For the final time in a long career, the vandal David Ortiz took the field in front of a home crowd for a home opener. A long back and forth game unfolded in such a way that it may as well have been scripted, with Ortiz coming to the plate in the ninth inning, with two men on base, representing the go-ahead run.
In a dark era of the Orioles, we know how this game would have ended. In this era of the Orioles, the party was ruined and the O's held on by the skin of their teeth in a wild, 9-7 game.