Adam Jones, 2012 Panini Triple Play #7

Hey, the O's finally decided that Adam Jones shouldn't have to carry the entire outfield by himself! Though Yovani Gallardo's contract hasn't been finalized yet ("physical" is the scariest eight-letter word in Birdland), the Orioles are keeping busy. They've agreed to a three-year deal with free agent outfielder Dexter Fowler, late of the Cubs. Like Gallardo, Fowler is on the verge of his 30th birthday and has had to wait until the start of spring training to find a team thanks to the thorny issue of draft pick compensation. But giving up a lottery ticket on a young amateur seems like a fair price to pay in order to bring in a player with a .363 career on-base percentage. What's more, Dexter will slide over from center field to right, improving Baltimore's outfield defense to levels unseen since Nick Markakis was young and spry. Fowler's acquisition also allows Buck Showalter to write Mark Trumbo's name into the lineup at designated hitter, which is assuredly the slugger's natural position. The O's are a better team today than they were yesterday, and I think I can live with that.

Matt Wieters, 2012 Panini Triple Play #9

Well, the starting pitching is still a fright, but I guess the hitters are feeling a bit better. After scoring a total of 22 runs through the first seven games of the season, the Orioles broke out and stomped the Yankees 14-5 this afternoon. They'd managed 10 hits only once, so of course today the O's racked up 20, and in the process doubled their season home run total by going yard three times. One of those homers came from Matt Wieters, one of the few Baltimore hitters who's had any success thus far. Today he drove in three runs and ran his season-opening hitting streak to seven games, giving him a team-best .370 average. It's early, but it would be nice if #32 were able to bounce back from the worst offensive campaign of his career.

Brian Matusz, 2012 Panini Triple Play #8

Here's another card from Night Owl. I love the Triple Play set, and only partially because they don't have an MLB license and I want to stick it to The Man. I also love the price point (a dollar per 7-card pack) and the creativity of the set. Going with player caricatures draws the attention to the artwork and away from the lack of team logos. Some of the player likenesses are pretty accurate. Others are just silly. Then there are player portraits like this one of Brian Matusz, which fall into the "so bad it's good" category. I would think that the young lefty would be easy to cartoonize, what with his perpetually pink cheeks, protruding ears, and his long, giraffe-like neck. You can see hints of a long neck in this doodle, but even that's obscured by the pitcher's glove. It goes downhill from there. The rain-thin Matusz is depicted as a moon-faced, squinting fellow with shocks of unruly black hair. Even when Brian experimented with a shaggier 'do in early 2011, his locks have always been a medium brown. The guy on this card looks more like Josh Beckett on a bender than Brian Matusz. But that's why I enjoy this card. It's so completely off the mark that it amuses me every time I look at it.

Adam Jones, 2012 Panini Triple Play #237

Okay, I majorly approve of these cards. A buck a pack? Unlicensed by Major League Baseball? Stickers and temporary tattoos? Pop art caricatures of prominent big league players? Yes, yes, yes, and yes. (PS: Please note the black feather in the background of Adam Jones' picture here. Nicely done.) I picked up a few packs of Triple Play in Target this afternoon whilst doing some last-minute hurricane preparedness shopping. It felt good to walk right on by the racks and stacks of Topps product so that I could buy something fun and cheap with no phony-baloney promises of autographs or scraps of wood or clothing or short prints. Now I'll sit here, hunkered down safely inside, and wait out this storm. If you're in the Mid-Atlantic or Northeast as I am, please be smart and secure.