The Rays were "cordial hosts" this weekend to the Orioles, who were forced to move their home series to Tropicana Field due to civil unrest in Baltimore, according to Eduardo Encina of the Baltimore SUN. An announced 9,945 fans at Friday's game "paid $15 each to sit anywhere in the lower deck." The custom music that played for batters' walk-ups and pitchers' entrances "was the same as that played for the Orioles players at Camden Yards." The videoboard close-ups "featured as many Orioles fans as Rays fans." Mascots from both teams "danced on their respective dugouts as John Denver's 'Thank God I'm a Country Boy' played during the seventh-inning stretch." The Rays "went as far as expediting a shipment of Baltimore's own Berger cookies for the media dining room in time for Friday's series opener." There "was a level of ambassadorship" among the crowd. When a "Let's Go, O's" chant came from a crowd of orange behind the Orioles dugout, there "was no booing from Rays fans" (Baltimore SUN, 5/2). The SUN's Encina noted Saturday night's Orioles victory "came before an announced 'home' crowd of 12,789, each of whom paid $18 for general-admission seating." The Orioles "wore their home uniforms and hit in the bottom half of the inning" (Baltimore SUN, 5/3). A crowd of 16,652 attended yesterday's game "to wrap the weekend series" (TAMPA BAY TIMES, 5/4).
FLYING SOUTH: In Richmond, Paul Woody wrote the Orioles moving this weekend's series to Tampa and "out of a city at a time when the Orioles were needed at home was an embarrassment." Woody: "Running away will not help. ... You can't help bring a fractured city together if you're not in the city." At a time when the city of Baltimore "needed as many symbols of normality as possible and needed its most recognizable members to step forward, the Orioles postponed two games, played a game in an empty stadium and skedaddled to Florida" (RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH, 5/3). But in Baltimore, Dan Connolly wrote he has "the Orioles' back" on their decisions to close Wednesday's game at Camden Yards to fans and to move the weekend series to Tampa. The franchise "lost a ton of money" as a result of the decisions. But the Orioles "did what they did because they didn’t want to take away from security resources that are needed in downtown to quell the unrest." Connolly: "I support that decision" (Baltimore SUN, 5/1). The Detroit Free Press’ Mitch Albom said last Wednesday's White-Sox-Orioles game being played in an empty Camden Yards is "a grim reminder sports remains a pastime, not a prerequisite." Albom: "There are many parts of the world too dangerous to ever worry about a game. It should make us appreciate the innocence with which we take our seats and how, ‘Take Me Out to the Ball Game’ is still a privilege” (“The Sports Reporters,” ESPN, 5/3).
GETTING THE "SNL" TREATMENT: In Baltimore, Jon Meoli noted NBC's "SNL" this weekend put on a "quite funny" skit about the Orioles' empty-ballpark game. The four-minute skit featured Taran Killam and Keenan Thompson serving as MASN announcers Jim Palmer and Frank Robinson, while Scarlett Johansson "brought back former Orioles reporter Amber Theoharis." There were "plenty of jokes," but it also served as a "reminder of just how widespread the city’s issues and struggles over the last week have been" (BALTIMORESUN.com, 5/3).
