Ed Smith Stadium

When all the pomp and circumstance was over and the orange ribbon that had been spread across home plate was cut to officially open the new Ed Smith Stadium, the Orioles took the field and sparked hope that it wasn't all just window dressing. They were lucky they didn't break any windows in the process. Outfielder Nick Markakis, perhaps the face of the franchise, deposited two balls that bounced toward the player's parking lot past right field. Vladimir Guerrero, the Orioles' new slugger, hit one that nearly clipped the Tampa Bay Rays' team bus in left-center field, and multitalented center fielder Adam Jones cleared everything with a tape-measure shot to left.

Buck Showalter laid out the perfect spring training scenario as soon as the Orioles reported to the newly renovated Ed Smith Stadium complex six weeks ago, and it didn't call for his club to win all 32 of its Grapefruit League games. He was looking for the O's to be right around .500 when they closed out the exhibition season — which they did on Tuesday — and that's just where they ended up. They lost to the Toronto Blue Jays, 7-4, to finish with a 15-15-2 record. Can't get more .500 than that.

The 2010 World Series starts tonight, but the Orioles have already made plans for the beginning of the 2011 Major League Baseball season. The O's on Wednesday released their 2011 spring training schedule, which starts with a game against the Pittsburgh Pirates in Bradenton, Fla., on Feb. 28. After that, the Orioles will play their first of 16 home games at Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota against the Tampa Bay Rays on March 1. This will be the second...

With Tuesday's Grapefruit League exhibition finale in the books, the Orioles have completed their first spring training at renovated Ed Smith Stadium and under manager Buck Showalter. Impressive new digs and Showalter's orderly, purposeful camp helped the Orioles prepare for Friday's season opener against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field. But celebration and instruction were each only a part of the Orioles' 2011 spring experience. Here's a look at three positives to take from this spring and three things that did not go well.

The architectural style is "Florida Picturesque," and the baseball amenities make Ed Smith Stadium a field of dreams, but there really is only one way to describe the dramatic restoration project that has created a beautiful new home away from home for the Orioles. Long overdue. Two decades after they began their quest for a new all-purpose spring training facility, the Orioles will christen Ed Smith Stadium on Tuesday afternoon against the Tampa Bay Rays in what will be a celebration for an organization that has endured substandard and outdated spring facilities for years.

Janet Marie Smith was instrumental in the design of Camden Yards. She oversaw the improvements at Fenway Park in Boston and figured prominently in the transformation of Centennial Olympic Stadium into Turner Field, the home of the Atlanta Braves. But her latest challenge — the $31.2 million renovation of the Orioles' spring training home at Ed Smith Stadium and Twin Lakes Park in Sarasota — has broken new ground for the renowned architect and urban planner. "It's the first time in our career we are ordering steel the same day we are ordering concession equipment," said Smith, the Orioles' vice president of planning and development.

Orioles fans looking to check out the club's new spring training digs in Sarasota, Fla., can buy individual game tickets starting at 10 a.m. Saturday on the team's Web site, among other places. The Orioles will be playing at Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota on the west coast of Florida after 14 seasons in Fort Lauderdale. The club is taking over the facility that previously housed the Cincinnati Reds' spring operations, and the Orioles said the switch is being embraced. "The business community and citizens of Sarasota have already demonstrated that they are anxiously awaiting the start of Orioles spring training," said Greg Bader, the club's director of communications.

When Orioles manager Buck Showalter arrived at Ed Smith Stadium a week ago, he took a walk around the complex and surveyed how much work still needed to be done before his team's first workout Monday. "I got here [last] Sunday at about 5 or 6 o'clock, walked around by myself and kind of went, 'Damn,'" Showalter said. "But you see how much progress they've made. It's unbelievable the difference the way it looks from 10 o'clock in the morning to 4 in the afternoon. They've been killing themselves down here.

After a week of workouts designed primarily for the pitchers and catchers, the Orioles will hold their first full-squad workout Monday at the Ed Smith Stadium spring training complex. Manager Buck Showalter said Sunday that the workouts probably won't be in full gear until Tuesday, however, since the medical staff will be completing physicals early Monday and the coaches will need some time to lay out the training routine for the position players. Showalter was scheduled to assemble the entire team Sunday night for an introductory get-together and team-building exercise.

Michael Gonzalez was the newly signed reliever last spring who struggled early and then spent a decent part of the Grapefruit League schedule facing minor league hitters and working on his mechanics. This spring, it's been Kevin Gregg who has made his past two appearances at Twin Lakes Park in minor league games. The purpose has been for Gregg to work on some mechanical alterations in a controlled environment. In minor league games, innings can be prolonged to allow pitchers to hit their pitch count and get their work in. "He had a couple of [big league]

It isn't often during spring training that you see a veteran and projected lineup regular enter the game in the fifth inning, but with Opening Day 10 days away, Derrek Lee is running out of time to get at-bats. After Vladimir Guerrero got two at-bats at designated hitter, Lee replaced him and went 0-for-2 with a groundout and a popout in the Orioles' 6-2 victory over the New York Yankees on Tuesday at Ed Smith Stadium. It was just Lee's second game this spring, and he's 0-for-4 with a walk.

If you're an Orioles fan, the news coming out of Camp Showalter is not wildly encouraging. With Opening Day two weeks away, you had visions of Brian Roberts igniting the offense and moving freely at second base and running the base-paths with abandon down in Sarasota, Fla., his back problems of a year ago just a bad memory. You hoped new third baseman Mark Reynolds and new first baseman Derrek Lee would be feasting on spring training pitching by now. (Doesn't it seem like only yesterday that they were moving cars out of the way at Ed Smith Stadium, because Reynolds was jacking moon-shots in batting practice that were landing in the parking lot?

Young first baseman Brett Wallace knocked in seven runs and a Houston Astros lineup that included just three regulars knocked around starter Brad Bergesen and reliever Kevin Gregg in the Orioles' 14-8 loss before an announced 5,262 at Ed Smith Stadium. Bergesen allowed three runs on four hits and two walks over four innings, barely lowering his Grapefruit League ERA to 6.94. He has given up 10 runs, 16 hits and five walks in his past three starts spanning 9 2/3 innings. "I know that the numbers aren't good the last three outings, but it's early, it's spring training," Bergesen said.

Jake Arrieta isn't concerned about the eight hits he gave up in the Orioles' 8-2 exhibition victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Monday. What was important to him is that he pitched four innings and didn't walk anyone. "I don't really look at the results all that much," Arrieta said. "One thing that I do look at is walks. If I can limit the walks, those base hits scattered throughout there aren't going to hurt as bad. That's a big key for me as well as the rest of our staff.

— The Orioles cruised through the first three weeks of spring training without major incident, a fact that — whenever presented to manager Buck Showalter — invariably caused him to rap his knuckles on anything in the vicinity that was made of wood. There was the usual assortment of rehabbing players, even a little intrigue when Brian Roberts missed a few days with a sore neck and Justin Duchscherer was shut down briefly with a sore hip, but there was plenty of time for everything to come together and — seemingly — good reason for all the happy faces around the newly renovated Ed Smith Stadium complex.

Jeremy Accardo officially signed with the Orioles on Dec. 17, though in his mind, where he would pitch in 2011 became a formality two weeks earlier. That's when Orioles president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail and manager Buck Showalter called Accardo while they were at baseball's winter meetings and told the reliever how much the club valued him. "The way they went about their business, they said they were going to be honest with me, 'This is what we're going to do, this is the way we see it,'" Accardo said.