Dave Mcnally

Pitcher Dave McNally, one of the cornerstones of the greatest starting rotation in Orioles history and a key figure in baseball's economic revolution of the 1970s, died of cancer Sunday night in his hometown of Billings, Mont. He was 60. Longtime Orioles fans might remember Mr. McNally best for his world title-clinching 1-0 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1966 and a string of four straight 20-win seasons from 1968 to 1971. He and Orioles pitchers Jim Palmer, Mike Cuellar and Pat Dobson in 1971 became the first four 20-game winners on the same team since 1920.

I wanted to see where Orioles right-hander Jake Arrieta's performance Friday ranked among the top Opening Day starts in club history and the good people at Elias Sports Bureau gave me an interesting stat. Arrieta's start against the Twins marked the first time in Orioles history that a starting pitcher threw at least seven shutout innings and allowed two or fewer hits on Opening Day. Very impressive indeed, and while it ranked up there with the best Opening Day starts in Orioles history, it was far from the best.

August 26, 1968: Dave McNally hit a grand slam and picked up the win as the O's beat the A's.

August 26, 1968: Dave McNally hit a grand slam and picked up the win as the O's beat the A's.

I wanted to see where Orioles right-hander Jake Arrieta's performance Friday ranked among the top Opening Day starts in club history and the good people at Elias Sports Bureau gave me an interesting stat. Arrieta's start against the Twins marked the first time in Orioles history that a starting pitcher threw at least seven shutout innings and allowed two or fewer hits on Opening Day. Very impressive indeed, and while it ranked up there with the best Opening Day starts in Orioles history, it was far from the best.

Orioles pitching coach George Bamberger was on the mound one day in 1971 talking to a starter when shortstop Mark Belanger offered a suggestion."Make him hit the ball to me and I'll get us out of the inning," Belanger said.That was the year the Orioles became the second team in major-league baseball history to produce four 20-game winners. It was the year that Dave McNally (21-5), Pat Dobson (20-8), Mike Cuellar (20-9) and Jim Palmer (20-9) reached the mark, joining Red Faber (23-13), Lefty Williams (22-14)

Twenty years after the Orioles had a pitching staff with four 20-game winners, they have one that looks as if it won't produce a single 10-game winner.The 1971 Orioles included Dave McNally (21-5), Pat Dobson (20-8), Jim Palmer (20-9) and Mike Cuellar (20-9).On the current staff, Bob Milacki (6-5) is closest to reaching double figures.A telling indictment of the staff is that the man who pitched the opener, Jeff Ballard, was sent to the minors this week. The O's, in case you had forgotten, lost their opening game to Chicago, 9-1.The baseball fans in Baltimore have to be the most dedicated anywhere, supporting this year's poor team with a record turnout for 47 dates of 1,531,677.

Steve Dalkowski will finally make it to the major leagues tomorrow at Camden Yards when he throws out the ceremonial first pitch before the Orioles' game against the Seattle Mariners. Dalkowski, 64, is widely regarded as one of the fastest pitchers in baseball history, but he couldn't conquer his wildness on or off the mound. He failed to reach the majors despite spending almost a decade in the Orioles' minor league system in the `50s and `60s. Since leaving baseball, he has battled alcoholism and alcohol-related dementia, and was briefly homeless in Southern California in the early `90s.

Rarely does a season advertise its most powerful moment on a Sunday afternoon in May. But never in Orioles history has a player of Mike Mussina's stature returned under circumstances similar to those that will follow him to the mound this afternoon at Camden Yards. There are those who insist Mussina's relationship with Baltimore and its baseball population ended badly because he is now a damned Yankee. But they are wrong. The relationship lives, underscored by Mussina's Thursday afternoon news conference, his reunion with friends and former teammates and today's appearance in a great stadium that until recently pulsed every fifth day. Today will be like that.

OK, Orioles, nice opening act. Now clear the stage, Sidney Ponson, you old graybeard. It's time to bring on the Kiddie Corps. After watching Ponson out-pitch Pedro Martinez on Opening Night, the Orioles are headed straight to the center of everyone's skepticism this afternoon, when left-hander Eric DuBose takes the mound opposite the No. 2 pitcher for the Boston Red Sox. Some guy named Curt Schilling. When Schilling and DuBose, 27, are finished, it'll be Kurt Ainsworth, 25, opposite Derek Lowe tomorrow night.

The photo tells all. Arms raised in a triumphant "V," body flushed with joy, Orioles pitcher Mike Cuellar leaps off the mound at Memorial Stadium, having stuffed the Cincinnati Reds, 9-3 in the deciding game of the 1970 World Series. "I can still see the look on Mike's face," third baseman Brooks Robinson recalled Friday. "His mouth was wide open and he had a big, big smile." Miguel Angel Cuellar died Friday of stomach cancer at the Orlando (Fla.) Regional Medical Center.

OK, Orioles, nice opening act. Now clear the stage, Sidney Ponson, you old graybeard. It's time to bring on the Kiddie Corps. After watching Ponson out-pitch Pedro Martinez on Opening Night, the Orioles are headed straight to the center of everyone's skepticism this afternoon, when left-hander Eric DuBose takes the mound opposite the No. 2 pitcher for the Boston Red Sox. Some guy named Curt Schilling. When Schilling and DuBose, 27, are finished, it'll be Kurt Ainsworth, 25, opposite Derek Lowe tomorrow night.

Steve Dalkowski will finally make it to the major leagues tomorrow at Camden Yards when he throws out the ceremonial first pitch before the Orioles' game against the Seattle Mariners. Dalkowski, 64, is widely regarded as one of the fastest pitchers in baseball history, but he couldn't conquer his wildness on or off the mound. He failed to reach the majors despite spending almost a decade in the Orioles' minor league system in the `50s and `60s. Since leaving baseball, he has battled alcoholism and alcohol-related dementia, and was briefly homeless in Southern California in the early `90s.

Rarely does a season advertise its most powerful moment on a Sunday afternoon in May. But never in Orioles history has a player of Mike Mussina's stature returned under circumstances similar to those that will follow him to the mound this afternoon at Camden Yards. There are those who insist Mussina's relationship with Baltimore and its baseball population ended badly because he is now a damned Yankee. But they are wrong. The relationship lives, underscored by Mussina's Thursday afternoon news conference, his reunion with friends and former teammates and today's appearance in a great stadium that until recently pulsed every fifth day. Today will be like that.

Orioles pitching coach George Bamberger was on the mound one day in 1971 talking to a starter when shortstop Mark Belanger offered a suggestion."Make him hit the ball to me and I'll get us out of the inning," Belanger said.That was the year the Orioles became the second team in major-league baseball history to produce four 20-game winners. It was the year that Dave McNally (21-5), Pat Dobson (20-8), Mike Cuellar (20-9) and Jim Palmer (20-9) reached the mark, joining Red Faber (23-13), Lefty Williams (22-14)

Twenty years after the Orioles had a pitching staff with four 20-game winners, they have one that looks as if it won't produce a single 10-game winner.The 1971 Orioles included Dave McNally (21-5), Pat Dobson (20-8), Jim Palmer (20-9) and Mike Cuellar (20-9).On the current staff, Bob Milacki (6-5) is closest to reaching double figures.A telling indictment of the staff is that the man who pitched the opener, Jeff Ballard, was sent to the minors this week. The O's, in case you had forgotten, lost their opening game to Chicago, 9-1.The baseball fans in Baltimore have to be the most dedicated anywhere, supporting this year's poor team with a record turnout for 47 dates of 1,531,677.