Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun recorded some of the moments in the interview room that evening.  Roberts mentioned that he did not have the words to truly express how great it felt to get three hits in his first night back with the 2nd place Orioles, but he did give us some insight as to his mental wellbeing regarding his faith:

“I think it definitely makes me realize that I’ve always tried to live for my faith and really trusted God. If I had a plan for my life I wouldn’t have scripted this by any means. I don’t think anybody would script hard times in their life. We try to grow from them, learn from them and we try to use them for good. As much as I would have liked to have played the last 175 games or 190 games that I wasn’t able to, I’m hoping the next 190 will be better than I ever imagined.”

An interesting picture is painted here as Roberts remarks about his ability to trust in God over the years.  Often times we like to take control of every little fiber of our lives, when all along we could be pushing ourselves into a deeper hole, or further away from where God had always intended us to be.  If Roberts had been given a book and he could pen any aspect of his life in the book, he may not have authored himself to receive a concussion.  We don’t want hard times to fall upon us, and rightfully so.  However, without the hard times we would not have the good times.

Are you trying to take control of your life to the point of not allowing God to truly do what he had planned for you to do?

“It was exciting…fun,” he said. “You realize how much you enjoy playing the game of baseball and how fortunate you are to be able to play it this long and hopefully continue to do it.”

Roberts has been recovering from the effects of multiple concussions since suffering his second in eight months in a game at Fenway Park last May. He has embarked on a 20-day injury rehabilitation assignment that he hopes will get him ready to return to the major league lineup in mid-June, but has a few more steps to take before that can happen.

The plan was to take two at-bats against the Richmond Flying Squirrels on Wednesday, but Roberts had to settle for two plate appearances. Richmond pitcher Mike Kickham walked him twice and Roberts didn’t get the opportunity to swing the bat. He did get some action on the bases, however, and made a couple of assists in three innings at second base.

“When I got in the box, it was very comfortable…more comfortable than I thought it would be, ” Roberts said. “I told Brady (Anderson), it might not have been the worst thing to just see some pitches.”

He was pushed slowly around the bases after his first walk, but got to air it out after walking to lead off the third inning. Buck Britton doubled to the fence in right field and Roberts went all the way around to score when the ball was bobbled on the warning track for an error.

It looked like things might get interesting as he rounded third and headed for the plate, but the relay went to third base.

“I didn’t think I was going, ” he said. “When I took off, I thought obviously for sure double, but I wasn’t anticipating scoring on that ball, and then obviously between second and third I realized that something was going on,” he said. “Gary (Baysox manager Gary Kendall) before the game said ‘I’m going to try to keep you out of any too-crazy situations,’ so I figured that if he was sending me it probably was going to be OK for the most part.”

He made one routine play on a bouncer right at him and also turned a double play with top infield prospect Manny Machado, but Richmond baserunner Ryan Cavan did not get there in time for a takeout slide.

There wasn’t a huge crowd at Prince George’s Stadium, but Roberts got a nice ovation when the lineups were announced before the game and also before each of his at-bats. While he was at the plate the second time, the Baysox mascot (Louie) paced the roof of the home dugout with a sign that said “Welcome back, Roberts.”

Director of player personnel John Stockstill, scouting crosschecker Dean Albany, roving hitting instructor and talent evaluator Terry Crowley watched from behind home plate. Roberts had a number of friends and family members in the crowd, but said he was particularly touched that Anderson drove down to Bowie after the Orioles’ 6-5 afternoon loss to the Boston Red Sox.

The plan was to get a couple of at-bats and play a few innings in the field, which is exactly what he did, but he never got a chance to swing the bat in his two plate appearances. Richmond Flying Squirrels pitcher Mike Kickham walked him twice, so he’ll have to wait until at least Thursday night to take his first cuts at the plate.

“When I got in the box, it was very comfortable … more comfortable than I thought it would be,” Roberts said. “I toldBrady [Anderson], it might not have been the worst thing to just see some pitches.”

He did have some action on the bases, scoring from first base on a double (plus an error) by Baysox outfielder Buck Britton. He also made a couple of plays at second, handling a routine bouncer and turning a double play with top infield prospect Manny Machado.

Machado fielded the ball and got it to him so quickly that base runner Ryan Cavan did not have an opportunity to attempt a takeout slide. Roberts said he was very impressed with the Orioles’ likely shortstop of the future.

“Manny made a couple of plays out there tonight that 28 out of 30 major league shortstops don’t make,” he said. “Of course, J.J. [Hardy] would be one of the other two.”

“We’ve got a plan in place, and 99 percent of it is based on what Brian and his doctors are talking about,” manager Buck Showalter said. “We’re at the point where there’s a potential date involved.”

Neither Roberts or Showalter would elaborate on when that exact date is, but when pressed further, Roberts said the next seven days is a definite possibility, a prospect which has fueled the slowly-building optimism that the 34-year-old can rejoin the team in the season’s first half.

“For a long time, I wasn’t sure where the finish line was, and I certainly didn’t see it,” Roberts said of his long road to recovery from a concussion. “When you do get a glimpse of that, it’s nice and you do get a breath of fresh air and some added momentum.

“There’s been a lot of times in the last year that I had no idea if I’d ever play baseball again, so in some ways it’d be a huge achievement or triumph just to get back out on that field. It’s definitely something that I’ve thought a lot about. I’d love for it to happen. I think when that day happens it will be — not necessarily something I’m proud of, but I guess maybe in some ways I’ve continued to fight. There were a lot of times I could have easily shut it down.”

Roberts said he would go to a full-season club — not to an affiliate in Sarasota — and he would like to commute, which makes nearby Double-A Bowie the most logical landing spot. Even when he gets sent out, Roberts plans on still being around the team when they are in town and doesn’t have a specific timeframe for the length of his rehab, which is a maximum of 20 days under Major League Baseball’s rules.

Showalter, who has allowed himself to think of the possibilities a healthy Roberts would add to his club, bristled at the insinuation that Roberts would be a part-time player when he returns.

“Role player? I don’t think about it like that at all,” Showalter said in reference to Roberts just being active being enough. “I think Brian is looking at it as a lot more than just getting here. Brian wants to get here and bring what Brian can bring, and we all know what that capability is. I think he knows what it takes to perform at this level.

“He’s not going to put himself in a position to come back unless he knows he can bring that. He knows what the needs of a player is to play at the level in our division, so I have complete trust in him that he’ll know if it’s right.”

Roberts said he’s up for whatever Showalter wants upon his return, and praised the performance and effort of Robert Andino, who has earned an everyday role at second base in Roberts’ absence.

“When it comes to winning my job back, whatever Buck wants me to do, I’ll do,” Roberts said. “I’d love for this team to be playing in October, and if I’m sitting on the bench then, I guess, so be it. I’d like to think he’s going to run me out there when I’m ready.

“I think the goal is to get me back here doing everything, and when I get back here, I can do everything. It doesn’t mean I can’t DH every now and then or something, or Buck thinks that’s the best thing for a week straight. We haven’t really talked too much about that option. Certainly our goal is to play second base every day.”

It marked the one-year anniversary of Roberts’ last game, when his headfirst slide at Fenway Park triggered a second wave of concussion symptoms May 16, 2011.

Roberts said Wednesday that he has thought about the date — and about being out of the game for a full year — but that it helps that he feels closer than ever to a return. Roberts, who averaged 152 games a year from 2004 through 2009, has played in just 98 games since the beginning of the 2010 season.

“I thought about it a lot today, actually,” Roberts said before the Orioles’ series opener in Kansas City. “It’s one of those things you try to look back on and see what you’ve learned and what God’s tried to teach you through it. I think it happened for a reason. He’s in control of it, but at the same time, it doesn’t mean it hasn’t been extremely hard and very frustrating at times. But at the same time, I’m very grateful for where I am today.”

Before Wednesday’s game, Roberts was diving for balls from his second base position on the Kauffman Stadium infield. Over the past six days, he has gone from diving while on his knees to running after balls and lunging to field balls hit to his sides.

He says it’s the final “real big hurdle” before he can play in a game.

“It’s a pretty big hurdle, getting on my belly and trying to get back to aggressively getting on the ground,” Roberts said. “It’s a big hurdle physically as well as mentally. I think anybody who goes through an injury, one of the hardest things is repeating the activity that injured you.”

Another hurdle has been traveling with the team, and being on this two-day trip to Kansas City — handling an abrupt schedule of flying in late and being with the team through a quick day-after-night series — was another test Roberts’ doctor wanted him to overcome.

Throughout his recovery, Roberts has repeatedly said he’s focused only on the next day, that recovering from a concussion doesn’t have much of a timetable. But for the first time since last May, Roberts said, he’s actually talking about a potential date to begin a rehabilitation assignment.

“We’re finally close enough where at least the doctor and I and the team can talk about days,” Roberts said. “For a long time, we didn’t even talk about days. We’re finally getting to the point where we can at least bring that into the discussion. We haven’t narrowed anything down, by any means. It still is, as my doctor says, a fluid situation, but we are at least to the point where we could start to look.”

Yes, Roberts has been out of the game for a year — far more than he had hoped — but he can finally see a return on the horizon.

“I’m very thankful that on the one-year day I can look at this in a much more positive light,” Roberts said. “I don’t want this to sound bad in any way, but I wouldn’t trade it because I wouldn’t want to trade anything that’s happened in my life. If I scripted it, it wouldn’t be what I scripted because I obviously would have loved to have been playing baseball the last 162 games, but at the same time, I hope that I’m a different person than I was a year ago.”

Hickey dead at 56

Kevin Hickey, the quirky left-handed reliever who pitched parts of three seasons for the Orioles, including the storybook 1989 “Why Not?” season, died Wednesday at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. He was 56.

A Chicago native who spent three of his six major league seasons with his hometown White Sox, Hickey had been a pre-game instructor/batting practice pitcher with that club since 2004. He was discovered unresponsive in his hotel room before Chicago’s Opening Day game in Texas this April. He had been hospitalized since.

No official cause of death was announced. Hickey wasn’t drafted but was discovered by the White Sox during an open tryout in 1978. He didn’t play baseball in high school but was an amateur softball player and semi-pro baseball player.

He played for the White Sox from 1981 to 1983, then made a comeback at age 32 with the Orioles in 1989. He excelled that year, going 2-3 with a 2.92 ERA in 51 games — and was one of the poster boys for the surprising and exciting Orioles squad that almost went from worst to first.

He pitched two more less-than-stellar years for the Orioles before being released in July 1991, and he didn’t play in the majors again. In six seasons, he was 9-14 with a 3.91 ERA in 231 major league games (107 with the Orioles).

Avery back atop order

Rookie outfielder Xavier Avery was in the starting lineup for the fourth straight day after being called up Sunday, leading off for the third time — each time against a right-handed starter (he hit ninth Tuesday against New York Yankees lefty CC Sabathia).

Orioles bench coach John Russell, who was in charge of the team before the game while manager Buck Showalter wasn’t feeling well, said Avery has added a different dimension in the leadoff spot.

“He’s the type of guy at the top of the lineup, Buck and I have talked about it, who can create some things,” Russell said. “We’ve seen it in the few games he’s played. He can drop a bunt down, beat it out. He covers a lot of ground in the outfield. He’s a threat on the bases. It makes teams uneasy. I know when we’ve faced teams and they have that one speed guy, you have to pay attention to them.

Around the horn

The Orioles came into Wednesday’s series opener against Kansas City having taken six of their past eight series against the Royals. … Baltimore entered Wednesday attempting to win its 12th road game this season in 17 tries. The Orioles didn’t get their 12th road win last year until their 31st away game June 16. … The Orioles were 6-1 against the American League Central going into Wednesday. … Thursday’s starter, left-hander Brian Matusz, was knocked out of his only previous start against the Royals in the fourth inning after allowing five earned runs on two hits and four walks on July 29, 2010.

Some athletes who suffer concussions are finding that the same system in their brains that helps them process movement may make them more susceptible to a longer recovery process.

“Each time my husband, Brian, and I visit the children at UMMD, we are all too aware of these kids being forced into such an adult setting at such a young age. We wanted to give the kids an opportunity to be themselves and enjoy a bright, colorful day even though they were in the hospital. The Princess Party turned out to be a great success! The little girls felt like they were starring in a fairy tale for the day. It was really nice to see their faces light up and watch them enjoy their time being pampered in the “Princess Spa.”

Special thanks to Sarah McGee of Visual Changes Salon & Spa in Ellicott CIty, MD and Colleen Claytor at Glossy Boutique for their help with the Princess Party!

Sponsors:

Chef Jerry Edwards and the team from Chef’s Expressions for the meal and table settings.

Floweries & Fancies

Tony Barber of Let’s Do Linens

Tim Hinsche of Kathy Freundel Photography for photography

Tori Morse quartet

Staci Summers of Haute Cocoa for favors

Stephanie Bradshaw of Bradshaw Styling