Ed Smith Stadium

The Orioles' official reporting day has been uneventful, so far. Some players are working out already, but the first organized pitcher/catcher workout will be Wednesday afternoon, following physicals. Pitcher Wei-Yin Chen spent some time with the Taiwanese media, but there is very limited media access today. General manager Dan Duquette and manager Buck Showalter will hold their first news briefing today at 12:30. Not expecting any startling revelations, but you never know. Duquette has been known to make significant moves late in the offseason.

Orioles manager Buck Showalter sensed some nervousness in record-setting Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps as he lingered around the Orioles batting cage. Phelps, a Baltimore-area native, clutched a bat and wore an orange Orioles jersey with No. 18 on the back - for the record number of Olympic gold medals Phelps has won as a world-class swimmer. The 27-year-old Phelps joined the Orioles before Thursday's intrasquad game at Ed Smith Stadium, taking batting practice with the team.

For the Orioles, today marks the first of two straight days of intrasquad games in advance of the opening of the Grapefruit League season Saturday. For a manager like Orioles skipper Buck Showalter, the time here in camp has gone by too quickly. He's eager to see players actually play in games, but Showalter is a teacher, and he really relishes this time of spring, when he can instruct players on drills he believes will make them a better team throughout the season. I asked Showalter after Tuesday's workout if he believed he or the players were getting to the point where they had enough of the drills and wanted to start the games.

WBAL Radio will broadcast 16 of the Orioles' spring training games on 1090 AM, the team announced today. The schedule includes the spring opener against the Minnesota Twins from Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota, Fla., on Feb. 23. MASN previously announced that it will broadcast six Orioles spring training games. ESPN will broadcast the March 25 game against the Boston Red Sox. WBAL Radio will also broadcast all 162 regular season games, with Joe Angel and Fred Manfra back on the call.

After years of fishing, exploring and negotiating, the Orioles finally have settled on a new spring training facility in Florida. Starting in February 2010, the club, which has been in Fort Lauderdale since 1996, will hold spring training in Sarasota and its Ed Smith Stadium, on the western coast of the state. The big league camp will be within a dozen miles of the organization's minor league facility, which is already in Sarasota. "We look forward with great anticipation to becoming an important part of the civic fabric of the Sarasota community and to bringing Orioles baseball to the residents of the greater Sarasota area," Orioles executive vice president John Angelos, who has spearheaded the relocation effort, said in a statement.

Wednesday's exhibition game was the Orioles' final in 2009 at Fort Lauderdale Stadium, and it's still not official whether they'll be back in 2010 and beyond. The search for a new spring training facility has become a never-ending saga of fits, starts, flirtations, rejections and complications. Although some club officials are optimistic a long-term solution is coming, there's no concrete indication of when. Here are the four possibilities, all in Florida, and where the club stands with each: SARASOTA Attractive to the Orioles because their minor leaguers are already there and the big league club could move next year into Ed Smith Stadium, which the Cincinnati Reds are leaving this spring.

There's still time to plan your trip to Sarasota. Games don't begin until March 1, so you've got a few weeks to sort it out. To help, here are some travel tips and deals for the area: Where to stay Hampton Inn, Hilton Garden Inn , Hyatt Place and Homewood Suites are kinda the "official" hotels for spring training travelers. All are located within 5-8 miles of Ed Smith Stadium. (Hilton has a free shuttle.) Two-night packages start at $392 for each of the hotels.

The Orioles' spring training begins with pitchers and catchers reporting to Sarasota, Fla. on Feb. 12, position players arriving by Feb. 15 and the first game at Ed Smith Stadium against the Minnesota Twins on Sat. Feb. 23. It's all a little earlier this year due to the World Baseball Classic. The club's spring training schedule, which was released this morning, features 34 games. The Orioles will play 18 home dates against eight teams -- three against the Pittsburgh Pirates and Boston Red Sox, two against the Twins, New York Yankees, Philadelphia Phillies, Tampa Bay Rays and Toronto Blue Jays and one against the New York Mets on March 30, which will conclude the Orioles' official Grapefruit League schedule.

SARASOTA, Fla. - -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, 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.

SARASOTA, Fla. -- The Orioles hit four homers against the Mets and closed their Grapefruit League schedule with a 7-1 win over the New York Mets. Three of those home runs caught in the wind blowing out in left field, which has been a constant at Ed Smith Stadium this spring. Center fielder Nate McLouth hit two solo homers, including one off the batter's eye in center field to lead off the second inning off Mets starter Dillon Gee. McLouth also hit an opposite-field homer to left in the fifth off Jeremy Hefner , one of three homers the reliever allowed on the afternoon.