Rich Hill, 2009 Topps Heritage #666

If you were clinging to any pipe dreams about a last-minute Orioles surge into the playoffs, being shut out at the hands of Rich Hill on two hits and ten strikeouts ought to kill that good. Yes, the same Rich Hill who hadn't even made a big league start since bombing out with the O's in 2009. So of course he's slipped into the Boston rotation this September and allowed three runs, ten hits, and two walks while striking out 30 in 23 innings. Man, baseball drives me bonkers.

George Sherrill, 2009 Topps Heritage #395

During the Orioles' Dark Ages, even All-Star week wasn't very fun. You usually didn't have a hometown guy to root for in the Home Run Derby; in 2007, when Nick Markakis led the team with a season total of 23 homers, he had a team-high nine at the All-Star Break. That doesn't get you an invite to the derby. The following year, weary O's fans had to wait until the 12th inning to see obligatory Baltimore representative George Sherrill (4.08 ERA, 1.42 ERA at the break) appear in the Midsummer Classic. It's still something of a surprise to see multiple Orioles as All-Stars, even though I know they're deserving. Adam Jones went hitless in two at-bats tonight, but Manny Machado turned heads with a warning-track fly ball against Clayton Kershaw in his first at-bat before driving in one insurance run in the seventh inning with a double against Francisco Rodriguez and subsequently scoring on a Prince Fielder sac fly. Manny also made a couple of sparkling defensive stops, naturally. Zach Britton pitched two-thirds of a scoreless inning in the sixth, striking out Bryce Harper in the process. No sign of Darren O'Day, but the American League is sitting on a 6-2 lead in the ninth inning. It looks like the O's will have home field advantage in the World Series.

Jeremy Guthrie, 2009 Topps Heritage #12

Jeremy Guthrie is starting Game Seven of the World Series tonight. There's a sentence I didn't ever think I'd type. Of course, the ex-Oriole is taking the mound for the Royals in this evening's winner-take-all contest against the Giants. I'm actually rooting for San Francisco; the Orioles' ALCS sweep at the hands of Kansas City still stings, and many of my favorite non-O's (including Pablo Sandoval, Tim Hudson, Tim Lincecum, and the delightfully gooberish Hunter Pence) play for the Giants. Guthrie's post-Game Three press conference in the ALCS, in which he wore a shirt that said, "These O's Ain't Royal", stirred up a lot of anger in Baltimore because it was considered to be kicking his former club while they were down. Once the smoke cleared, I was actually more disappointed to learn that the phrase on the offending shirt was a parody of a line from a Chris Brown song. Brown, for the uninitiated, is a garbage person. So I'm not going to hold some silly lifelong grudge against Jeremy for a pretty dumb clothing choice, but I'm not exactly going to cheer him on, either. When it comes down to it, I'll be pulling for the team in orange and black. Makes sense, doesn't it?

Ty Wigginton, 2009 Topps Heritage #649

Just like that, another player becomes an ex-Oriole. Today Ty Wigginton signed a two-year, $7.5 million deal with the Rockies. He essentially replaces Melvin Mora as Colorado's utility infielder. Yesterday Mora signed with the Diamondbacks right after they traded Mark Reynolds to the Orioles. Circle of life. So long, Wiggy. We'll always remember your unusual April-May 2010 power surge, the sublime humor of your 13 innings at shortstop in 2009, and that time you flipped out on the first base umpire in that game against the Twins.

I probably shouldn't pay such close attention to the Hot Stove rumors. I spent a good deal of time today pre-emptively flipping out over reports that the Orioles were likely trading Nolan Reimold to the Rays for shortstop Jason Bartlett, but the deal fell through by dinner time. With any luck, it's dead in the water. Bartlett would be an upgrade over the offensively impotent Cesar Izturis, but it would be a crime to sell so low on Reimold. It was just two years ago that he was one of the best-hitting rookies in the league, and I'd expect him to be healthier, more focused, and back in form in 2011. We'll see what news tomorrow holds.

Luke Scott, 2009 Topps Heritage #190

Oh Luke Scott, how I enjoy your inexplicable hot streaks. I wish there were more to celebrate than briefly excellent performances from individual players, but the Orioles are 0-10 against the stinking Blue Jays, so I'm left with the very definition of small consolation.

Luke missed nearly three weeks of action this month after pulling a hamstring during a home run trot on June 30, and it looked like the resurgence that had boosted his average from .177 on May 4 to .274 at the time of his injury would be stalled. Instead, he came back from the layoff as locked-in as he had been before. The Oklahoma State product earned American League Player of the Week honors for his efforts over the past seven games: 13-for-27 (.481) with six runs scored, three doubles, four home runs, and eight RBI. His OPS was a tidy 1.537. You've really got to do something to get noticed when your club is thirty-odd games under .500 and loses five out of seven games during the week in question, and that stat line certainly qualifies.

Shockingly, the O's lost again tonight, 9-5, with a comeback from an 8-0 deficit falling short. Luke had one measly hit...a two-run homer that gave him six round-trippers in his last nine games played and a team-leading 17 overall. He's got a good shot at establishing a career high in home runs for the fifth straight season. Last year, he hit 25. Nine more to go; as we've seen, that's a couple good weeks for Luke.

Alfredo Simon, 2009 Topps Heritage #126

It only took three weeks for the Orioles to put together back-to-back wins for the first time in 2010. Naturally when it happened, they did it against the Red Sox and Yankees...not that it came easily. Both games featured two-run rallies by the opponent in their final at-bat, with the final out being a bang-bang play with the tying and winning runs on base. Each game also figured a member of the motley Baltimore bullpen earning his first career save. Sunday's fireman was sidearmer Cla "the Claw" Meredith, who had never saved a game in five-plus seasons. Tonight the door was slammed by flame-throwing lefty Alfredo Simon, who was 24 hours removed from AAA Norfolk, a year removed from Tommy John elbow surgery, and two years removed from the Mexican league. Not only had he never had a major league save (he was originally signed by the Phillies and didn't debut in the majors until September 2008 with the O's), he hadn't saved a game anywhere since 2005 at AA Norwich. All he had to do was strike out Curtis Granderson and Derek Jeter, overcome a rare error by Gold Glover Cesar Izturis, and induce Alex Rodriguez to ground out and strand two runners.

4-16? Better than 2-16. We'll leave it at that.

Brad Bergesen, 2009 Topps Heritage #522

After all of the hand-wringing I did yesterday, it’s a welcome relief to have a ready-made subject. Today is my sister’s 25th birthday. If you check through the archives (or just click this link), you’ll see that two years ago I commemorated her special day by featuring a scan of Dick Kryhoski, an Oriole from the 1950s who was also born on March 24. Of the hundreds of players who have passed through Baltimore in the past 56 years, Dick is the only one born on this day. If you’re morbidly inclined, Hall of Fame infielder George Kell is the only Oriole to die on this date (passing away one year ago today, in fact).

If I wanted to stretch it, I could have run a George Sisler card today, since one of the greatest hitters of the 1920s plied his trade for the St. Louis Browns team that moved to Charm City in 1954. But this blog ain’t called “Orioles Franchise Card O’ the Day”.

So instead I went with pitcher Brad Bergesen, one of five potential members of this year’s young and hungry O’s squad who will also celebrate the big 2-5 at some point during 2010. The others: pitchers David Hernandez and Troy Patton, and outfielders Adam Jones and Felix Pie. Bergy was far and away the most pleasant surprise to emerge last season, a control pitcher whose lack of a blistering fastball had caused him to be overlooked in favor of flashier prospects like Brian Matusz and Chris Tillman. When Brad followed up his 2008 Jim Palmer Award (given annually to the Orioles’ top minor league pitcher) with a great Spring Training, he bypassed those bigger names to become the first homegrown pitcher to get the callup in ’09. He responded by becoming the club’s most dependable starter and a dark-horse candidate for Rookie of the Year, until a scary-looking line drive from Kansas City’s Billy Butler severely bruised his leg and cost him the last two months of the season. His final numbers were encouraging, though: 7-5 with a 3.43 ERA and a 1.28 WHIP. He was second on the team in wins and first in most of the “rate” stats. On a staff desperate for innings-eaters, he made it through at least the sixth in 15 of his 19 starts, and only once did he pitch less than five and two-thirds (his second-ever major league start, when Texas knocked him out after four). After an odd offseason that saw him tweak his shoulder during a Mid-Atlantic Sports Network commercial shoot, he has bounced back with three solid Spring Training starts to give O’s fans optimism that he will be able to pick up where he left off last July.

Adam Jones, 2009 Topps Heritage #53

Congratulations to Adam Jones, who yesterday was selected by Rays manager Joe Maddon as the Orioles' sole representative in next week's All-Star Game. With the home team having been down in the dumps for a dozen years now, most of us are resigned to having just one of our O's on the 33-man American League roster. But this is no Cal Ripken, Jr. reputation pick, nor is it a Tony Batista "Gotta Pick Somebody" selection. Even after a rough June brought his numbers down to Earth a bit, Dr. Jones still looks like one of the breakout players of 2009. He's leading the Birds with a .308 batting average, and his 12 home runs are already three more than he hit all of last season. His center field defense continues to improve on a daily basis, as his five assists suggest.

But most encouraging of all, Adam is still a few weeks away from his 24th birthday. Things should only get better in the coming years. Also, if you're keeping count, the O's have now gotten two All-Star appearances out of last year's Erik Bedard trade; closer George Sherrill was the club's sole representative in 2008, and has actually had a better first half this season. A third player, Kam Mickolio, will get a chance to bolster the Baltimore bullpen following today's promotion from AAA Norfolk. Of course, there's still a large amount of buzz surrounding pitching prospect Chris Tillman, who has a 2.69 ERA, 1.09 WHIP, and 9.2 strikeouts per nine innings with the Tides and is rumored to be joining the big league club shortly. This isn't the first time I've talked about the Bedard Trade (which, as some have pointed out, has quickly become the Adam Jones Trade), and it certainly won't be the last time. I'll do anything to supplant the painful memories of Glenn Davis, after all.

Dave Trembley, 2009 Topps Heritage #226

I was listening to a Bill Simmons podcast on ESPN recently, and he was lamenting the lack of colorful, imaginative baseball nicknames these days. I couldn't agree more. We've gone from "Three-Finger" Brown, "The Big Train" Walter Johnson, and "The Georgia Peach" Ty Cobb to "A-Rod", "K-Rod"...ugh. I can't continue. If I have my way, at least one team will have a solid set of nicknames. I'll hit as much of the O's roster as I can, giving credit wherever it may be due.

Gregg ZAUN - ZAUN needs no nickname, puny fleshbags!

Aubrey Huff - I've heard "Huff Daddy", but that's a bit dated, don't you think? I'm going with "Hack", because I think he looks like actor David Morse. Besides, it's been a while since Hack Wilson. I'm bringing it back.

Brian Roberts - He's from Durham. Little Bull? I'm a bit stuck.

Cesar Izturis - The Kaiser. Sure, he's not German, but there's gotta be some wordplay with Cesar/Caesar.

Melvin Mora - On Camden Chat, he is often known simply as MelMo or even Memlo, an intentional mangling. Memlo kind of rolls off the tongue, actually. Alternatively, I always thought he was shaped oddly, kind of like a duck. The Spanish for duck is "pato". El Pato, maybe?

Nick Markakis - Keep it simple. He's Markickass. I even saw it on the back of a #21 jersey a fellow fan was wearing at Camden Yards.

Adam Jones - His family and teammates call him Jonesy, which is all good and well...but I'm partial to Dr. Jones, per the folks at Camden Chat. He's every bit as dashing and adventurous as Indiana Jones, after all.

Luke Scott - Again, no nickname needed, really. He's just "LUUUUUKKKKKEEEEE!".

Ty Wigginton - He followed Aubrey Huff to Tampa Bay, Houston, and Baltimore, so Huff jokingly referred to him as his "fat male stalker". I just can't top that.

Jeremy Guthrie - Guts is short, sweet, and to the point. I've seen the nickname used at both Camden Chat and The Loss Column.

Koji Uehara - The Osaka Kid. Yeah, he's 34, but I saw footage of him happily goose-stepping around the clubhouse in cowboy boots, courtesy of Jamie Walker.

Brad Bergesen - Bergemeister. Sure, that's the second German-sounding nickname. What do you want? My last name is Brotzman.

Adam Eaton - Mud.

Mark Hendrickson - Based on his first professional career, I vote for The Poster.

Danys Baez - Cohiba. He's Cuban, and for the time being, he's throwing smoke.

Brian Bass - Fish Pump. A relatively new Camden Chat moniker, born out of Aubrey Huff's mockery of Joba Chamberlain and a funny typo.

Jamie Walker - Given his good ol' boy persona, I'm leaning toward Jamie Walker Red.

Chris Ray - I've got nothing. He's from Tampa, attended the College of William and Mary (go Tribe!)...suggestions?

Jim Johnson - I believe this one came from the Loss Column: Bandsaw. There was a Baltimore Sun column about Jim's interest in carpentry. It works, considering the way his sinker cuts through opposing hitters.

George Sherrill - Well, I thought the consensus was Flat Breezy, but at Camden Yards he seems to be the Brim Reaper.

Dave Trembley - Again, Camden Chat knows him as Diamond Dave, much like Van Halen frontman David Lee Roth.

That's everyone I have the energy for at the moment (sorry, Lou Montanez and Dennis Sarfate). You can probably do better, so please have at it!

Alex Cintron, 2009 Topps Heritage #253

Believe it or not, the final game of the preseason takes place between the Orioles and the Nationals in Washington, D.C. This year's Spring Training was even more interminable than usual, thanks to the extra week or so that was tacked on to compensate for the World Baseball Classic. The O's had a 34-game exhibition slate, which doesn't include unofficial games against the Italian and Dominican WBC clubs. Then there were the intrasquad matchups that filled almost every open date on the schedule. I wouldn't be surprised if the players spend all day tomorrow in bed before Opening Day rolls around on Monday.

Alex Cintron is just one of several underwhelming ex-O's who landed in Nationals camp in 2009. Joining him were free-swinging outfielder Corey Patterson, wall-eyed failed shortstop Freddie Bynum, and of course the erratic Daniel Cabrera. Cabrera was the only member of that ex-pat quartet to go north with Washington, and he didn't exactly have a smooth go of it in the Grapefruit League. He posted a 6.39 ERA, which includes a loss to his former team last night (5 IP, 5 ER, 4 H, 4 BB, 1 WP, 1 HBP). Daniel also managed to hurt his neck a week ago while practicing bunting, which comes as no surprise to anyone who ever watched him "hit" in interleague games.

The Nationals current pitching staff might look a little less crummy than that of their beltway neighbors, but I sure as hell wouldn't want to root for them. At least the O's have a plan and a reason to hope.