While sitting in my Lazy Boy on opening day, I lost track of time with the simple click of a button.

All you have to do is take a look at my DirecTV bill to figure out where it all went.

I bought the MLB Extra Innings package for the first time and I’ve been jonesing for more baseball.

The story lines formed in the league’s opening week have been the most intreauging in years.

After watching Dice-K drop 10 batters like flies, and stir up national media faster than a Britney Spears sighting in an L.A. barbershop, the recently dubbed future legend hasn’t proved anything.

Yes, he did strike out 10.

Yes, he had great command with the split finger fastball, curveball and Slider.

Yes, he pitched seven masterful innings, proving he has MLB stamina.

And yes, he did it against an “AAAA” team known the Kansas City Royals.

You can’t take anything away from his performance, but the question still lingers in baseball America and Asia — how will he react to pressure.

A first appearence in any league causes one to pop a few Zantac’s, but how will Dice-K react at Yankee Stadium when there’s one out, runners on second and third and Johnny Damon is at bat?

Trying to strike out Damon compares to walking across a mine field — it’s going to take a while and if you make one wrong move you're going to get blown up.

Meanwhile somewhere in south Texas, Roger Clemeons is starting to see blue and count green from his weight bench.

The Yankees' starters have struggled so far this season, giving Joe Torre sleepless nights and the’ve still got 150 games to play.

Things are so bad for New York, Andy Pettitte had to toe the rubber as a relief pitcher.

In the division season opener against the Orioles, the Yankees' starters gave up 24 hits and 18 runs in just 13 and a third innings.

Houston fans can bet Steinbrenner’s keeping his ex’s in Texas.

Then there’s K-rod and A-rod.

Francisco Rodriguez was called out on “The Cheater’s Guide to Baseball Blog,” which showed photo’s of K-Rod apparently doctoring baseball’s with a foriegn substance on the brim of his hat.

With it being obvious to free thinking Americans that the substance was rosin, Major League Baseball stated there would be no investigation.

After watching opening day at Camden Yards, courtesy of Extra Innings, I couldn’t help but think about first time I walked down Eutaw Street and tasted Boog Powell’s barbeque before watching the late Kirby Puckett destroy my first Major League experiance with a three-run blast over the right centerfield wall.

So that’s where the Aspirin tablets and Baltimore Chops come in.

The term Baltimore Chop was used to describe a strategy by the former St. Louis Browns in which the batter hits the ball sharply into the dirt in front of home plate in hopes of getting the ball over the pitchers head.

But for this Marylander, Baltimore Chops is something I learned a long time ago.

To be an Orioles fan — you better have a lot of Aspirin.

The memories were great — the present not so much.

Getting the 2,131 t-shirt at the ballpark the night Ripken broke Lou Gehrig’s record. Hoping Brady Anderson’s lead off hit would come just close enought for me to stick my glove out.

Growing up with the legendary voice of Jon Miller on Home Team Sports (now with ESPN’s Joe Morgan) was as irresistable as legendary public address announcer Rex Barney’s foul ball tagline, “Give that fan a contract.”

I love the south, the beach, southern women and a cold beer every now-and-then.

But for most in the Southeast, it’s remembering Fulton Co. Stadium, Dale Murphy being traded to Phillies and the ultra annoying “Tomahawk Chop”.

It’s a Baltimore love thing and each day I, with the rest of the O’s Nation, think, “We can win the Wild Card right? We spent the money on the bullpen and were scoring runs — afterall we've just won the Yankees series…”

So like most baseball fans living the illusions of October, unlike you Braves fans, when your team starts sliding down the standings just give me a call — I always keep the Aspirin Tablets close.