Designated hitter Luke Scott is bullish on the Orioles as they open the exhibition season tomorrow against the Tampa Bay Rays.
"We have better pieces to the puzzle,'' he said. "We're better on the mound, which is the important thing. We have good young arms, stuffwise, but that is only as good as where you throw it. We have good veteran guys who know how to pitch.
"Offensively, we're better swinging the bats, but the past two years we've always swung the bats well. We're better offensively, but you've seen how important pitching is in any ballgame. You can score eight runs, but it doesn't matter if the other team scores 10.
"We're better offensively and we're better on the mound, but we'll have a better idea of what things are going to look like by the end of spring."
So, could the Orioles surprise some people this year?
"Absolutely,'' Scott said. "We have that capability. As far as predicting the future. No one ever knows."