Melvin Mora, 2005 Donruss Diamond Kings #34

I hope no one missed me too terribly this weekend. If you live in Maryland, the fact that the skies were bluer than the one painted behind Melvin Mora should have comforted you in my absence. I absolutely would have posted on Saturday, but the wireless signal in West Hall (my dormitory for the weekend) was abysmal. Anyhow, here are a few items of interest to me from the past few days. Your mileage may vary, but it's my blog, and occasionally I'll veer off into my personal life so that I don't go mad from all of the baseball talk.

-I successfully completed the 5K Revolutionary Run on Saturday morning. Well...I completed it, anyway. I don't know about the "successfully" part. My time was 25 minutes, 34 seconds. During my brief cross country career in high school, my personal best in a 5K (3.1 miles) was 18:44. My personal worst was 23:34, in my first-ever race. But considering that I hadn't run a single race in more than a decade and that my "training" consisted of two-to-three mile jogs thrice weekly over the past month, I'll chalk it up as a little victory...even if my senior citizen ex-English professor left me in his dust. Dr. Gillin is a machine, folks.

-The Washington College drama alumni performance of "Thirty Plays in Sixty Minutes or Your Guineas Back" was a big success, and I had more fun than I had anticipated. A bunch of my talented compatriots wrote, directed, and performed in a series of short "plays" that were performed in a random order determined by audience request. I came aboard on a few days' notice to replace one of the actors, and it was a thrill performing in front of a capacity crowd in the new Tawes Theatre. I got reacquainted with some of my contemporary drama majors, and got to meet some others who were before and after my time, and I will definitely be on board with next year's Reunion show from the beginning. You can enjoy some context-free photos of Saturday's performance here, though I'll attempt to give some context to my role in things:

• In this cast and crew photo, I am in the back, third from your right. I'm not that tall; we're standing on boxes.
• The "everybody point at something photo" is a time-honored tradition whose origins have never been made clear to me.
• Here I am dropping my head to keep from laughing as Professor Tim Maloney makes a cameo as a tardy instructor who is annoyed to find that his students haven't left yet.
• In this scene, I'm a student hard at work in the Literary House. Katy (maroon shirt, crawling on all fours) is portraying Edith Wharton, the dearly-departed Lit House cat.
• At the conclusion of the previously-pictured scene, student and cat share a tender moment.
• I'm bringing up the rear in a rowboat.
• We shared a toast to departed friends from our college days - both people and places. (I'm to the left of the ladder, of course.)

-Speaking of photos, I finally remembered to snap a picture of the statue of Bill Nicholson that stands on Cross Street In Chestertown. I'll send you off with a look at the statue and plaque.

Storm Davis, 1992 Stadium Club #728

There are good and bad things about baseball in 2012 as compared to 1992. On the "bad" side of the ledger, most players wear solid colored socks now instead of stirrups. However, you don't see hairstyles quite like Storm Davis' frizzed-out mullet any more either. Call it a push.

Vintage Fridays; Doug DeCinces, 1979 Hostess #54

By the time you read this, I will be in Chestertown for the annual reunion weekend at my alma mater, Washington College. I had to reach for an Orioles connection: Doug DeCinces is currently tied for 230th all-time with 237 career home runs. Two slots below him with 235 homers is Bill "Swish" Nicholson, a 4-time National League All-Star who spent most of his career with the Cubs and Phillies in the 1940s and 1950s. Bill was a Chestertown native and a three-sport athlete at Washington College. His 1952 Topps card, which mentions his collegiate background, is one of the crown jewels of my collection.

I took a different extracurricular path at WaC, opting for theatre over athletics. But I'll get to dabble in both this weekend. On Saturday night I'm pinch hitting for another actor in a series of short scenes that were written by fellow alumni. But the more daunting task for me comes on Saturday morning, when I'll be running in the Revolutionary Run 5K race. I ran cross country and track in high school, but my last race was way back in 1999. I've been "training" for several weeks, but even at 29 I'm a lot creakier than I once was. So wish me luck.

Mike Mussina, 1997 Score Team Collection #8

We're not even a quarter of the way through the 2012 season, and I'm already running out of superlatives to describe the odds-defying success of the Orioles. With their 5-3 win over the Royals today, they claimed the best record in baseball at 25-14. Last year, the O's didn't get to 25 wins until June 3. In the disastrous 2010 campaign, their 25th win came on July 4, leaving them with a 25-56 record. Incidentally, I'd nearly blocked out just how putrid the Birds were two years ago. At least it brought Buck Showalter to town.

One of the many encouraging developments this spring has been the team's success on the road. The Orioles are now 13-5 away from Camden Yards, which is no small feat when you consider that they were 30-51 on the road in 2011. What's more, the win today was Baltimore's seventh consecutive road victory. That's the best streak for the O's since they rattled off 10 straight in late 1999. To illustrate how long ago that was, the tenth and final win in that '99 streak was a 1-0 squeaker in Boston on September 24. Mike Mussina struck out eight Red Sox hitters in six innings, and Scott Kamieniecki and Mike Timlin held the line in relief. Bret Saberhagen was saddled with a hard-luck loss due to Derrick May's RBI single in the fourth inning. (Derrick, son of former Oriole Dave May, finished his 10-year career with a 26-game stint in Baltimore.) The only participants in that game who are still active 13 years later are Jerry Hairston, Jr. and Derek Lowe.

Despite those late-season heroics for the 1999 Birds, the team finished in a distant fourth place at 78-84. A few months ago, most pragmatic O's fans would have considered 78 wins a stretch for this year's team. It's starting to look like we could have aimed higher.

Kevin Hickey, 1990 Upper Deck #299

I've done more obituary posts than I care to count and it's always a struggle to find something meaningful to say. Kevin Hickey, who made the jump from the softball fields of Chicago to the mound at Comiskey Park, and was a key bullpen contributor for the 1989 Orioles after a five-year absence from the big leagues, is dead at age 56. He had spent the last decade back in his hometown, working as a batting practice pitcher for the White Sox. Kevin was an insulin-dependent diabetic, and on the eve of Chicago's season opener in Arlington, TX, he was found unresponsive in his hotel room. He reportedly slipped into a coma, and just passed away this morning.

Kevin's playing days were already over by the time I started paying attention to the Orioles, but in my near-annual viewing of the team's 1989 "Why Not?" highlights video, he came across as a free spirit who was responsible for helping to keep things loose in the midst of a surprise pennant race. He definitely chipped in on the field as well, turning in scoreless appearances 16 times in his first 18 tries that season and finishing the year with 7 holds, a pair of saves, a couple wins, and a 2.92 ERA. In parts of 6 seasons with the White Sox and O's, Hickey was 9-14 with 17 saves and a 3.91 ERA.

I don't enjoy eulogizing former Orioles, especially when they're relatively young like Kevin Hickey. But I do think it's important to take a moment to remember them.

Xavier Avery, 2008 Playoff Contenders #50

Last night was not a good night to be an Orioles fan, as the team looked an awful lot like the losing squads of recent vintage in an 8-5 loss to the Yankees. There were blown leads, a short outing by a starting pitcher, erratic relief pitching, an offensive attack that stalled in the late innings, and embarrassingly inadequate defense. But enough sugar-coating.

The best moments in a dismal, rainy evening came courtesy of rookie Xavier Avery. The 22-year-old outfielder was playing in his second career game, having been plucked from AAA Norfolk to replace the ailing Nolan Reimold and Endy Chavez. Avery batted leadoff and was instrumental in a pair of rallies that resulted in all five O's runs in the game. In the first inning, he doubled against Ivan Nova for his first career hit and scored on J. J. Hardy's single up the middle. After Robert Andino started off the bottom of the fifth with a walk, the newest Oriole tied the game with a triple down the right field line for his first career RBI. Hardy drove him in again, this time with a two-run homer. That gave the Birds a 5-3 lead and it was all downhill from there.

Avery was Baltimore's second-round draft pick in 2008 out of Cedar Grove High School in Georgia. He is the third player selected by the O's in that draft to reach the majors, following first-round pick Brian Matusz and fourth-rounder Kyle Hudson. Speed has always been Xavier's calling card, as he stole 125 bases in 483 minor league games. However, his lack of power and plate discipline (minor league batting line of .266/.328/.363 with 477 strikeouts) seemed to pigeonhole him as a fourth outfielder at best. But "X" got off to a good start at Norfolk this year, batting .273/.373/.469 with 20 walks and 29 strikeouts in 33 games. At his young age, it's possible that he's made some legitimate improvements to his approach as a hitter, and if so, he could be the rare homegrown position player who contributes to the Orioles' big league club. That remains to be seen, but in the meantime I just wanted to show you that I actually had a Xavier Avery card. It's always good to see some kind of end result for a guy featured on a minor league or draft-pick card.

Ken Gerhart, 1988 Topps Toys 'R' Us Rookies #11

I feel bad for Ken Gerhart, because he is entrenched in a foggy netherworld of my Orioles fandom. Ken roamed the outfield from 1986 through 1988, meaning that I was 6 years old when he played his last game for the team. I was sitting here trying to find something to write about today, and I realized that I couldn't tell you what the difference is between him and Pete Stanicek. Sure, if I thought about it for a minute, I could tell you that Pete played second base and went to college at Stanford, but that's probably a lucky guess because his last name starts with "Stan". See? This was supposed to be about Ken Gerhart, and I'm rambling about Pete Stanicek. I had to search my archives to see if I'd featured a Gerhart card, and I found one post from 2010 that doesn't even mention him in the body. It's just me wondering what to do with all of my extra "junk wax", a dismissive term that lumps Gerhart in with all of his late 1980s brethern.

So, Ken Gerhart. He played college ball at Middle Tennessee State and was a fifth-round pick of the Orioles in 1982. He hit lots of home runs in the minor leagues, including 31 at Class A Hagerstown in 1983. He also posted a .384 on-base percentage that year, and a .407 mark in 68 games at AA Charlotte in 1985. He got a September call-up to Baltimore in 1986 and hit .232/.267/.304 with a single home run, hit off of Teddy Higuera in a 3-1 O's win. At age 25, he won the team's starting left field job in the spring of 1987 and hit .297 with 3 HR and 8 RBI in April. But his performance tailed off in each successive month, and an errant Doug Jones pitch in an August 12 game against Cleveland broke his wrist and ended his season. His final stats were .243/.286/.440 with 14 homers and 34 RBI. He returned as a regular in 1988, but his personal performance was just as disastrous as the team's overall play: in 103 games he batted .195/.256/.344 with 9 home runs and 23 RBI in 291 plate appearances. He never played in the majors again, spending 1989 in the minors with the Giants and appearing in a handful of games with the Indians' AAA Colorado Springs club in 1990. His final major league batting stats: .221/.271/.384, 24 HR, 64 RBI.

If anyone quizzes me on Ken Gerhart now, I'll be able to muddle my way through it. Of course, if anyone is quizzing me about Ken Gerhart, I might have bigger problems.

Miguel Tejada, 2004 Topps Finest #55

I took my time in addressing Miguel Tejada's return to the Orioles organization, as I was holding out hope that it was some sort of mad fever dream. There was also a lot of conflicting information being bandied about, and it was tough to pin down the details. Anyhow, this is my understanding of the situation:

The O's are allowing Tejada to work out at their Sarasota complex for a week or two, and assuming he doesn't crumble into dust, he'll officially be brought aboard on a minor-league deal. Dan Duquette seems to have reached an agreement with Miggi due to some misguided belief that he could provide an upgrade at third base. I don't agree, obviously. He did some great things in Baltimore, but he'll be 38 on May 25 and his talents seemed to have been just about exhausted last season when he hit .239/.270/.326 with the Giants and was released in early September. That's an awful 69 OPS+ in the National League. I don't remember being dazzled by his defense at the hot corner back when he came back to the Birds in 2010, either. So what gives?

This is a big wait-and-see. He hasn't played so much as an actual minor league game, so he's not close to the big league roster yet. It looks like Bill Hall and/or Steve Tolleson are getting their turn on the Wheel O' Third Base, and I suppose one of them could perform well enough to pull Duquette's finger away from the panic button. But this has the makings of one of the more bizarre personnel moves that I've seen in recent years.

Adam Jones, 2010 Bowman 1992 Throwbacks #BT70

Well, I'm 3-0 so far this season. My sister and cousin talked me into going to the Orioles' series opener against the Rays last night; admittedly it did not take much convincing. The first-ever Orioles-Rays first-place battle in May is a pretty good attraction, and as it turned out the fantastic weather put it over the top. It was 71 degrees, clear, with no humidity and a light breeze. It was Student Night, so my cousin used her college ID to get us cheap seats. Of course, once we were perched in the left field upper reserve, surrounded by loud, painted, and sometimes-inebriated kids ten years my junior, I realized why it had been so long since I'd been to a Friday night game. I'm already in training to be a cranky old man.

The game itself looked like it was going to get ugly. The O's promoted Dana Eveland from AAA Norfolk to make a spot start in place of Jason Hammel, and it would be an understatement to say that he was erratic. He put the Birds in a 3-1 hole, but relied on good fortune and damage control to limit Tampa Bay's scoring. The Rays loaded the bases to open the second inning, but a run-scoring double-play grounder by Sean Rodriguez and a flyout to left field by Jose Molina blunted the rally. Eveland stranded a pair of runners in the third, but faced another crisis in the fourth. In this case a walk and back-to-back singles packed the sacks with one out, and Rays shortstop Elliot Johnson drove a 2-1 offering to deep right field. Nick Markakis got a glove on it, but couldn't make the catch. Matt Joyce scored and Rodriguez broke for home as Markakis rifled a throw to Robert Andino, and the second baseman whirled and fired to Matt Wieters, who was blocking the plate as usual. Wieters made a perfect catch just as the runner leveled him with a forearm to the neck. Matt fell backward, sat in the dirt, and did his new trademark move. He flashed his glove at Rodriguez, showing him the ball, and turned and showed it to the ump. One run in, one runner out. The Orioles' star catcher strolled out to the mound to have a word with his pitcher and to catch his breath. As he returned to the plate, he was rewarded with a standing ovation. Buck Showalter and trainer Richie Bancells came out to check on Wieters, but he was unharmed save for a few scratches. Eveland intentionally walked Ben Zobrist to get a lefty-lefty matchup with Carlos Pena, but plunked Pena in the back with his first pitch to force in another run. Fortunately, B. J. Upton hit a short fly ball to Markakis and Tampa Bay doubled their left-on-base total to six.

At that point, Dana Eveland had thrown 71 pitches. Somehow he regrouped to post a pair of 12-pitch innings, pitching around a Luke Scott double in the fifth and a walk to Zobrist in the sixth. It may have been the ugliest so-called "quality start" in team history: in six innings, he allowed five hits, walked six, only struck out two, and hit two batters. One way or another, he handed things over to the strong O's bullpen with the game still in reach.

The Orioles haven't had the most efficient offense this year, but they've covered for their shortcomings by hitting for power. Adam Jones put the Birds on the board in the second inning with a leadoff home run to left field, already his tenth of the year. Last year, when he set a new career high with 25 homers, he didn't hit #10 until June 18. The O's didn't muster anything else against Rays starter Jeremy Hellickson until the bottom of the sixth, when Nick Markakis hit a two-out, full-count solo home run to right-center. It was the sixth time Nick has gone deep, and he's also well ahead of his 2011 pace; he didn't leave the yard for the sixth time until June 25. It's a promising sign for the right fielder, who has seen his slugging percentage drop every year since 2008.

Still, I didn't have high hopes when Hellickson rebounded to retire the next three hitters he faced. But with two outs in the home half of the seventh, but Chris Davis lined a single up the middle to chase the starter. Nick Johnson, who went 0-for-April, greeted reliever Joel Peralta with a high fly ball to right field. Zobrist was tracking it back to the fence, but it sneaked into the second row of the bleachers for a go-ahead two-run shot. It capped a perfect day for the O's DH, who also singled, walked, and stole his second base of the season!

As difficult as things were for Dana Eveland, the Orioles' relievers made it look easy. Darren O'Day (credited with his third win), Pedro Strop, and Jim Johnson (earning his tenth save) each tossed a perfect inning, combining for only 19 total pitches-17 for strikes. Orioles 4, Rays 3. The Baltimore Orioles have sole possession in the American League East two weeks into May. I still don't know exactly what's going on, but I'm doing my best not to question it.

Vintage Fridays: Milt Pappas, 1958 Topps #457

This is Milt Pappas' rookie card, depicting the righty as a skinny 18-year-old "bonus baby". Some 55 years and 209 career wins later, he celebrates his 73rd birthday today. Your humble blogger offers a tip of the cap to Milt.

Fun fact: Milt got a start at second base against the Athletics on September 11, 1958...in a manner of speaking. Two of the Orioles' weaker-hitting regulars were second baseman Billy Gardner (.225/.271/.298) and center fielder Jim Busby (.237/.320/.330). With the O's playing on the road, manager Paul Richards optimized his offense by writing pitcher Jack Harshman into the lineup as the center fielder batting fifth. Pappas was penciled in at second base batting seventh. If their spots came up in the first inning, Richards could pinch-hit with his preferred bench bats. If not, the pitchers could be pulled, and none of the bench players would be burned needlessly. With two runners on base and two out in the first inning, Gene Woodling indeed pinch-hit for Harshman and flied out to left to end the inning. Busby and Gardner took the field in the bottom of the first, so Pappas was subbed out without his spot in the order coming up. It was all for naught, as the Birds lost 7-1.

Nick Markakis, 2010 Bowman Platinum #88

Baseball is a pretty weird sport. The Orioles had five hits in the first game of today's doubleheader. They were all home runs, and the O's won 6-5. At the beginning of the game, each of the first three batters (Ryan Flaherty, J. J. Hardy, and Nick Markakis) hit home runs. It was the first time in American League history that a team opened a game with back-to-back-to-back home runs; it had only happened in the National League three times. The most recent team to perform the feat was the Brewers in 2007. Incidentally, Hardy was the second batter in that game as well. Rangers starter Colby Lewis proceeded to retire the next 18 Oriole batters in a row, striking out 12 of them. Then the bottom of the seventh started with an Adam Jones homer, a Matt Wieters walk, and a Wilson Betemit homer. It was just enough to support a great start by Wei-Yin Chen, who saved the Birds' bullpen with seven and two-thirds innings of two-run ball. Luis Ayala and Jim Johnson conspired on a three-run ninth inning to make things interesting, but the O's escaped with their first win against Texas in their last eight tries. Baseball, man.

Eddie Murray, 1986 Fleer Sluggers vs. Pitchers #25

I was not pleased with the Orioles' 10-3 thrashing at the hands of Josh Hamilton the Rangers last night, but if you're going to get blown out, you might as well make a little history. No player had hit four home runs in a single game in nearly a decade, and since 1900, only 14 have done it. Sure, if someone were going to go deep four times in an O's game, I'd rather it be one of our own players. But Josh Hamilton did something incredible last night, and I'm glad that the sparse crowd at Camden Yards saluted him for it.

Unfortunately, that's the second time the Birds have been on the wrong end of a four-homer game. The first was when Jerry Walker, Arnie Portocarrero, and Ernie Johnson combined to surrender four big flies to Rocky Colavito on June 10, 1959. But no Oriole batter has ever gone deep four times in one game. I got to wondering how many close calls they've had, so I swung by Baseball-Reference to investigate. The O's have had 18 games in which a player hit 3 home runs, most recently Nick Markakis' showcase game on August 22, 2006 against the Twins. The full list:

Boog Powell (1): August 10, 1963 - The first three-homer game in O's history ends in a 6-5 loss to the Senators, as all three of Boog's clouts were solo shots.

Boog Powell (2): June 27, 1964 - Boog provides all of the offense with another trio of solo homers in support of Milt Pappas as the Birds top Washington 3-1.

Boog Powell (3): August 15, 1966 - The last of the burly first baseman's three-homer games was his best, as he finally tossed in a two-run shot and added a single for good measure. Overall he was 4-for-5 with all four RBI in a 4-2 win at Boston. His WPA (Win Probability Added) was an astronomical .920!

Curt Blefary: June 6, 1967 - "Clank" had an interesting day, taking Pete Cimino of the Angels deep in his first at-bat before being put out each of his next three times up. Home runs number two (a two-run shot) and three (a grand slam) came in the final two innings, as the O's turned a 5-4 nail-biter into a 16-4 romp.

Paul Blair: April 29, 1970 - I definitely didn't see this one coming. Motormouth went 3-for-6 and drove in six in an 18-2 rout of the White Sox. Of course, I'd also forgotten that Blair had 134 career homers and a season high of 26 in 1969, so there was some pop in that bat.

Bobby Grich: June 18, 1974 - Orioles 10, Twins 1. Bobby had a chance for a fourth in the ninth inning, but Tom Burgmeier got him to ground out to third base to strand a pair of runners in scoring position.

Don Baylor: July 2, 1975 - Here's an interesting one. Baylor left the yard in each of his first three at-bats, so he was sitting on three home runs after four innings. But he fouled out to third in the fifth inning, was plunked by Bob Reynolds following a Jim Northrup two-run homer in the seventh, and was walked by John Hiller in the ninth. Orioles 13, Tigers 5.

Eddie Murray: August 29, 1979 - Now we're back into the high-leverage stuff. Steady Eddie's first three-homer game accounted for all of the O's runs in a 7-4 win at Minnesota.

Eddie Murray (2): September 14, 1980 - Rats. The Birds didn't bother putting anyone on base ahead of him, and three solo shots added up to a 4-3 loss in 13 innings at Toronto.

Dan Ford: July 20, 1983 - Disco Danny! Nobody on base for his unlikely three-peat, but Sammy Stewart and Tim Stoddard were untouchable in relief of Mike Boddicker as the Orioles topped the Mariners 4-2. Ford singled and walked as well, giving him a perfect day.

Eddie Murray (3): August 26, 1985 - You knew he'd be back. Eddie goes 4-for-5 with a walk and NINE RBI in Baltimore's 17-3 laughter over the Angels.

Lee Lacy: June 8, 1986 - 52,021 packed Yankee Stadium on a Sunday to see Lacy and the O's outslug the Yanks 18-9. Lee went 4-for-6, adding a two-run single to give him six RBI in all. His second home run that day came off of rookie Doug Drabek.

Juan Beniquez: June 12, 1986 - Just four days after Lacy's power display, Beniquez also feasted on Yankee pitching thrice in a game. Three solo shots once again added up to a Birds loss, by a final of 7-5. Juan had only six home runs total in his lone season in Baltimore.

Randy Milligan: June 9, 1990 - Six RBI for the Moose in a 10-1 shellacking of the Yankees. Remind me again why the Orioles needed Glenn Davis?

Cal Ripken, Jr.: May 28, 1996 - It took the Iron Man 15 years to crack this list. He drove in eight runs in a 12-8 win at Seattle, and his seventh-inning grand slam off of Mike Jackson put the O's ahead for good. Believe it or not, he and brother Billy each went deep in the ninth inning of this one.

Roberto Alomar: April 26, 1997 - Robby went 4-for-4 with three home runs, a single, a sac fly, and six RBI as the Birds rolled over the Red Sox, 14-5. Random note: Rule 5 draft pick Mike Johnson earned his first career save with three shutout innings in relief of Jimmy Key.

Albert Belle: July 25, 1999 - I remember watching this one at my aunt and uncle's house. Albert homered, walked, and singled in three trips to the plate against Angels starter Chuck Finley. It was a seesaw game, with the Angels taking a 3-0 lead, the O's tying, and the Angels going up 7-3. Belle swung the momentum in the Orioles' favor with a three-run homer off of Mark Petkovsek, then finished the comeback with a two-out solo shot off of closer Troy Percival to send it to extra innings. There was one out in the 11th and a runner on first when Shigetoshi Hasegawa hit Belle with a 1-0 pitch. The mercurial outfielder originally refused to take his base, trying in vain to convince the umpire that he wasn't hit so that he could take his hacks. Ultimately, he went down to first base. A Will Clark walk loaded the bases with two out, and Cal Ripken, Jr. delivered the walkoff win with a single.

Nick Markakis: August 22, 2006 - This is a fun box score. The Orioles hit five solo home runs off of Carlos Silva in the first six innings; the others were hit by Brian Roberts and Corey Patterson. Future Oriole Willie Eyre finally solved Markakis in the sixth inning, coaxing a flyout to left field. The Birds topped the Twins, 6-3. It's also worth noting that Nick has only one two-homer game, and that also came against Minnesota, back in 2008.

Mike Cuellar, 2004 Topps All-Time Fan Favorites #42

Today would have been Mike Cuellar's 75th birthday. So in honor of the fourth-most-winningest pitcher in Orioles history, I went searching for a box score of interest. I found a doozy: Saturday afternoon, July 11, 1970. The Birds were riding high at 52-32, a full 5 games ahead of the second-place Tigers in the American League East. Cuellar was matching up with Joe Niekro, but neither had his best stuff. The O's broke out on top in the second inning with an Elrod Hendricks two-run homer, but Paul Blair hit a shallow fly ball to strand the bases loaded. Three Detroit hits tied the score at 2-2 in the home half.

It was still tied two innings later when Mark Belanger hit a two-out single and Cuellar followed with a two-run home run of his own! It was part of a career-high three-hit day for the Cuban screwballer, and one of eight career longballs (including his grand slam in the 1970 ALCS). He wasn't exactly Don Newcombe with the bat, as his career slash line of .115/.128/.171, good for a -15 OPS+, illustrates. Anyway, Mike gave back a run in the bottom of the fourth, as Bill Freehan tripled and scored on a Don Wert sac fly. 4-3, O's.

Freehan struck again with a solo homer in the sixth to knot it back up at 4-4. But the Orioles picked their pitcher back up in the eighth with (what else?) a two-run shot. This time it was Terry Crowley going deep off of Daryl Patterson, who had replaced Niekro after the Detroit starter walked Brooks Robinson to lead off the inning. The Tigers fought back again in their half of the eighth, though. Cuellar got the hook after a leadoff single by Willie Horton, and reliever Eddie Watt allowed Horton to score via a single, sac bunt, and a Wert groundout. Earl Weaver then called on Pete Richert to save the day. He walked Jim Price, but struck out Ike Brown looking to strand the tying and go-ahead runs. He then earned his tenth save by retiring the top of the Tigers order 1-2-3 in the ninth. Cuellar earned his 11th win despite permitting five runs in seven innings. It was the rare day when Mike had a better day at the plate than he did at the mound.

Chris Davis, 2012 Topps Orioles Team Set #BALT5

I want to write about the euphoria I felt at the conclusion of yesterday's 17-inning cavalcade of the bizarre, but I don't know if it will make any sense. If it comes across as disjointed, that's probably fitting; I turned the game on and off and on and off again throughout the afternoon and evening. I still kept tabs by watching MLB Network's whip-around coverage, figuring that they would show anything pertinent either live or on a slight delay. In the 15th, Ed called to ask if I was watching and I told him disgustedly that every time I switched over to MASN, it seemed like the Orioles were hitting into a double play. But I kept hoping, seemingly in vain, that this team that had blown a 5-0 lead and repeatedly come up empty against an army of Boston relievers, would scratch across a single run so that they could get out of town before their own excellent bullpen (add that to the list of things you never thought you'd hear) finally cracked or ran out of pitchers. A loss in such a marathon game would be disappointing, but wouldn't tarnish the team's first back-to-back series wins in New York and Boston since 1992. However, a win would bring their first three-game road sweep of the Red Sox since 1994, a return to first place in the American League East, and another reminder that the Orioles are no longer an easy 'W' on the schedule.

When it became apparent that designated hitter Chris Davis, who to that point in the game was 0-for-7 with five strikeouts and a double-play grounder, would take the mound in the bottom of the 16th, I flipped back to MASN and set down the remote. There's always a special delight in the absurd when a position player is called upon to pitch, and it's an especially rare treat in Baltimore. Only five other non-pitchers had toed the rubber in team history, and the last of those was Manny Alexander in 1996. Manny was predictably horrible, but that game had already been lost. Were the O's throwing in the towel by trotting out Davis? Not quite, as it happened.

Davis, who did some pitching in high school and also dabbled in it at junior college, looked like a natural...other than his frequently changing arm slot. He sat around 90 mph with his fastball in the 16th inning, and struck out Jarrod Saltalamacchia by getting him to chase a wicked changeup. Rookie Will Middlebrooks (who hours earlier had tied the game with a fifth-inning grand slam over the Green Monster) put a charge into one, but Adam Jones tracked it down in center field for out number two. It looked like Chris' big league pitching debut would feature a 1-2-3 inning, but Wilson Betemit muffed a Marlon Byrd grounder to give the Sox a second chance. When Mike Aviles followed with a ringing double to left-center field, I was certain that Chris Davis would unjustly be hung with a loss. But Adam Jones fired off a strong throw to cutoff man J. J. Hardy, and Hardy's relay throw beat Byrd to the plate. The runner collided with Matt Wieters, who hung on and casually showed the ball to Byrd and the umpire with a sly grin. There would be a 17th inning.

Not wanting to be left out, Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine called upon a position player of his own to pitch the 17th: outfielder Darnell McDonald, who was of course the Orioles' first-round draft pick in 1997. McDonald had pinch run for designated hitter David Ortiz in the eighth inning, meaning that both teams forfeited their DH without making a substitution. McDonald actually pitched an inning for Boston last season, giving up a pair of runs on two walks and a hit in one inning. Let's just say that he's not nearly the pitcher that Chris Davis is. Topping out at 83 mph, Darnell walked Wilson Betemit to lead off. With Hardy (4-for-7 with two homers at that point) at bat, Betemit inexplicably tried to steal second base and was out by a mile. Hardy doubled to left, Markakis walked on four pitches, and then Adam Jones launched a batting practice-caliber fastball over the Monster. It started to sink in: Chris Davis was in line for the win. First he grounded out to second base, leaving him at 0-for-8 on the day.

Davis flirted with disaster in his second inning of work, as he couldn't field a line drive comebacker from Ryan Sweeney and walked Dustin Pedroia on five pitches. That brought powerful first baseman Adrian Gonzalez to the plate as the potential tying run with nobody out. Incredibly, Chris struck out Gonzalez on three pitches, saddling Boston's cleanup hitter with an 0-for-8 of his own. Now he faced his counterpart, Darnell McDonald. Capping his rough inning, Darnell grounded the second pitch he saw to Hardy, who started the game-ending double play. That's five straight wins for the Orioles, and we just won't mention what happened with the Rangers tonight.

So, to sum up: Chris Davis pitched two scoreless innings to become:

1. The first position player to earn a win in an American League game since Rocky Colavito in 1968.
2. The first position player to start at another position and earn a win since Babe Ruth in 1925.
3. The first pitcher to earn a win while going 0-for-8 at bat since Rube Waddell in 1905.

Sometimes baseball is just too much fun.

Ken Singleton, 1982 Topps #290

I started this blog four and a half years ago as an outlet for all of the babbling that I might do about 1) my rediscovered joy for collecting baseball cards, 2) my memories, opinions, and hastily-assembled research about the Orioles, and 3) anything else that might come to mind. One of the unexpected and pleasant results of writing about my O's collection has been the feedback I've received from collectors and Birds fans of all types. I've even had the opportunity to meet a few of you, and it's always a rewarding experience.

Yesterday, I got to spend some time with Mike Siegert, who collected cards with his son Josh for years. They completed a number of sets from the 1980s and 1990s, including the 1982 Topps set that marked the year of Josh's birth (and mine as well, incidentally). But their proudest achievement was compiling all of the Orioles team sets from Topps' base sets dating back to 1954. I'm also going to go out on a limb and assume that Josh was a better athlete than me in his school days; he spent three years pitching for the baseball team at St. Mary's College in Maryland.

Josh was a passenger in his friend Jonathan's car in the early morning hours of March 12, 2003. The car struck a utility pole near the St. Mary's campus and both driver and passenger were unfortunately pronounced dead at the scene. Mike, a high school teacher in Howard County, and his wife Maryanne chose to honor their son's memory and celebrate his life by establishing the Joshua L. Siegert Memorial Scholarship for Future Educators. The scholarship is awarded annually to benefit students enrolled in the Master of Arts in Teaching Program at St. Mary's who qualify based on academic merit and financial need. If you wish to make a contribution, you can donate to the Joshua L. Siegert Memorial Scholarship Fund, Office of Development, St. Mary's College of Maryland, 18952 E. Fisher Road, St. Mary's City, MD 20686-3001.

Mike has held onto the binders and boxes containing thousands of Mike's baseball cards for nine years, but he wrote to me a few weeks back to offer me the Babe Ruth card from the Maryland Lottery set that I'm collecting, and told me that he and his wife were looking to pare down the collection. Mike didn't have it in him to sell the cards on eBay or to take them around to flea markets. He wanted to offer the cards to me, if I would be interested in taking them. I was humbled by the offer and told him so, but I also assured him that I would appreciate the cards and put them to good use if that was what he really wanted. We made arrangements for a pickup at Mike's house yesterday afternoon.

There's always a sense of apprehension when meeting a complete stranger, but Mike (wearing his orange T-Shirt Thursday Matt Wieters/Nick Markakis Gold Glove tee) made me feel welcomed right away. He greeted me warmly and showed me the stacked boxes piled in the living room and dining room, giving me a final chance to back out. But I wouldn't have left him hanging unless he was trying to unload a couple cases of 1989 Topps or something. We talked excitedly about Orioles players and teams past and present (back-to-back series wins in New York and Boston!), I rambled a bit about my collecting history and interests, and Mike let me know a bit more about Josh. He also showed off the relatively few cards he'd be keeping, the 1982 Topps base and traded sets and the full Topps Orioles collection. We filled the back seat and trunk of my car, and visited a little longer before I noticed that it was 1:00 PM and I was due to meet my friend Mikey for lunch. As Mike S. remarked, we probably could have spent the rest of the afternoon conversing about baseball. It's always energizing to meet someone with whom you share those common interests.

I want to take this opportunity to publicly thank Mike for reading and enjoying the blog and for generously sharing such a significant portion of his son Josh's legacy with me. I'm sure we'll run into one another at Camden Yards soon. In the meantime, I'm going to do my best to get organized and see what awaits me.

Vintage Fridays: Bob Bailor, 1975 SSPC #386

This card serves as a reminder that I have only scratched the surface of the history of the Orioles. Every SSPC card features a close-up photo of the player with no text on the front. As I paged through my team set in its vintage O's binder, I could identify most players by sight. Grant Jackson, Mike Torrez, Dave Duncan, Elrod Hendricks, Brooks Robinson, Don Baylor. Most, but not all. This wild-eyed young man with tufted shocks of hair protruding from his cap was unfamiliar. I had to flip the card over to read that it was Bob Bailor. Oh, Bob Bailor! I know about him. Well, let's see. He was taken by the Blue Jays in the expansion draft, and...um.

Yeah, I've still got a lot to learn.

Bob Bailor was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Orioles in 1969, but he garnered some attention by hitting .340 with a .423 on-base percentage and 50 RBI in 68 games at low-A Aberdeen at age 19. The following year (1972), he led the Class A California League with 63 stolen bases, nearly double the 32 steals of runner-up Jerry Remy. Bailor also hit .290 that season for Lodi, though he mustered only 21 extra-base hits. That profile would hold as he climbed the ranks. Bob was a .288 hitter with a .359 slugging percentage in parts of 7 minor league seasons in the Baltimore organization.

With Brooksie, Mark Belanger, and Bobby Grich ensconced in the Oriole infield, Bailor received only a few cups of coffee with the Birds in 1975 and 1976, compiling a .231 average (3-for-13) in 14 games.   In his big league debut, he pinch hit for Tom Shopay in the bottom of the 13th inning with runners on first and second and one out. He drew a walk against the Yankee relief ace Sparky Lyle, loading the bases for Don Baylor (Baylor batting behind Bailor!). Baylor singled to deliver the walkoff win. On October 3, 1976, he got only the third start of his O's career. In what would be his final game with the club, he played all 15 innings of a 3-2 loss and went 2-for-6 with both hits coming off of Luis Tiant. One of those hits was a triple, the first extra-base hit of his career.

I did have one thing right: the Blue Jays chose Bob with their first pick (second overall) in the November 1976 expansion draft. He appeared in 122 games in 1977, dividing his time amongst shortstop, left field, and center field. He hit .310 with 5 home runs and 32 RBI and stole 15 bases. Incidentally, he would only hit 4 homers total in another 819 career games going forward. He was named Toronto's Player of the Year, and defended his title in 1978 despite a batting line of .264/.310/.338. That season, he did set career highs with 29 doubles, 7 triples, and 52 RBI. His offensive performance further dwindled in the proceeding two seasons, reducing him to a utility role. The Jays even used him as a relief pitcher in August of 1980. After two scoreless one-inning appearances, he failed to retire a batter against the Royals on August 16, yielding back-to-back doubles and a walk before Mike Barlow replaced him. Bailor was charged with two runs, and never pitched again; his career ERA was locked in at 7.71. On the bright side, he also played right field in that game and had three hits!

Bob spent the 1981-1983 seasons with the Mets, continuing in the utility role and batting .266 without walks or power but succeeding on 40 of his 46 steal attempts. In December 1983, he and reliever Carlos Diaz were dealt to the Dodgers for young lefty Sid Fernandez and minor league shortstop Ross Jones. The trade was a steal for the Mets, as Fernandez was a frontline starter for the next decade. Diaz and Bailor were both done by 1986. Still, Bob hung around for parts of 11 major league seasons, carrying a .264 average overall and striking out only 164 times in 2,937 at-bats. He also played at least 80 games at each of 6 different defensive positions (all three outfield spots, second base, shortstop, and third base).

Ladies and gentlemen, Bob Bailor.

Bob Milacki, 1992 Pinnacle #339

Here's something you don't see on a baseball card very often: Bob Milacki is giving you the finger. You're just lucky that he doesn't know which finger to use. People must be kinder and gentler in his hometown of...let's see here...Trenton, NJ? Well, if you say so.

Brandon Snyder, 2011 Topps Allen and Ginter Mini #228

Congratulations and back-slaps to Brandon Snyder, who hit his first big league home run for the Rangers this afternoon. He never quite lived up to the expectations that the Orioles had when they chose him with the 13th overall pick in the 2005 amateur draft, but simply by making it to the majors he's beaten the odds. The 25-year-old first baseman and corner infielder has largely been a late-inning sub for Texas; today marks his fourth start in 25 games for the team. But he's managed to stay sharp, batting .357 (5-for-14) with a couple of walks. And here's a neat tidbit that I somehow missed before Baseball Reference clued me in: Brandon's father Brian pitched briefly for the Mariners (6.37 ERA in 35.1 IP in 1985) and Athletics (2 ER in 0.2 IP in 1989). So Snyder the younger can already claim that he's the most successful ballplayer in the family, no matter what twists and turns his career takes in the future.

Brian Matusz, 2011 Bowman International Foil #28

The Orioles knocked quite a few items off of their checklist tonight. With a 7-1 victory over the Yankees, they finally got their first win against their division rivals after coming up empty four times to start the season (including two extra-innings losses and last night's one-run defeat). It was the 1,000th win of Buck Showalter's managerial career, and it came against the team that gave him his start. Nick Johnson finally got his first hit as an Oriole and his first in the majors in nearly two years, and made it an RBI double to boot. Chris Davis continued his hot streak with a 3-4 game; he hit his fifth home run, his seventh double, and scored thrice. Oh, and for good measure, Brian Matusz snapped his personal 12-decision losing streak.

Matusz's poor and injury-marred 2011 season was one of the most discouraging things I've witnessed as an Orioles fan. The lefty had been the most polished of the Birds' young arsenal of pitchers, and he raised expectations by finishing 2010 with a 7-1 record and a 2.18 ERA over the final two months. He didn't show up in top shape last spring, however, and missed all of April and May with a strained intercostal muscle in his ribcage. When he finally showed up in June, he was missing velocity, control, and confidence. His earned run average got higher with each progressive start but one, with a midsummer demotion to Norfolk offering no answers. Brian finished 1-9 with an unsightly 10.69 ERA in 12 starts, a record-setting mark for futility with such a high workload. He showed signs of life this spring, but it was the same old story once the games counted. Losses in each of his first 3 appearances, with 11 walks, 11 strikeouts, and 15 runs (13 earned) in 14.2 innings. He looked better in his last start this past Thursday in Toronto, clearing six innings with four hits and a couple of walks allowed, but an ill-timed error by Johnson at first base cost him a chance at his first win. But even moral victories count for something, right?

Tonight was the first of Brian's 2012 starts that I watched, and he looked strong. After giving up a first-inning solo homer to Curtis Granderson, he kept the Yankees off the scoreboard and waited on the run support that had eluded him in his first four outings. He induced a lot of weak contact in the form of pop-ups, and didn't walk a batter until tiring in the seventh inning. Perhaps most importantly, he kept his composure after consecutive one-out singles by Derek Jeter and Granderson in the third inning. Matusz retired Alex Rodriguez on a comebacker to the mound and got Oriole killer Robinson Cano to pop out to right-center field. The young pitcher's final line: 1 ER, 6 H, 1 BB, 4 K, 6.1 IP, and best of all, a W. It's too early to make definitive judgments, but Brian's earned run average has gotten progressively lower in each of his 2012 starts, and it's now 4.67. Last year it jumped to 5.11 in his third start (June 12) and never recovered.

Everything looks a little better after a big win.

Brad Pennington, 1993 Bowman #661

Brad Pennington making a heinous Pitcherface while throwing on a spring training mound? That must mean that the Orioles lost to the Yankees by a run on a Monday night. Bleah.

Chris Davis, 2012 Topps Gold Foil #151

It was miserably cold and damp at Oriole Park at Camden Yards last night, but that didn't seem to bother Chris Davis. The Birds' slugging first baseman went 3-for-4 with a pair of runs scored and 4 RBI, and he put the exclamation point on a 10-1 rout of the Athletics with a seventh-inning home run. He launched the ball 418 feet down the right field line for his first career homer onto Eutaw Street. It was Chris' fourth home run of the season and his third of the home stand, as he looks to shake the "AAAA" label that he acquired with the Texas Rangers. So far, so good: in this young season, Davis is hitting .313 and slugging .582. He's even striking out a bit less, though 17 K's in 67 at-bats doesn't exactly make him Tony Gwynn. It would be nice if the O's had a legitimate first baseman for the first time since...what, Rafael Palmeiro? We'll see how the next 140 games go.

Frank Robinson, 2011 Kimball Champions Mini #KC-77

Later this evening I will be at Oriole Park at Camden Yards to witness the unveiling of Frank Robinson's statue in the picnic area beyond the bullpens. I'm excited just to get the chance to see the Hall of Famer up (reasonably) close for the first time, and he won't be the only all-time great in attendance. Among others, the Orioles are expecting Hank Aaron, Bill Russell (the Celtics' center, not the Dodgers' shortstop), Jim Palmer, Earl Weaver, and Eddie Murray. It's an honor that is a long time coming for the man who retired with more career home runs than anyone other than Aaron, Babe Ruth, and Willie Mays. I'll definitely give you a report on the ceremonies, complete with pictures, in the next week.

Vintage Fridays: Tom Phoebus, 1969 Topps #185

On April 27, 1968 - exactly 44 years ago today - Baltimore native Tom Phoebus tossed the third no-hitter in team history, cruising to a 6-0 win over the Boston Red Sox in front of a paltry Saturday afternoon crowd of 3,147 at Memorial Stadium. There was an 83-minute rain delay, which might help explain the low turnout. The 26 year-old righty walked a pair of BoSox batters and threw a wild pitch in a shaky first inning, but catcher Curt Blefary (making only his fourth start behind the plate after beginning his career as a first baseman/outfielder) gunned down Joe Foy on an attempted steal of third base to wipe out Boston's first and last runner in scoring position. Starting with an inning-ending groundout by Reggie Smith, Phoebus put down 13 Boston hitters in a row before a sixth-inning walk by Gene Oliver gave the visitors their only other baserunner on the day.

The O's gave Tom a little wiggle room with a four-run third inning. The pitcher actually sparked the rally himself with a one-out single off of his opposite, Boston starter Gary Waslewski. Paul Blair also singled, and a two-out grounder by Blefary was booted by Sox first baseman George Scott, loading the bases and keeping the inning alive for Brooks Robinson, who cleared the sacks with a double to right field. A wild pitch moved Brooks over to third, at which point Boog Powell was intentionally walked to bring up Davey Johnson. Davey singled to knock in Robinson and make it 4-0.

The Orioles added single runs in the fifth on another Johnson hit and the eighth on Phoebus' second single. Davey scored on the latter after doubling for his team-high third hit of the game, as he and his pitcher were the only Birds with multi-hit games that day. Tom picked up momentum as he got deeper into the game, shrugging off the leadoff walk of Oliver in the sixth inning to mow down the final 12 Red Sox to come to bat. The biggest threat to the feat was a one-out sinking line drive hit by Rico Petrocelli in the eighth inning. Naturally, Brooks Robinson lunged to his right and plucked it off of his shoetops. Phoebus sealed his no-hit gem by striking out Foy for the final out, giving him his ninth whiff against three walks. The pitcher's final Game Score was 93, matching Hoyt Wilhelm's 1958 blanking of the Yankees (8 K/2 BB) for the highest mark by an Oriole in a no-hitter.

Tom, who grew up playing stickball in the Hampden neighborhood, now lives in Palm City, FL. He is a retired physical education teacher who enjoys golfing.

Curt Schilling, 1990 Topps #97

Normally when Curt Schilling talks, I tune out, but I have to admit that the anecdote about his major league debut with the Orioles made me laugh. Curt was tabbed as Baltimore's starting pitcher on Wednesday, September 7, 1988 for a home game against the Red Sox. In the pitcher's own words:

The night before the game I stayed at a hotel down the street from Memorial.  The Sox were staying there too – next thing I know, Boggs, Greenwell, and Stanley are buying me beers trying to get me drunk.  I suspected that they were doing that just so they could destroy me the next day."

Fortunately for Schilling, he either exhibited sufficient restraint or had a high tolerance for alcohol. He was a bit wild in his debut, walking five and striking out only two, but he gave up just three runs in seven innings. He left trailing 3-2, but escaped with a no-decision when the Orioles rallied for two runs in the bottom of the ninth against Bob Stanley. The Boston reliever blew the save by allowing a bases-loaded single to Billy Ripken and a run-scoring groundout by Cal Ripken, Jr. Maybe Stanley's the one who should have stayed in his hotel room on Tuesday night.

Pete Stanicek, 1990 ProCards #717

You know, Pete Stanicek had parents, a brother, friends and teammates, maybe even a girlfriend or wife. Odds are good that at least one of those important people in his life told him that this mustache was a good look. How must it feel, to know you've been lied to by someone you love?

Oh, and the Orioles spend another day in first place in the East, on the strength of their first shutout of the year. Jason Hammel is 3-0 in his first four starts as an Oriole. This team really is trying to suck us in this year.

Marlin Stuart, 1991 Crown/Coca-Cola All-Time Orioles #446

All the way back on May 14, 1954, Marlin Stuart recorded the first save in Orioles' history with a scoreless ninth inning in relief of Bob Turley, as the O's topped the Red Sox 7-2. I can't even figure out how he was credited with the save. When Turley was pinch-hit for, the game was tied at two apiece, but the pinch hitter (Bob Kennedy) singled in the go-ahead run. It seems like that was enough for Turley to get the win, and even though the Birds tacked on four insurance runs before Stuart entered in the top of the ninth, he got the easy save for slamming the door on Boston. That, along with being the only "Marlin" in team history, is his place in Oriole lore.

Jumping back to the present, Pedro Strop earned the first save of his major league career by pitching around a walk and blanking the Blue Jays in the ninth inning of a 2-1 squeaker. Tommy Hunter, Troy Patton, Darren O'Day, Luis Ayala, and Strop combined to hold the Jays to five hits in the game, supporting an O's offense that was likewise stifled by Henderson Alvarez and Casey Janssen. The Orioles' runs scored on an Adam Jones double play grounder and a Matt Wieters fly ball that Toronto left fielder Eric Thames deflected over the wall with his glove. In other words, it all went according to plan.

Strop, the 27 year-old flamethrower acquired from Texas last August for Mike Gonzalez, got the nod tonight because regular closer Jim Johnson had to be hospitalized with a nasty case of the flu. Even with the walk of Brett Lawrie, Pedro dispatched the Jays in 18 pitches, bookending his appearance with strikeouts of Adam Lind and Thames. He celebrated the final out by jumping a few inches off of the mound and pointing to the sky with both hands. He's now given up only 4 total runs in 23.1 innings as an Oriole, with 26 strikeouts. That's how to make a good impression on your new teammates.

Erik Bedard, 2008 Upper Deck Spectrum #9

It's not easy being Erik Bedard. After spending the past four years as a starting pitcher for the If He Were Healthy All-Stars, the lefty signed with the Pirates for $4.5 million this season. So far in 2012, he's been perfectly healthy, and has shown that he's still got some value in that arm. Through four starts, he has a 2.63 ERA and a 135 ERA+. Sure, his strikeouts are down in the early going - 6.4 K/9 IP compared to a career figure of 8.7 K/9 IP, but he's also allowed only one home run in 24 innings.

He's also got an 0-4 record, because the Pirates are an offensive trainwreck. He lost the team's opener by a 1-0 score, with Roy Halladay holding the Bucs to a pair of hits in 8 innings of work. In each of his other three starts, Bedard has permitted two earned runs and received exactly one run of support. It looks like Erik will have to take matters into his own hands. So far he's got a single and four whiffs in eight at-bats this year, but when you account for his interleague appearances, he's a career .214 hitter (6-for-28). Through their first 15 games, the Pirates are hitting .202 as a team. Woof. It's enough to make you wonder if the ex-Oriole had any comparable contract offers last winter, and whether he's having second thoughts about going to Pittsburgh.

Miguel Tejada, 2005 Leaf Alternate Threads #AT 15

The Orioles eked out a 3-2 win in 10 innings against the Angels today to salvage a single game out of their weekend series against the Angels. That brings their record to 9-7 and leaves them tied with the Rays in second place, a half-game out of first place. This isn't really anything to trumpet, but it is worth noting that the O's have just wrapped up a ten-game road trip through Toronto, Chicago, and Anaheim, and they posted a winning record of 6-4. The last time the Orioles got the best of a ten-game swing away from Camden Yards was September 13-23, 2004. Back then, they took two of three each in Toronto and Minnesota before splitting a four-game set in Boston against the eventual World Champion Red Sox. To offer a little perspective, that was five managers ago (Lee Mazzilli, who was replaced by Sam Perlozzo, who gave way to Dave Trembley, who was succeeded by Juan Samuel, who was supplanted by Buck Showalter). In the final game of that road trip, the O's topped the Red Sox 9-7. Todd Williams was the winning pitcher, and Miguel Tejada hit his 30th home run of the season, a 3-run shot off of Derek Lowe in the fifth inning. It was Miggi's first year in Baltimore, and the team finished with a 78-84 record. In the ensuing seven full seasons, they haven't gotten any closer to a .500 record. Could this be the year? Probably not, but staying above water on a long journey away from Camden Yards is a rare pleasure.

Jay Gibbons, 2004 Upper Deck Twenty-Five Salute #S-4

Every time I dig through dime boxes of Orioles cards, I find at least a dozen mid-2000s Jay Gibbons cards that I need. There has probably never been a looser definition of the word "need". That is the curse of the team collector. By sheer inertia, the redheaded, injury-prone outfielder found himself representing the cruddy O's in an endless procession of meaningless sets, subsets, and inserts from several card companies locked in an arms race of proliferate irrelevance. At present, I own 84 Jay Gibbons cards and I haven't even scratched the surface. At least this insert set is so oddly specific that it seems to have a purpose. As you can see on the top and bottom borders, they've identified 10 players who wore #25 in the previous season and chosen to celebrate them. There's quite a mixed bag, with Hall of Fame hopefuls (Barry Bonds, Jim Thome, Rafael Palmeiro), guys who played at a high level for a number of years (Carlos Delgado, Andruw Jones, Jason Giambi)...and then the remainders of Troy Glaus, Jeremy Giambi, Gibbons, and Dmitri Young. Each has an interesting story, but you don't often see all 10 brought together in one place.

Vintage Fridays: Don Buford, 1969 Topps #478

I mentioned recently that I had been neglecting Don Buford on this blog. The only post I wrote about him was this one, the third-ever Vintage Friday way back in January 2008! Perhaps it's somewhat fitting that Buford, one of the truly underrated players of his era, has gotten short shrift from me.

There are a few factors working against Don. He had a fairly short career in the major leagues, just nine full seasons. The White Sox signed him in 1959 after a collegiate career at the University of Southern California, and he was 27 by the time he cracked Chicago's starting lineup in 1964. But he was a league-average hitter in his four years manning second and third base on the South Side, posting a 103 OPS+ and stealing a total of 114 bases. (Of course he was also caught stealing 57 times, giving him a sub-optimal 67% success rate.)

But Buford truly thrived after being traded to Baltimore in the deal that reunited Luis Aparicio with the ChiSox. His lowest OPS+ from 1968 through 1971 was 126, which came in the 1970 championship season. That year, he led the club with 99 runs scored and 109 walks, and his .406 on-base percentage trailed only AL MVP Boog Powell (.412) for the team lead. He also set a career best with 66 RBI. Again, that was the least-successful of Don's first four seasons as an Oriole. And he still got some down-ballot MVP consideration, just as he had in 1968 and would again in 1971.

That 1971 season was Buford's masterpiece. He made his only All-Star team, topped the American League with 99 runs scored (the third straight year he'd had exactly 99), tied Frank Robinson with a team-high 153 OPS+, and also reached personal bests with 19 home runs, a .413 OBP, .477 slugging percentage, and an .890 OPS. All this for an Orioles squad that topped 100 wins and reached the World Series for the third consecutive year. Not bad for a 34-year-old guy. Of course, a big theme in sports is "what could have been", and for all of their dominance from 1969 through 1971, the O's won just that one World Series. If they had been dealt a bit more luck in '69 and/or '71, they might hold an ever higher place of esteem in baseball history and Buford might be talked about more today.

Getting back to the relative brevity of Don Buford's career, he had an unbelievably poor season in 1972. His slash line was only .206/.326/.267, meaning that his OPS tumbled nearly 300 points and his OPS+ (76) was exactly half of what it had been the preceding year. He had just 13 extra-base hits and 22 RBI in 485 plate appearances. The Orioles released him the following February and he played the final four seasons of his career in Japan for the Taiheiyo Club Hawks and the Nankai Hawks. The abrupt end of his O's tenure doesn't change the fact that "Buf" was an excellent table setter for the greatest teams in Oriole history.

Endy Chavez, 2012 Topps Orioles Team Set #BALT9

I wanted to tip my cap to pitcher Jason Hammel, who earned the win in a 5-3 squeaker today by pushing through bases-loaded situations in the first and third inning and hanging on to complete six innings of two-run ball. He also tied his career high by striking out 10 White Sox batters. Hammel won't soon make Orioles fans forget Jeremy Guthrie, the man he was traded for, but he's making a good first impression. Unfortunately, I don't have any Hammel cards yet, so he has to share space with another of today's key players, outfielder Endy Chavez.

Chavez, seen here hastily Photoshopped from a Rangers uniform to O's threads, was a surprise starter in left field thanks to Nolan Reimold's neck discomfort. Despite entering the game with just a pair of hits in 18 at-bats, the one-time Expo reached base three times from the leadoff spot in the order (single, walk, hit-by-pitch) and scored twice. He also made a running over-the-shoulder catch in the sixth inning to save at least a run. It was one of those under-the-radar performances that can get lost in the drone of a 162-game season, but for today it helped keep the Orioles in first place in the American League East. Yep, you read that right. There's 149 games left to go, but I didn't even expect the Birds to be atop the division at this point, a couple weeks into the season. Savor it.

Jamie Moyer, 1994 Fleer Flair #6

You had to know that this post was coming. Ever since Jamie Moyer signed with the Rockies in his quest to pitch a 25th big league season (and 28th professional season) after missing all of 2011, I've been monitoring his progress. I was thrilled when he earned a spot in Colorado's starting rotation to begin the year, but I figured I'd save the celebratory post for the occasion of his first win. Last night, the lefty made history. By holding the Padres to six hits and two unearned runs in seven innings, Moyer became the oldest pitcher to ever win a major league game. At 49 years and 150 days of age, he bested the mark set by the Dodgers' Jack Quinn in 1932 by a cool 80 days. In true Jamie Moyer fashion, he did it all without throwing a single one of his 87 pitches at 80 miles per hour or greater.

Jamie also had a remarkable sense of timing in accomplishing the feat when he did. As I noted, yesterday was the 47th anniversary of Jim Palmer's big league debut. Moyer's win was the 268th of his career, tying him with Palmer on the all-time list. Not only that, but it was also 66 years to the day that Jack Quinn passed away. I don't want to end on such a morbid note, so here's a few more of those endless and delightful Jamie Moyer age facts:

-He was born on November 18, 1962, making him less than 16 months younger than President Obama and 27 months younger than former teammate Cal Ripken, Jr.

-He is older than every member of the Rockies' original 1993 starting rotation and their Opening Day starting lineup, with the exception of first baseman Andres Galarraga (born June 18, 1961).

-He debuted with the Cubs on June 16, 1986. In the news at the time: the USFL's antitrust lawsuit against the NFL, Mikhail Gorbachev's new arms-control proposal for the USSR, protests over apartheid in South Africa, and the NBA draft prospects of Brad Daugherty and Len Bias.

-Moyer has faced 8.9% of all hitters in major league history. As of April 9, 2012, he had pitched to 1,417 of the 15,855 men who had taken hacks in a big league game since 1876. That's still less than Greg Maddux, who is the current record holder with 1,535 unique batters faced (9.7%!). More details here.

Some day I will tell my children that I saw Jamie Moyer pitch...as they watch him pitch.

Jim Palmer, 2009 Upper Deck Goodwin Champions #22

Do you know what today is? Yeah, it's tax day. But I know that everybody already filed months ago, to save the stress of doing it at the last minute.

*Crickets*

Okay, maybe not. But putting aside those fun study dates with the 1040s and W-2s and hey hey, it's also the 47th anniversary of Jim Palmer's big league debut. The tall, slim righthander was born in New York but raised in Arizona, and the Orioles convinced him to forgo college and sign with them in 1963. He reported to the Aberdeen (South Dakota) Pheasants in 1964 for his first pro season and went 11-3 with a 2.51 ERA despite walking 130 batters in 129 innings. Manager Hank Bauer saw enough promise to bring him to the major leagues to begin the 1965 season, and the 19-year-old served an apprenticeship in the bullpen.

That brings us to April 17, the third game of the young season and the Saturday afternoon opener of a two-game series at Fenway Park. The Birds busted out of the gate with five first-inning runs, with homers by Paul Blair and Brooks Robinson helping to chase Red Sox starter Bill Monbouquette before he could get an elusive third out. Curt Blefary also went deep in the third for some insurance. But veteran O's starter Robin Roberts wasn't long for the game, either. He was reached for a pair of first-inning runs and allowed the first three batters to reach in the third inning. With the score now 6-3 and the tying run at the plate in the form of Carl Yastrzemski, young Jim Palmer was called upon for a baptism by fire.

Wearing the jersey number 22 that would be retired in his honor two decades later, Palmer began his career by walking Yaz to load the bases. He might have sighed in relief after striking out Tony Conigliaro looking for the first out, but outfielder Lee Thomas (now a special assistant to Orioles GM-type Dan Duquette) properly welcomed Jim to the show with a two-run single. The rookie stopped the bleeding after that, inducing a 5-4-3 double play grounder off the bat of Felix Mantilla. It was a 6-5 game.

Palmer had a few hiccups in his second inning of work, walking opposing pitcher Arnold Earley and gifting him second base on a wild pitch, but otherwise he was unharmed. Two ground balls and a short fly ball, all handled by shortstop Luis Aparicio, and "Cakes" had his first major league appearance in the books. His final totals: two innings, one hit, two walks, one strikeout, no earned runs, two of three inherited runners scored. Nothing to put in the headlines, but no disaster either.

Jim was followed to the mound by Dave McNally, another youngster who would soon step into the starting rotation and stay there for some time. McNally breezed through the fifth inning before walking two of the three batters he faced in the sixth. Dick Hall and Harvey Haddix allowed both runners to score, putting Boston ahead for the first time that afternoon. By the end of the sixth, the hosts had taken an 8-6 advantage. The game was far from over, though.

The O's scored once each in the seventh and eighth innings, with Charlie Lau's solo homer tying the game at 8-8. But in the bottom of the eighth, wildness was once again the undoing of the Orioles. Stu Miller walked each of the first two batters and was replaced by Steve Barber. Barber went walk-single-walk, and it was 10-8 with the bases loaded and nobody out. Ken Rowe retired three of the next four Red Sox to get out of it, but it was suddenly a 12-8 game. Blefary's second solo home run of the game was too little, too late, and the Birds lost 12-9.

Better times were ahead, of course. The Orioles won 5 of 6 at the end of April to get their heads above water, and though they never sat atop the American League, they finished with 94 wins, just a few games off the pace of their breakout 1964 season. The acquisition of Frank Robinson prior to the 1966 campaign was the catalyst that propelled the Birds to their first World Series title, and you know all the rest. Jim Palmer went 5-4 with a 3.72 ERA in 27 games (6 starts) in 1965, and walked 5.5 batters per nine innings. He would not have a BB/9 greater than 4.0 in any other full season in his career, and though he was hampered by various injuries, he persevered to win 268 games with a 2.86 ERA and 126 ERA+ in 19 years in the majors. He is the only pitcher to win a World Series game in three different decades, and he famously never allowed a grand slam. He was a first-ballot Hall of Famer in 1990, and you can still hear him on Orioles telecasts on MASN. Congratulations on a long and impressive career, Jim.

Armando Benitez, 1996 Score #152

"THIS INVISIBLE TURKEY LEG IS TOO SPICY! ARRRRGGGGHHH!"

(Yes, I'm cross-posting to Bad Touch Baseball. Some cards are just too good not to share.)

Mike Linskey, 1992 Fleer #663

I am once again pleasantly surprised by the reach of this blog. More than two and one-half years ago, I wondered what had become of former Orioles prospect Mike Linskey. Some 31 months later, Mike himself dropped in and left a comment on that blog post to provide a first-person perspective.

"Nuke" (he self-identified as such) lives in Houston these days; perhaps he's neighbors with Bob the Commish? He's remained active in baseball, coaching an elite team of ten year-olds. He also videotapes amateur pitchers for the Just Wright baseball academy. Mike confirms that his career was derailed by a back injury suffered during his first big league camp that robbed him of velocity. In his own words, he spent three years in the San Diego organization "before becoming an old man at 28 in baseball years".

I'd like to thank Mike Linskey for sharing a bit of his story with me and the readers of this blog.