for Johnny Oates, Chuck Thompson, and the Pope.

11:51 Have to go pick up my daughter from preschool. Gonna miss the opening pitch…but back soon.

12:03 First guffaw via Hank Greenwald, filling in on radio for Bill King, who is nursing a leg injury: “Starting lineup brought to you by Valero: Gas with vroom…Sorry, I didn’t read that very well. But nobody does gas like Bill.”

12:06 Kotsay leads off the season with a 10-pitch AB. A’s Brand baseball.

12:14 A’s go down 1-2-3.

12:17 79mph changeup from Zito. Good sign that he’s throwing it hard. If he’s not being aggressive, it’s in the 60’s. Then he jams Roberts with an inside fastball.

12:22 Zito walks Tejada, bringing up Sosa for his first AB as an Oriole. Gets a standing O. Zito throws him three straight inside fastballs, but then Sosa lines a low changeup to left for a single.

12:23 Zito vs. Palmeiro. I always love watching this battle. Zito gets him to pop up to center to end the inning.

12:29 Hatteberg pokes a single to left for the A’s first hit of the year.

12:37 Crosby gets a lucky two-out infield single. Swisher popups up to Tejada, who runs circles in the wind and makes a diving catch to end the inning.

12:43 Zito is missing too far high with a lot of fastballs. Walks Gibbons, then gives up a homer to Matos on a hanging curve. 2-0 Orioles.

12:54 Kendall throws his bat and fouls of a hit and run attempt. Repeat: the A’s tried a hit & run!

1:06 Tejada, Sosa, and Palmeiro repeat their first inning at bats. This time, there’s only one out, though, and Tejada scores on a sac fly. 3-0 Orioles.

1:09 Crosby bobbles a grounder, but Sosa rounds third and is thrown out at home. Kendall makes a nice tag, as Crosby threw a two-hopper.

1:22 The A’s have two runners on for the third inning in a row. They strand all of them, just like last year. OBP OBP OBP OBP, but nobody can get a damn RBI.

1:27 Scutaro is in the game for Crosby. He must have aggravated his wrist injury striking out.

1:33 Swisher misplays a fly ball for a double, and now it’s 4-0 Orioles.

1:39 Shadows creeping between the plate and the mound. Going to be hard to hit for a couple of innings.

1:43 Two runners on again in the fifth. How much you wanna bet they strand these guys again?

1:44 Yup. Hatteberg pops out, inning over.

1:54 Scutaro hits an opposite field double. Only one stranded runner this inning. Improvement!

2:03 Zito has his second consecutive 1-2-3 inning. He should pitch in shadows more often…

2:06 Steve Kline is the pitcher, Geronimo Gil is catching. What’s up with that? If you take one Lopez out, you have to remove both?

2:07 Kotsay leads off with a single, and then breaks up a double play grounder by Kendall.

2:11 Chavez flies out, and now it’s Durazo. Here’s the problem with the A’s lineup; with all those lefty bats in a row, the Orioles can just leave Kline in there. Durazo flies out, too.

2:16 Justin Duchscherer is now pitching for the A’s.

2:20 Reports come in: Javy Lopez and Crosby were both removed with back pain.

2:24 A’s not doing anything off Jorge Julio. The O’s bullpen looks a lot deeper and better this year with Kline and Reed out there, and with Julio setting up Ryan instead of the other way around. If the O’s can get any sort of decent starting pitching this year, they might be a pretty darn good team.

2:30 Here’s my first look at Kiko Calero in an A’s uni, facing Sosa.

2:32 Scutaro airmails a throw from shortstop, E-6.

2:37 Calero’s slider is nasty looking, and it looks like he has good control of it.

2:38 Hank Greenwald says Ron Darling will do do color analysis for the Washington Nationals.

2:40 Calero gets out of the eighth inning, and now we’re going to the ninth with the Orioles ahead 4-0. B.J. Ryan is on his way in.

2:43 Swisher batting right-handed. Ginter is on deck.

2:44 Swisher strikes out on a check swing.

2:46 Mora makes a nice stop, and then Palmeiro digs out the throw. Two outs. Mora hurt himself going to his knees. Not sure if he hurt his knee or wrist. He’s staying in the game.

2:50 Kotsay grounds out to Tejada. Orioles win, 4-0. I guess we’ll have to wait until Thursday for the A’s to score their first run of the year.