The forecast was dark and dreary, with the possibility of the sun peaking through the clouds from time to time.
The Opening Day weather at Oriole Park at Camden Yards was eerily similar to the season outlook for the home team.
The dismal predictions were realized in the Orioles? 6-2 loss to Tampa Bay in front of a crowd of 46,807 on Monday afternoon.
It was the Orioles? first home-opening loss since a 4-1 loss to Cleveland in 2000.
The offense never got started. Starter Jeremy Guthrie allowed six runs in 5 1/3 innings, and aside from the new scoreboards, electricity was nowhere to be found in the ballpark.
But while the predictions for the team?s 54th season are dark, the Orioles opened the season with optimism. Dave Trembley, in his first Opening Day as Orioles? manager, proclaimed the team would not concede victory, and vowed to play every game to win.
Hope was alive when Kevin Millar?s double dropped in the first inning, plating two runs on a fly ball dropped by Rays left fielder Carl Crawford.
For once, a bounce seemed to go the Orioles way.
But from then on, the Orioles looked more like the 100-loss team it was predicted to be by numerous members of the national media.
After 10 straight losing seasons, the Orioles are finally committed to rebuilding, but Tampa Bay appeared to be the team on the verge of realizing its potential.
The lowest moments Monday came in the form of each Aubrey Huff at-bat, when fans, feeling slighted by the designated hitter?s negative offseason comments about the city, booed the team?s biggest free agent splash of the past two years.
Huff responded with a 1-for-4 effort, splintering two bats, proof, perhaps, that the left-handed hitter?s bat company sent him ? in the words he used to describe Baltimore while he was a guest on a national radio show ? some horse [expletive] lumber.
Orioles fans showered the newcomers ? particularly Adam Jones, Luke Scott and long reliever Matt Albers ? with boisterous cheers.
The crowd was announced as a sellout, though the official total was about 1,500 short of the ballpark?s 48,290 capacity.
Six of the team?s 14 Opening Days at Camden Yards have drawn a smaller announced crowd, including the park?s inaugural game in 1992, when 44,568 turned out to see Rick Sutcliffe pitch the Orioles past Cleveland, 2-0.
But Monday, it looked as there may have been no more than 30,000 fans.
Baltimore?s rebuilt lineup of young stars gave the fans a glimpse of what could be.
Now the team has to live up to Trembley?s promise: to play hard and concede nothing.
Or the clouds might hang around Camden Yards a little longer.
Sean Welsh is the Orioles beat writer for The Examiner. He can be reached at [email protected]
