Adam Jones and Nick Markakis, 2010 Topps #543

Ten years later, it's funny to look at this card and realize that Nick Markakis is still in the major leagues and Adam Jones is not. Amidst all of the upheaval of the past few years, the biggest blow to me as a fan was when the Orioles parted ways with AJ before the 2019 season. It was all the worse because there was no clean break; while Adam remained an unsigned free agent throughout the winter, new GM Mike Elias was careful not to say anything one way or the other about a potential reunion. It was up to the fans to read between the lines - at least until March 11, when Jones finally signed a one-year deal with the Diamondbacks. With a stroke of the pen, his 11 years as a Baltimore fixture came to an end. He left behind a legacy of five All-Star appearances, four Gold Gloves, and a position of leadership in the clubhouse and the community.

I was rooting for Adam to rejuvenate his career in Arizona, and it looked promising in the early going. Through June 1, he was batting .283/.329/.516 with 12 homers and 37 RBI in 56 games. But in his final 81 games (66 starts), he slumped to .241/.300/.331 with 4 home runs and 30 RBI. His full-season numbers (.260 AVG, .728 OPS, 87 OPS+) were his worst since 2008. When factoring in his defensive metrics in right field, Jones finished with a -0.6 WAR, his first-ever season below replacement level. In December, the 34-year-old outfielder signed a two-year, $8 million deal with Japan's Orix Buffaloes.

Meanwhile, the 36-year-old Nick Markakis is somehow plugging along with the Braves, preparing to spend his sixth season in Atlanta when and if the season gets started. He's batted .284/.359/.403 in his half-decade in the National League, essentially swapping some of his already-modest home run numbers as an Oriole for more doubles. He's up to 2,355 career hits in 14 seasons overall, and his next two-base hit will make a nice round 500.

As we hover indefinitely on the verge of a 2020 MLB season, Baltimore's projected outfield is some combination of Dwight Smith, Jr., Austin Hays, Anthony Santander, and (pending his own health and the ongoing sad saga of Chris Davis at first base) Trey Mancini. Based on their collective potential and 2019 performances, it's actually one of the better segments of the Oriole roster. But a few years along, it's still strange not to see #10 and #21 in the center-right alley in Camden Yards.

Nolan Reimold, 2010 Topps #653

Surprisingly, the Orioles listened to my pleas and delivered a win on Friday night. It was an all-to-rare laugher, and I was glad to witness it along with my sister and a few thousand die-hards. The official paid attendance was a bit over 24,000, but I can assure you that a good number of them were dressed as empty seats. Anyway, Elizabeth and I got to our perch in the upper deck behind home plate just in time to see Capitals star Alex Ovechkin throw out the first pitch, a high, outside floater. My sis is hockey-crazed, so she even wore her red Brooks Laich jersey and carried a posterboard with a happy birthday message for Ovi.

It was a cool and still 65 degrees at first pitch, and I'll admit that I didn't harbor high hopes when I saw that Tommy Hunter vs. Dan Haren was the pitching matchup. Though Hunter, acquired from Texas in the Koji Uehara trade, kept the Angels off the board for the first three innings, the O's were blanked in their first two tries against Haren. But the O's scraped together a rally in the home half of the third. Nolan Reimold, only inserted into the lineup when Adam Jones' balky thumb kept him out, led off with a walk, stole second, and scored on a Robert Andino single. Itty-bitty leadoff hitter Matt Angle, who my sister dubbed "Beaker" for his resemblance to the narrow-headed Muppet, bunted Andino to second. After a wild pitch moved the runner to third, J. J. Hardy made it 2-0 with a run-scoring grounder.

Tiring of small ball, the Birds set off some fireworks in the fifth. Mark Reynolds led off the inning with a no-doubter home run to left field, his 33rd of the season. Andino and Angle reached base, and both scored on a double by Hardy. It was 5-0, and in spite of myself I felt like the lead was safe.

For once, the Orioles weren't content to sit on a lead. The very next inning, Chris Davis singled and Reynolds doubled to chase Haren from the game. Rookie Tyler Chatwood had a rocky introduction to the game, hurling a wild pitch to plate Davis with the sixth Baltimore run. Reimold added to Chatwood's pain with a fly ball that scraped over the left field fence to make it 8-0. It was the 11th of the season, in just Nolan's 77th game. The Halos bullpen settled down after that, but it was too little too late.

Meanwhile, Hunter pitched his best game yet as an Oriole. The big righthander matched his season high with seven innings, allowing no runs on seven hits and two walks while striking out five. He was ably relieved in the eighth inning by Willie Eyre, who in turn was less ably relieved in the ninth by that goggle-wearing yutz Kevin Gregg. Though watching the so-called closer cough off three runs to the Angels' second-teamers (seven of the nine Anaheim starters were subbed out in the seventh) caused the game to end on a frustrating note, there was actually something perversely entertaining about booing and jeering him as he stumbled along.

So not a bad deal all in all. I got to spend a beautiful and leisurely evening with my favorite sibling watching our Birds stomp on the postseason hopes of the visiting team.

Brad Bergesen, 2010 Topps #423

The Brad Bergesen of 2009 has re-emerged of late, and it's about time. After emerging in his rookie season as the most consistently effective Orioles pitcher, his sophomore campaign seemed doomed from the beginning. A freakish shoulder injury incurred during a winter commercial shoot delayed his spring training, and from his first start he seemed hittable. His sinker wasn't sinking, his defense wasn't giving him as much support as it had before, and innings were unraveling in a hurry. You could see in his body language that he was having a confidence crisis, and being shunted to AAA Norfolk twice (and to the bullpen once) didn't do anything to help. After finishing at least six innings in each of his last dozen starts last year, he failed to complete even five innings in five of his first 11 starts in 2010. He took yet another pounding on July 26 in Toronto, giving up a career-high eight runs in five innings to leave his ERA at an unsightly 6.95 and his won-lost record at an ugly 3-9.

But Bergy showed signs of recovery his next time out, holding Kansas City to two runs in seven innings and missing out on a win when David Hernandez blew the save. Last Friday he was even better, yielding only a solo home run to Chicago's Gordon Beckham and leaving after seven innings in a tie game. Still, he couldn't snap that personal seven-game losing streak.

Tonight, Brad took matters into his own hands. With his offense again scuffling (the Birds pushed across only three runs on 13 hits), the young righthander breezed right through the Cleveland Indians, surrendering a single run on two hits, two walks, and a hit batter. He held the Tribe hitless until the fifth inning, when Luis Valbuena singled with two outs to bring home Shelley Duncan (who had walked earlier). All he did after that was set down the next 12 batters in order, including three straight strikeouts at the end of the string. Asdrubal Cabrera singled with two outs in the ninth to bring Shin-Soo Choo to the plate as the tying run, but Bergesen induced a fly ball to Adam Jones to earn the win and wrap up his second career complete game. It took him just 102 pitches, and he logged several innings of ten pitches or less. In his last three starts, he's lowered his earned run average by more than a full run.

Let's keep the good vibes going, okay Brad?

Ty Wigginton, 2010 Topps #111

You can't stop Ty Wigginton. You can only hope to contain him. This fire hydrant-shaped man is currently the Orioles' leading hitter with four home runs and 10 RBI, all of which have come in the past week. Today he sparked the Birds' second win of the season with a two-run double and a two-run homer. I find him to be one of the most entertaining and fascinating guys on the team, and not just because he has a ridiculous name and he's roly-poly. (Though it's worth noting that in the April issue of the "Orioles Magazine" game program, he lists "beef jerky" as one of his three essentials should he ever be stranded on an island.)

Wiggy also delivered his own son, Cannon, in the bedroom closet of his North Carolina home in December of 2006 when his wife Angela went into labor unexpectedly. A 911 operator walked him through it, and there were no complications. Ty even tied off the umbilical cord with a shoelace. He's like MacGyver, except that he can play every position on the baseball field to boot.

Luke Scott, 2010 Topps #231

Yesterday, my girlfriend Barbara and I started our Valentine's Day off right with breakfast at a small cafe near her house, followed by a quick and relatively bloodless trip to Wal-mart. I've been holding off on buying new cards, hoping vainly that I could do a better job of organizing and storing the ones I already own before I move into my new house next month, but I just had to dip my toes in the water. So I grabbed a 36-card rack pack of 2010 Topps on our way to the checkout, and tore it open as soon as I got in the car.

The card you see above was the first Topps card of the new year for me. I'm hoping it's a good omen, particularly since it took me so blasted long to pull an Oriole out of 2009 Topps last year. As for the card itself, it looks great. I like the design, with the Orioles script large enough to be distinctive, yet placed somewhere relatively out of the way. The little vortex design thingy on the left side of the photo is decent, too. The photo, with Luke Scott celebrating what was likely a home run by giving a little dap to the man upstairs, is pretty unique. You'd probably prefer to see Luke's smiling face, but the picture is framed well and I do like being able to see his name and number on the back of his jersey.

I wish I could place this game, but my best guess is that it's a day game and is not taking place on a Friday (otherwise the O's would have their black alternate jerseys). I think the mook in the second row is wearing a red alternate Red Sox jersey, so we could give him the benefit of the doubt and suppose that the Sawx are the visiting team. If Scott has just gone deep, that narrows it down to two games. On July 1, he took Josh Beckett deep in an eventual 6-5 Oriole loss. On September 20, he touched up Daisuke Matsuzaka in a 9-3 loss. But then again, maybe it wasn't Scott that delivered the big hit. After all, the players in the dugout still seem to be looking out toward the field and applauding another teammate. Ah well, I'm just happy to have this card in my collection.

By the way, I typed in my code for the Million Card Giveaway that I received in this pack. My prize? A 1988 Topps Juan Samuel that I already have. Just another reason for me to dislike the much-maligned current third base coach of the Birds.