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.

Adam Jones, 2015 Topps Heart of the Order #HOR-20

There aren't many better ways to celebrate your 11th straight Opening Day start than by hitting a walkoff home run. That's just what Adam Jones did on Fernando Rodney's first pitch in the bottom of the 11th today, giving the Orioles a 3-2 win over the Twins. The longtime O's center fielder helped take the heat off of Brad Brach, who blew a save and a 2-0 lead by walking a pair and giving up a couple of singles in the ninth. Other standouts were right fielder Craig Gentry, who robbed Eddie Rosario of a home run; starting pitcher Dylan Bundy, who shut out Minnesota for seven innings on five hits, one walk, and seven strikeouts; and catcher Caleb Joseph, whose two-out, two-run triple gave the Birds their first lead in the bottom of the seventh inning. Also worth noting: this was Baltimore's eighth consecutive Opening Day win, all coming under Buck Showalter's guidance. Each of the past three openers have also been walkoff wins, because the Orioles never do things the easy way.

B'More Boppers, 2017 Topps #36

I'm brushing off the dust for the first blog post of 2018, some ten years and two days since I began this little adventure. At the very least, I want to say I've had a more active offseason than the Orioles. Well, I actually don't want to say that at all, but I may as well clear the below-sea-level bar that Dan Duquette and Co. have set for me.

I'm trying to live a more purposeful life in some ways in this new year, prioritizing methods of self-care and day-to-day living that have gotten lost in the shuffle. That includes my writing, so here I am for as long as I can stick to it. Today's card came from my stocking, because my wife (and Santa Claus) knows what I like. So, how have you all been? As for me:

-First and foremost, I'm currently the father of a very active and curious 18-month-old. I can barely believe it myself. Finn is growing and learning every day, and he makes us laugh and melt and throw up our hands in frustration all at the same time. We brought him along to seven games at Camden Yards last year, and he ran up an impressive 6-0 mark before Dylan Bundy and a snoozy O's offense let him down in a 7-4 loss to the Yankees on September 4. But he seems to love the sights and sounds of the ballpark. When we rolled the dice and took Finn to his first night game on August 5 (my birthday, don'tcha know), he quite pointedly stayed awake and mostly alert throughout the club's 5-2 comeback win over Detroit. Staying up three-plus hours past bedtime and cheering for a three-homer outburst from Adam Jones, Tim Beckham, and Welington Castillo took its toll, of course...the kiddo was out cold in his car seat before we made it onto I-95 for the trip home.

I don't know if Finn will have a consistent love for baseball throughout childhood, but the early signs are good. One of his newest words is "hat", and he'll point to his bitty Oriole Bird cap on its perch by the kitchen door. When we take it down for him, he'll wear it around the house as he plays.

-My wife Janet has now officially been cancer-free since her surgery in September 2016. She finished radiation just before Christmas 2016, and wrapped up a clinical trial of an oral chemo drug last May. Her oncologist's preferred target is three years from the initial diagnosis - March 1, 2019 in this case. It seems so far away, but we will get there.

-As I alluded to above, it's as frustrating to be an Oriole fan right now as it has been in...five or more years, easily. The Birds just had their first losing season since 2011, and they truly earned it with some putrid starting pitching and a handful of lame offensive performances (paging Mark Trumbo). As the Yankees begin loading up on big names again, Baltimore...stands pat. They've already missed their window to trade Zach Britton for anything of value, and now he's out until at least July with an Achilles tear. They fielded offers for Manny Machado (who, to my frustration, they did not manage to extend at any point in the past six seasons, during which time it should have been priorities #1-10 on their list), unsurprisingly couldn't find anyone willing to part with two MLB-ready starting pitchers for a one-season rental, and backed off from declarations of Manny's availability. So, if you're not tearing down and rebuilding, what are you doing? Reloading for the season ahead? Forget that. Here's the list of pitchers that the Orioles have signed this offseason who project to join Bundy and Kevin Gausman in the rotation, addressing the screaming need for a team whose starters barfed up a 5.70 ERA, 1.52 WHIP, and .837 OPS allowed in 2017:


...Oops. C'mon, guys. Get creative, get aggressive, get...somebody. Mike Mussina isn't walking through that door, and if you don't wake up, even the likes of Lance Lynn, Alex Cobb, and Jaime Garcia will be off limits.

-I don't want to end on a down note. Otherwise, life is good. We are rolling with the punches and doing what we can to make our world a little bit better. I hope you are too. As always, thanks for reading. Welcome back.

Adam Jones, 2013 Bowman Chrome Refractor #159

After the O's failed to defend their American League East crown in 2015, needing a hot finish just to break even at 81-81, I harbored some hope that the team would be able to siphon off some of the "even year mojo" that has famously allowed the San Francisco Giants to win the World Series in 2010, 2012, and 2014 despite the team failing to even reach the postseason in 2009, 2011, 2013, and 2015. Some sort of orange and black solidarity, you know?

32 games into 2016, the even year phenomenon has been a blessing for the Birds. They're in first place with a 20-12 record and a league-best 49 home runs, including the four they blasted in today's 9-2 laugher over the Twins. They're setting all sorts of fun team records, including a seven-game win streak to start the regular season, a first-ever extra-inning shutout win over the Yankees, and their active streak of three straight games featuring back-to-back home runs.

Speaking of touching 'em all, Adam Jones is finally showing signs of life after a slow and injury-marred start to the year. He blasted a towering homer for the second game in a row this afternoon, and went 6-for-10 in the abbreviated two-game set in Minnesota with four runs scored and five RBI. It's early enough in the season that he's boosted his triple slash (AVG/OBP/SLG) from .200/.269/.274 to .238/.298/.362 with a pair of strong showings. If he's righting the ship, Machado/Jones/Davis/Trumbo is a brutal gauntlet for opposing pitchers to navigate.

Adam Jones, 2014 Panini Donruss #82

Adam Jones hasn't had a great year in the early going. He sat out a week with a rib injury, and entered tonight's game batting .211 with one home run. But tonight Adam did something he's never done in 1,253 previous big league games: he drew three walks. The Orioles' center fielder is not known for his plate discipline, to say the least. Two years ago, he walked only 19 times all season. Thankfully, the O's did not let Adam's patient streak go to waste, as they battered the Royals 8-3. Chris Davis homered as part of a four-hit night. The red-hot Mark Trumbo drove in four more runs, and leads the team with 15 RBI. Mychal Givens and Brad Brach combined to pitch 3.2 perfect innings of relief, with Givens stranding the bases loaded with a pair of strikeouts to bail out the returning Brian Matusz in the sixth inning. So the Orioles remain the only team in the American League East with a winning record, and they lead the Red Sox and Blue Jays by 3.5 games each. I'll take that.

Adam Jones, 2014 Bowman Chrome #71

You can't beat an Opening Day win, especially a walkoff...even if it did include nearly three hours of rain delays. It was Matt Wieters that delivered the game-winning single in the bottom of the ninth, but cards featuring the O's catcher are scarce - Topps doesn't have rights to his image. So I went with Adam Jones, who made his ninth Opening Day start in Baltimore and delivered an orange cream cake to Wieters' face during the postgame interview. This circumvented the team's new "no celebratory pie-faces" edict. Jonesy is now second to Paul Blair when it comes to the most openers by an Oriole outfielder. Blair started a dozen straight Opening Days in center field for the Birds. Now the O's enjoy a day of rest tomorrow before trying to double their season win total on Wednesday.

Adam Jones, 2008 Upper Deck Documentary #637

2008 Upper Deck Documentary: Because sometimes you just have to know if the Orioles won their 27th game in the first full year of the Dave Trembley Era. Spoiler: they did! Here's the box score from that sparsely-attended Tuesday night game in Baltimore. Garrett Olson won his first game of the season by walking the tightrope for 6.2 innings (4 H, 5 BB, but only 2 ER), rookie reliever Randor Bierd made things a bit too interesting by surrendering a two-run homer to B. J. Upton, and George Sherrill slammed the door for his 10th save. Future Oriole Jason Hammel was the loser for Tampa Bay, giving up three runs on six hits and four walks in two and two-thirds innings, and Aubrey Huff had the big hit for the O's with a two-run homer in the sixth inning. Cover boy Adam Jones had a modest game (one single in four trips to the plate), but he did throw out Rays catcher Dioner Navarro when he tried to advance to second base on a Jason Bartlett single. With the win, the 16-11 Birds maintained a first-place tie with the Red Sox. It's just the last 134 games of 2008 that proved to be Baltimore's undoing.

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.

Adam Jones, 2013 Topps Chipz #NNO

I'm checking back in at the end of a long, busy weekend of domesticity just to assure you that I'm not disappearing for another month. I know that I missed a few Orioles happenings during my recent hiatus; for instance, Adam Jones was selected as the Marvin Miller Man of the Year as part of MLB's annual Players Choice Awards. Adam was recognized by his peers for his contributions both on the field and in the community at large. He's the first O's player to earn the honors since the inception of the award in 1997.

Jonesy doesn't look too thrilled to be included in Topps' poker-chip themed product line, though. Maybe he thinks that the 1990s-esque tactic of spelling "Chipz" with a "z" on the end is asinine, and now he can't stop picturing Chuck E. Cheese wearing a backwards hat and fingerless gloves. Or maybe - speaking of the 1990s - these small plastic discs are reminding AJ of the pogs collectible milk caps that briefly took elementary schools by storm in his youth. He probably had an overly strict teacher who confiscated his pogs, and thinking back on that dark day is really bumming him out. Poor guy.

Adam Jones, 2014 Topps Heritage #78

After back-to-back walkoff wins, the Orioles decided to do things the easy way today. Remember how they went hitless in Seattle on Wednesday afternoon? How about my Thursday blog post, where I tried to put a positive spin on things by reminiscing about Baltimore's team-record 26-hit outburst in 1980? Well, today the Birds did some clubberin' against Athletics pitching, spraying a record-tying 26 hits all over Camden Yards in an 18-2 laugher. Gerardo Parra collected five hits in the first six innings, including his second homer in as many days. Designated hitter and Charm City native Steve Clevenger had his first career four-hit game. There were three hits apiece by Manny Machado, Adam Jones (who had a two-homer day, giving him 22 in 2015), Jonathan Schoop, and Caleb Joseph (who had the fourth and final O's home run). Things got really out of hand in the fifth inning, when the Birds batted 13 times and collected 10 hits and nine runs. In the late innings, Buck Showalter gave many of his starters a breather, and even forfeited his DH by subbing Clevenger in for Chris Davis at first base. That led to a surreal scene in the bottom of the eighth, as erstwhile Oakland first baseman Ike Davis pitched to rookie O's reliever Jason Garcia, batting for the first (and possibly last) time in his career. Naturally, Garcia walked on four pitches, thanks to Showalter's insistence that he not actually swing the bat. With the victory, the O's briefly moved into a tie with the Angels for the second wild card spot. As I type this post, the Halos are tied with the Royals in the tenth inning. Just for tonight, I guess I'll root for KC.

Adam Jones, 2011 Topps Heritage #145

Yesterday represented an impressive collision between two of my favorite pastimes. I attended yesterday's Orioles game with my wife and my sister, since they were interested in the wristlet giveaway. With the freebies, the O's Dugout Club promotion for kids, and probably a handful of time-travelers from the future who wanted to see starting pitcher Mike Wright dominate the Angels in his big league debut, there was an impressive crowd of 41,733 packing Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Consequently, by the time I parked in one of the auxiliary lots and made it through the gates, Wright was taking his warmup pitches to the tune of 1990s WWF star Razor Ramon's entrance theme. I thought that was just excellent taste on the rookie's part, but it just so happens that the Birds were celebrating the presence of World Wrestling Entertainment in Charm City for last night's Payback pay-per-view. Unfortunately, I missed WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins throwing out the ceremonial first pitch to Adam Jones. But I was still greatly entertained by the wrestling theme playlist that the Orioles put together for their at-bats and pitching warmups. The rest of their choices:

-Manny Machado - the Rock
-Jimmy Paredes - Rey Mysterio
-Adam Jones - Real American (Hulk Hogan), John Cena
-Delmon Young - Sexual Chocolate (Mark Henry)
-Chris Davis - Big Show
-Steve Pearce - Mick Foley
-J. J. Hardy - Kurt Angle
-Travis Snider - Chris Jericho
-Caleb Joseph - I couldn't figure his out. They only played it for one of his three AB's
-Brad Brach - Brock Lesnar (genius!)
-Zach Britton - Tazz

Just as I was wondering why nobody went with Stone Cold Steve Austin's iconic theme, Britton sealed the win by striking out Johnny Giavotella, and the shattering glass of Austin's theme came blaring through the PA system. Well played, O's.

With the rest of his Sunday free and a day off today, Jones showed up in the first row at the Royal Farms Arena for WWE Payback last night, complete with a replica of the World Heavyweight Title slung over his shoulder. The New Day stable (Kofi Kingston, Big E, and Xavier Woods) earned the ire of the crowd by acknowledging Adam and quickly pointing out that the Birds are in the midst of a 32-year World Series drought. Jerry Lawler claimed that J. J. Hardy and Steve Pearce were at the show with Jones, but I don't think they were the guys sitting next to him on camera.

So yeah, this was all extremely relevant to my interests...your mileage, as always, may vary.

Adam Jones, 2014 Topps Finest Refractor #58

The Orioles are not exactly in midseason form yet, but Adam Jones is swinging a hot bat. Tonight he had his third home run (and fifth extra-base hit) of the team's first homestand, allowing him to leapfrog Brady Anderson for second place on the all-time HR list of Oriole Park at Camden Yards. That's 92 homers for Jonesy in Baltimore's home park, and 172 total in parts of ten seasons. Next he can take aim at Rafael Palmeiro's career record of 124 Camden Yards longballs. At the rate he's going, Adam might do it by the end of 2016.

Adam Jones, 2014 Topps #398

My wife Janet knows what I like, which is why I found an Easter basket this morning filled with goodies: dark chocolate bars, a Daniel Bryan WWE action figure, and a repack box with ten unopened packs of baseball cards of recent vintage. This Adam Jones card emerged from a pack of 2014 Topps Series Two, and I've been so negligent in acquiring new cards that I'm fairly certain it's a new addition to my collection. Tomorrow Adam will patrol center field for the Orioles on Opening Day for the eighth consecutive year, which hardly seems possible. With Nick Markakis now wearing the navy blue and red of the Braves, Jones and tomorrow's starting pitcher Chris Tillman are the elder statesmen here in Baltimore. I'm glad to have them here, and I'm sure I'm not alone.

Adam Jones, 2013 Topps Opening Day #76

I've been wondering what I could say about the Orioles' 2014 season that I haven't already said over the past six or seven months. It was a thrilling ride, often frustrating, but even more often delightful. I think I captured my feelings succinctly last Wednesday, while watching the O's go down fighting in their ALCS and season finale against Kansas City: I just wasn't ready for it to end. Not yet.

Including the postseason, the Orioles played 169 meaningful games in 2014. They won 99 of them, a level of success they hadn't approached since 1997. That was something of a common phrase throughout the year: "since 1997". It's little wonder, since that was the last time the O's stood atop the American League East after 162 games. Make no mistake, this team belongs to Baltimore's baseball history in a high place, as does that wire-to-wire squad. As the saying goes, "flags fly forever". The Orioles might have been stopped four wins short of the pennant, and eight shy of the big shiny trophy, but they were still division champions. That flag will hang in Camden Yards next year, and the year after, and so on. A four-game stretch of bad breaks and near misses shouldn't cancel out 162 (or 165) successful games.

In my second year as a season-ticket holder, I was fortunate to attend 25 games, including the first three of the club's four postseason home contests. It was my pleasure to witness 17 wins against just eight losses:

Rk	Gm#	Date		Tm	Opp	W/L	R	RA	Inn	W-L	Rank	GB	Win	Loss	Save	Time	D/N	Attendance
1	1	Monday, Mar 31	boxscore	BAL	BOS	W	2	1		1-0	1	Tied	Britton	Lester	Hunter	2:53	D	46,685
11	11	Saturday, Apr 12	boxscore	BAL	TOR	W-wo	2	1	12	5-6	4	1.5	Britton	Redmond		3:39	N	30,446
23	23	Saturday, Apr 26	boxscore	BAL	KCR	W-wo	3	2	10	12-11	2	1.5	Britton	Duffy		3:09	N	34,941
33	33	Friday, May 9	boxscore	BAL	HOU	W	4	3		19-14	1	up 0.5	Chen	Williams	Hunter	2:29	N	28,875
35	35	Sunday, May 11	boxscore	BAL	HOU	L	2	5		20-15	1	up 1.5	Cosart	Tillman	Qualls	3:21	D	45,944
45	45	Thursday, May 22	boxscore	BAL	CLE	L	7	8	13	23-22	3	1.5	Outman	Patton	Atchison	4:22	N	18,894
47	47	Saturday, May 24	boxscore	BAL	CLE	L	0	9		24-23	3	2.5	Kluber	Jimenez		3:05	D	36,873
60	60	Saturday, Jun 7	boxscore	BAL	OAK	W	6	3		31-29	2	5.5	Gausman	Gray		2:51	N	44,202
64	64	Wednesday, Jun 11	boxscore	BAL	BOS	W	6	0		33-31	2	4.5	Chen	De La Rosa		2:49	N	25,886
66	66	Friday, Jun 13	boxscore	BAL	TOR	L	0	4		34-32	3	4.5	Hutchison	Jimenez	McGowan	2:44	N	44,031
77	77	Wednesday, Jun 25	boxscore	BAL	CHW	W-wo	5	4	12	41-36	2	1.5	Hunter	Webb		4:03	N	22,020
80	80	Saturday, Jun 28	boxscore	BAL	TBR	L	4	5		42-38	2	1.5	Bedard	Chen	McGee	3:13	D	36,387
90	90	Wednesday, Jul 9	boxscore	BAL	WSN	L	2	6		49-41	1	up 2.5	Fister	Norris		2:50	N	35,575
92	92	Friday, Jul 11	boxscore	BAL	NYY	W-wo	3	2	10	51-41	1	up 3.0	McFarland	Warren		3:05	N	45,389
119	119	Wednesday, Aug 13	boxscore	BAL	NYY	W	5	3		69-50	1	up 7.5	O'Day	Kelley	Britton	2:45	N	37,587
129	129	Monday, Aug 25	boxscore	BAL	TBR	W	9	1		74-55	1	up 6.0	Tillman	Odorizzi		2:56	N	15,516
131	131	Wednesday, Aug 27	boxscore	BAL	TBR	L	1	3		75-56	1	up 6.0	Smyly	Gausman	McGee	2:44	N	20,762
139	139	Thursday, Sep 4	boxscore	BAL	CIN	W	9	7		82-57	1	up 9.5	Hunter	Parra	Britton	3:26	N	21,114
146	146	Friday, Sep 12 (1)	boxscore	BAL	NYY	W-wo	2	1	11	87-59	1	up11.5	Brach	Warren		3:51	D	31,871
147	147	Friday, Sep 12 (2)	boxscore	BAL	NYY	W	5	0		88-59	1	up11.5	Norris	Mitchell		2:57	N	43,707
151	151	Tuesday, Sep 16	boxscore	BAL	TOR	W	8	2		91-60	1	up13.5	Jimenez	Hutchison		3:02	N	35,297
152	152	Wednesday, Sep 17	boxscore	BAL	TOR	W	6	1		92-60	1	up14.5	Norris	Happ		3:13	N	37,537
Rk	Gm#	Date		Tm	Opp
	ALDS Game 1	Thursday, Oct 2	boxscore	BAL	DET	W, 12-3			WP: Tillman LP: Scherzer
	ALDS Game 2	Friday, Oct 3	boxscore	BAL	DET	W, 7-6			WP: Brach LP: Soria SV: Britton
	ALCS Game 1	Friday, Oct 10	boxscore	BAL	KCR	L, 8-6 (10 IN)			WP: Davis LP: O'Day SV: Holland

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table Generated 10/21/2014.

If you go further down the rabbit hole with me, you'll see that things started well with a personal four-game win streak, followed by a dip that tracked the team's first-half struggles. Then there was a 10-1 stretch (and an embedded seven-game win streak) that lasted through the season's second half and on into the ALDS, before those magical, mystical Royals gummed things up on October 10. But still, I experienced a lot of great games and moments, including:

• Opening Day, featuring the first of Nelson Cruz's career-high 40 home runs.
• Five walkoff wins. The heroes in those games were David Lough, Nick Markakis, Lough again (scoring on a wild pitch, and this game gets an asterisk anyway, because I reluctantly left during a lengthy late rain delay on a work night), Nick Hundley, and Jimmy Paredes. Go figure, right?
• Kevin Gausman's first major league win as a starting pitcher.
• Two of the team's 13 shutouts. How long has it been since the Birds had such a strong pitching staff?
• Four of Baltimore's pivotal 13 wins over the Yankees, including both ends of a doubleheader sweep, the first twinbill they'd taken from New York in 30 years.
• A two-homer, four-run eighth-inning rally to down the Yanks in mid-August.
• A raucous win over the Rays that featured separate instances of back-to-back AND back-to-back-to-back home runs (a first in team history), as well as an astounding catch-and-throw by Adam Jones to take three runs away from Tampa Bay.
• The first division-clinching win in Charm City since 1969.
• Christian Walker's big league debut and first career hit, as well as a multi-homer game from Steve Pearce.
• The first and second games of the Orioles' three-game ALDS sweep over Detroit's three Cy Young winners, featuring a pair of incredible eighth-inning offensive outbursts.
• The first ALCS game at Camden Yards (all together now) since 1997. It represented the beginning of the end for the O's, but the atmosphere was surreal and the game was exhilarating, featuring a comeback from a four-run deficit before the home team succumbed in the tenth inning.

That's just from a 15 percent slice of the team's full schedule. I wasn't there for the walkoff homers from Matt Wieters, Chris Davis, and Manny Machado, or Manny's acrobatic defense in his injury-shortened season, or Caleb Joseph's five-game home run streak, or the 60th anniversary ceremonies...it goes on and on. The 2014 Orioles were a joy to watch, and I'm already missing them.