Chris Davis, 2012 Topps #151

Man, I really need to diversify my Chris Davis collection. This is the third card I've posted of the O's slugging first baseman, and the other two were parallels of this base card. That's what I get for boycotting new Topps products and being too lazy to initiate trades with others.

Anyhow, I'm looking for the silver lining of last night's ugly 8-7 walkoff loss to the Rays. Sure, Wei-Yin Chen ran out of gas in the sixth inning, which is something of a trend in his brief Orioles career. Sure, Luis Ayala and Pedro Strop each blew a late-inning lead, and Tommy Hunter doomed the Birds by doing what he does best: tossing up a meatball to Matt Joyce for a game-ending homer. But Chris Davis is a flat-out beast, an unstoppable, hulking monster who was made to send baseballs to heaven.

Last night, Davis was 4-for-4 with a pair of doubles and another towering three-run homer, and he had four RBI total. Through two games (smallest of sample sizes!), he has a .625 average, a .667 on-base percentage, a 1.625 slugging percentage, two home runs, and seven RBI. He has at least a share of the league lead in doubles, total bases, RBI, slugging, OPS, and OPS+ (586...again, 100 is average!). Hell, let's just go right off the deep end and project Chris' two-game totals through a full 162-game season. Were Davis to keep up his pace - and I see no reason why he shouldn't - he would finish the year with 162 doubles, 162 home runs, and 567 RBI. Those would all be major league records, I think.

EDIT: I obviously wrote the above before today's 6-3 win over the Rays. Chris went 2-for-3 with a double and a home run, drove in four more runs, and was hit by a pitch. The updated totals: .636/.692/1.727, three doubles, three homers, 11 RBI. As I write this, he's outproduced the Marlins 11-1, and he is now the first player in Orioles history to hit 10 home runs in a span of 10 regular-season games (dating back to last season, of course). Mercy.

Okay, let me take my tongue out of my cheek and provide a serious update on the Brian Roberts Comeback Watch: 2-for-4 with a game-tying double in the ninth inning off of Fernando Rodney, who blew only two of his 50 save attempts in 2012. That's Brian's first extra-base hit since May 4, 2011. I don't think I can tell you how badly I want the O's senior player to be back in his 2009 form...or at least reasonably close to it.

EDIT: Brian singled in the ninth inning today, stole second base with a headfirst slide, and came up favoring his right knee. He had to be helped off the field. Dammit.