Jeremy Guthrie, 2009 Topps Ticket to Stardom #50

A check of my archives shows that I haven't posted a Jeremy Guthrie card since the Orioles traded the righty in February of last year for Jason Hammel and Matt Lindstrom. That's a shame, because he was one of the more personable and likable players to come through Baltimore in recent years. So I may as well take a moment to sing his praises now.

Jeremy's short stay in Colorado was disastrous, as he went 3-9 and posted an astronomical 6.35 ERA and 12.1 hits per nine innings in 19 games with the Rockies. His home run rate skyrocketed from 1.1 in 2011 to 2.1. Unsurprisingly, Coors Field was not a welcoming place for a fly-ball pitcher like Guts. But the Rockies gave him a reprieve, trading the veteran to Kansas City for fellow wayward starter Jonathan Sanchez in mid-July.

There haven't been many players in recent years who have had a career revival with the Royals, but the difference in Jeremy Guthrie's performance was stark. His 5-3 won-lost record came with a sterling 3.16 ERA and a much-improved 8.3 H/9 IP. His home run rate dropped back down around his career norm. The Royals, rolling the dice on some veteran starters to augment their prospect-laden lineup, retained Guthrie with a three-year, $25 million contract. Five starts into that deal, the early returns are promising for both player and team. Jeremy is a perfect 3-0 with a 3.06 ERA after blanking the Indians for six and two-thirds innings this past Sunday. Dating back to last year, he's now gone 16 starts since absorbing his last loss. Guts actually got hung with an 'L' in each of his first three starts as a Royal, but the third of those, a 5-3 defeat against the Rangers on August 3, was the last losing decision for him. It's a pretty drastic reversal of fortune for a guy who led the American League with 17 losses twice in a three-year span while with the O's. This ongoing run of success certainly couldn't have happened to a nicer guy, and I hope it continues for as long as possible.

Adam Jones, 2009 Topps Ticket to Stardom #188

I know that I just wrote about Adam Jones a week ago, but it would be criminal to ignore what he did today. With the Orioles having celebrated their return to the .500 mark by losing each of the first five games of a six-game West Coast road trip, often in a sloppy and punchless manner, the team's center fielder took it upon himself to deliver a win in an afternoon getaway game in Seattle.

The big stories heading into today's game were the season debut of pitcher Brian Matusz and Nick Markakis' big league debut at first base - and to a lesser extent, the end of the illustrious Jake Fox Era. While Matusz had a very encouraging start (1 ER, 4 H, 5.2 IP, no decision), he got a little help from Jones. With the game tied 1-1 in the bottom of the fourth, Miguel Olivo led off with a towering drive to deep center. Adam ran back to the fence on a dead sprint, leaping and catching the ball over his shoulder as he planted his feet against the wall. Despite the impact, he held on and did a bit of a backwards somersault for the icing on the cake. See for yourself. Two innings earlier, he almost cut down Olivo at the plate, but a rare miss by Matt Wieters allowed the lone Mariners run to score. Jones also singled in two of his first three at bats, but was stranded both times. He finally got tired of waiting around on the bases, crushing an upper-deck home run to left field in the eighth inning to deliver the go-ahead run. It held up, as the O's salvaged something from this miserable road trip with a 2-1 victory.

As much fun as the Adam Jones Show is, I'd like to see some of his teammates join the party when the Birds host Toronto this weekend.

George Sherrill, 2009 Topps Ticket to Stardom #48

Have you ever seen a card set that provided a more egregious example of phoning it in? Just looking at this thing puts me to sleep. I'm glad that I found most of the team set in a dime box at a card show (all but the rookie cards of David Hernandez and Koji Uehara), because I'd hate to spend any more than the bare minimum of money and effort on this lazy effort by Topps. And to think that this is the kind of thing they were churning out back when they still had competition for the baseball card collector's dollar.

One positive: the back of the card mentions George Sherrill's tightrope act against the Cubs in an interleague game on June 24, 2008. The O's lead had been cut to 7-5 in the eighth inning when Dave Trembley summoned his closer with the tying runs on base and two outs. Sherrill retired pinch hitter Matt Murton on a fly ball to left to preserve the lead for the time being. The Birds were quickly retired in the top of the ninth, sending "Flat Breezy" back to the mound in a save situation. In an all-too-typical performance, the lefthander made his fans and teammates sweat it out.

Geovany Soto and Ryan Theriot found holes in the infield with a pair of singles to bookend a five-pitch walk to Mark DeRosa. The bases were loaded with nobody out. I was sitting in my apartment exclaiming things that I wouldn't dare repeat. But apparently George had the Cubs right where he wanted them. Ronny Cedeno, pinch hitting for reliever Carlos Marmol, struck out swinging on three pitches. One down. Leadoff hitter Kosuke Fukudome took ball one and strike one before swinging through the next two offerings. Two down, and the tension in Wrigley Field was palpable. Eric Patterson (Corey's brother) was due up, but backup catcher Henry Blanco pinch hit. Strike one swinging. Strike two, called. Come on George, one more pitch! Ball one, just for a little bit more pressure. And...strike three, swinging! I would never have believed that anyone could put the winning runs on base and then strike out the side on 11 pitches to slam the door. In fact, the card back claims that Sherrill was only the sixth pitcher ever to perform that feat. Such was the maddening mystique of George Sherrill.