SCENE FROM CAMDEN YARDS

National anthem: The Orioles played the national anthem over the public address systemfor the first time in recent memory. That didn’t stop a small group of fans watching through the fence behind the bullpens from shouting,“O,” at the appropriate moment. First pitch: Orioles starter Ubaldo Jimenez threwthe first pitch of the game to White Sox outfielder Adam Eaton at 2: 06 p. m.— 4 hours, 59 minutes before originally scheduled. Twitter alert: Eaton got some heat on Twitter for a tweet before the game in which he joked,“We’re going to try and take the crowd out of the game early.” Turns out, they did. The Orioles scored six runs in the first inning. Full- court press: The curious case of the empty ballpark drew a very large local and national media contingent. The 92 seats in the press box were all taken, and they weren’t nearly enough. Ironically, on a day when there were no fans in the stands, the press level was standing room only. Foul- ball cleanup: There was no systemin place to chase down foul balls, but teamemployees casually gathered them in the area behind home plate throughout the game. Chris Davis’home run ball sat on EutawStreet for several innings. The cost: It’s impossible to determine how many fans would have shown up for the regularly scheduled night game, but if the Orioles had drawn 25,000 — a reasonable estimate — and the average ticket price is just under $ 25, the club lost more than $ 600,000 in gate revenue and probably close to that in concessions and parking.

— THE BALTIMORE SUN