Mark Williamson, 1988 Topps #571

I've often wondered why baseball cards sometimes feature photos shot from this angle. I just picture a photographer crouching in front of Mark Williamson, his camera trained upward at a severe angle. "That's it, Mark, look natural. Pretend that I'm not even here. Peer out at the field pensively. Chin up, sweetie. Okay, let's take five."

Bob Milacki, Mike Flanagan, Mark Williamson, and Gregg Olson, 1992 Score #427

The combined no-hitter started by Bob Milacki and finished by the O's bullpen on July 13, 1991 was a rare highlight for the Orioles in Oakland. For as long as I can remember, it seems like the Oakland Coliseum (or O.co Coliseum, as some idiot decided it should be called) has been a special house of horrors for the Birds. But suddenly, there is sweet relief. Jim Johnson wriggled out of a bases loaded, no-out jam in the ninth inning today to seal a 7-3 win and to guarantee the Orioles their first series win in Oakland since 2007. But by taking the first three games of this four-game set, the O's are also assured of winning their first four-game road series against the A's since July 31-August 3, 1997. Just as a refresher, the club's winning pitchers in that series were Armando Benitez, Mike Mussina, and Shawn Boskie. (I write, read, and think about the Orioles 365 days a year, and it probably would have taken me 100 guesses or more to tab Shawn Boskie. He won a half-dozen games here.) Not that I'm getting greedy, but a win in tomorrow's finale would give Baltimore their first four-game sweep in Oakland since May 22-25, 1987. Ken Dixon had three saves in that series, don't ya know.

A lot of smart people assumed that the O's would come back down to earth in 2013 after going 29-9 in one-run games in their wild-card run last year. It's still early, but we've got 24 games to look at, almost 15 percent of the season. The Orioles are 15-9, including an 8-4 road record and a 9-6 mark in the brutal American League East. They're in second place in the division, 1.5 games behind the Red Sox and 6.5 up on the offseason darlings in Toronto. I'm glad the good times aren't over in Birdland just yet.

Mark Williamson, 1993 Upper Deck #722

This is the first card I can remember seeing that tears down the fourth wall. For some reason, the Upper Deck photographer perched over the shoulder of another photographer and captured the process of Mark Williamson posing for that other shutterbug. Very meta, huh? I'll say this for Upper Deck; they were never afraid to try something new. We're talking about a baseball card featuring a middle reliever. You might as well break the mold a bit.

Mark Williamson, 1988 Fleer #574

I summon Mark Williamson from the Orioles' bullpen to be the ultimate slump buster. Sure, the Birds have lost six in a row to tumble below .500, that familiar and unwelcome status quo. But when Williamson took the mound on April 29, 1988, the O's were 0-21 and playing for their second manager of the young season. He was making only the fourth start of his career that day in Chicago. Mark and all of his teammates took out their frustrations over their own record-setting futility on the White Sox. The Baltimore righthander held the home team to three hits in six shutout innings in the longest scoreless appearance of his career. The Oriole batters provided seven runs of support, with Cal Ripken, Jr. and Eddie Murray each hitting a home run. Ripken went 4-for-5 and also had a double and scored three runs. Dave Schmidt earned a less traditional save with three one-hit innings of relief. The Birds saddled White Sox rookie Jack McDowell with the second loss of his career and season and gained a half-game on idle division leader Cleveland. At day's end, the Orioles were 15.5 games out of first place with less than a month of the season having passed.

So in that context, busting up a little six-game skid should be a piece of cake.

Orioles No-Hitter, 1991 Stadium Club Members Only

I just finished reading "It's Gone!...No, Wait a Minute" by Ken Levine. It's the memoir of a Hollywood screenwriter who realized a childhood dream by becoming a baseball radio announcer. In 1991, he made his major league debut on Orioles telecasts, teaming with Jon Miller and Chuck Thompson. It sounds like nice work if you can get it, but the Birds were godawful that year: 67-95, 24 games back of Toronto in sixth place. One of the things that struck me about his witty, honest account of that long season was just how many memorable moments there were in such a lousy campaign. He marveled daily at the otherworldly MVP exploits of Cal Ripken, Jr. (.323, 34 HR, 114 RBI), witnessed two no-hitters (one a four-pitcher combo against Oakland, the other a Wilson Alvarez white-washing of the Birds), and of course broadcasted the emotional final ceremonies at Memorial Stadium. Whenever the O's fall apart in another endless summer, I try to remind myself of the positive aspects of the long baseball season. Even the worst teams win 65 games a year, and there will be dozens of nights when it seems like your team is on top of the world.

Mark Williamson, 1989 Topps Big #147

Earlier this week, I wrote about the guilty pleasure that is the 1989 Orioles "Why Not?" highlights video. I neglected to mention one of the few intentionally funny scenes in the entire video. The team was taking advantage of some downtime by bonding over a crab feast. Mark Williamson, who was in his third season with the Birds (making him one of the veterans, believe it or not), and hometown boy Dave W. Johnson took it upon themselves to teach the newbies how to pick and eat the crustaceans. The relief pitcher seemed to derive some satisfaction out of lecturing his teammates from his "expert" pulpit, explaining how you had to hit the shell with the mallet just so...at which point he brought his wooden mallet down on the crab, only to have a gob of Old Bay and other seasonings fly loose and hit him in the eye. This delighted the other Orioles to no end, and shut up Williamson very quickly.