True story.

So I turn on the TV to catch what I figure is the end of the Orioles' first game of a twi-night doubleheader with the Rangers and see the little graphic scoreboard where the Orioles have three runs and it looks at first glance as if the Rangers have 10 because there are two digits and the second one is a zero.  But the first digit seems a bit squiggly. And I'm thinking maybe I need a contact lens change, although these are brand new. And so I squint. Wow, is that a 2? Then I hear Jim Palmer, I think, say 30.

At that point, you just appreciate the novelty of the situation. Chuckle to yourself about how maybe they should have mercy-ruled this thing after the Rangers' 10-run eighth. Or maybe how the Orioles' next fan giveaway ought to be hard hats if you're sitting in the outfield bleachers when the opposition is batting. Poor Dave Trembley, getting this booby prize on the night he was named the O's manager for 2008.

But the second game was far less charming. Losing by two runs, 9-7, to the AL West last-place Rangers -- who, let us recall, are hardly the '27 Yankees (they were near the bottom of the league in batting average when the evening began) -- was not amusing, just galling.

About the first game, the superlatives (all negative from the Orioles' point of view) go on and on.  Most runs scored by a major league team since 1900. The Rangers became only the second team in 50 years to have four players total four or more RBIs in a single game. Texas' 29 hits were a record for both clubs -- collected on the one side, allowed on the other.

OK, enough of that.

If you're an Orioles fan, it's the second game that's the real problem because it smacked of the first couple of months of the season when the Baltimore bullpen found leads as difficult to hang onto as a greased baseball. After the Orioles came back to finally take a 7-6 lead in the seventh inning, Jim Hoey promptly gave up three runs in the top of the eighth, which seemed to take the heart out of Baltimore. In their last two at-bats, the Orioles went meekly into that not-so good night.

Minnesota rolls into Camden Yards tonight and Dave Trembley has shown, if nothing else, he can patch this team's psyche following a tough stretch. He needs to do it again, and quickly, so that last night is shown to be what Orioles' fans hope it was -- an aberration, and not a harbinger.

*  One more observation. The Phillies' pitchers were twice as good as the Orioles' pitchers last night -- and Philadelphia lost, 15-3, to the Dodgers.