My latest guest post over at MASN went live today and it’s a fun little follow-up to last week’s post about the best players of the Losing Era. Titled Top Six Players Who Define the Losing Era, it’s a look at the guys I’ve identified as emblematic of the Orioles‘ problems over the past 14 years.

We have way more candidates here than we had for the first list, and as a result, it is a far more difficult proposition. Where the first list had maybe eight or nine guys who might make the cut, this list has probably 20 or 30.

One quick note before we go any further: I don’t mean to denigrate any of these players. Making the big leagues is a huge accomplishment. This list isn’t about the individuals as much as it’s about the bad luck, bad timing, and bad fortune that have seemed to follow this team for so long.

That said, here we go in no particular order.

Click through to read the whole thing and, as always, lemme know who I missed, who you’d add or subtract, etc.

Meanwhile, as I write, the O’s are looking like they might drop game one out in Kansas City. Bummer.

Just a quick check-in on the Orioles towards the end of their big early-season test, otherwise known as The Gaunlet. There are three games left of this Yankees-Sox-Rangers-Rays-Yankees stretch during which the O’s have gone 8-4 and sit two games ahead of the Rays in 1st place. That means regardless of what happens in the next three games, the O’s are guaranteed to finish no worse than 8-7.

Folks, this is quite an accomplishment.

This, by no means, indicates that the O’s are 100% for real and poised to take on the world, but it has to say something about the quality of the team and its depth. Doubters will point to the Indians and Pirates of last season and claim that the swoon is coming. And while that’s definitely never out of the question, the fact that the O’s are doing what they’re doing in – and against - the AL East has to count for at least something. And it’s not like the O’s aren’t without their own injuries.

This isn’t the last test the O’s will face, but it’s getting harder and harder to dismiss what we’re witnessing. And if you’re still waiting for the other shoe to drop, as I suspect many of us are (including myself, admittedly), I sure as hell hope you’re enjoying it as much as I am.

With that, I’ll leave you with this stoic quote from Tilt Breezy: “A lot of people are surprised, but we’re not. We are going to keep winning games.”

After a day job-induced week off from the guest blog posts over at MASN I returned this week with something kind of fun: a list of the best Orioles of this, the Losing Era.

I got to thinking, after the recent unveiling of the Frank Robinson statue at Camden Yards, about great Orioles of the past and how cool it is to be able to look back on their legacies and claim them for our city. That, naturally enough, led to thinking about the modern Orioles.

History looks more kindly on success than on failure, which tends to obscure the achievements of players who toil on losing teams. The Orioles haven’t had a player on the level of Frank Robinson in a while but they’ve still had some quality guys who deserve their due. Since every era should at least partially be evaluated on its own terms, I figure it’s worthwhile to spend some time thinking about the best Orioles of the past 14 (losing) years.

Click on through to see who I picked and fire away with your disagreements and alternates. Hard-hitting this is not (nor intended to be) but I’m genuinely curious who you’ve got. There’s not a lot to choose from but it was fun to think about it.

There’s a thin line that exists for Orioles fans this season between having confidence in this surprising, 1st-place team and feeling like it’s all ready to come tumbling into disarray once again. For many O’s fans, Josh Hamilton provided that little shove over that thin line. And then he provided an extra kick in the gut for good measure.

Of course, if you were firmly entrenched in No Expectations, Just Baseball, you would likely be accepting these past two losses easily enough. After all, the pitchers couldn’t possibly sustain the level to which they were playing. The Rangers weren’t going to let two straight series losses effect them too much. And well, neither should the Orioles, if that should happen on this homestand.

On the other hand, the Orioles aren’t like other teams. When they hit the brick wall, it’s usually an indication not of a bump in the road for a good team, but of the beginning of the end for a fraudulent one. Factor in that the losses came at the expense of poor pitching from arguably the two most important Oriole pitchers, Brian Matusz and Jake Arrietta, and you start to understand how thin that line really is. It’s interesting that the more the Orioles win, the more tense it becomes watching them try to keep it going, and the more difficult it is to maintain zero expectations. Will it be another 2005? Will they even keep it up as long as they managed to in 2005? Is there any shot in hell they could be this?

I still agree that it’s the right mindset: enjoy the highs, try not to sweat the lows. There certainly seems to be enough talent on this squad to keep from epically swooning, but we’ll just have to wait and see. In the meantime, the O’s have another shot at Texas, in which Wei-Yin Chen attempts what two others have failed to do: keep it close. Good luck, kid.

Some notes for noshing:

• Dontrelle Willis dropped his grievance with the O’s in what has become another bizarre chapter in the Dan Duquette era. Weird guy.
• Speaking of weird, Miguel Tejada has officially signed a minor league deal with the O’s. I’d put his odds at reaching the 25-man at extremely low, unless there’s an injury or two.
• The 17-inning game continues to take its toll as the O’s play some roster shuffling – Taylor Teagarden to the 60-day, Zach Phillips back to AAA, Steve Tolleson is promoted to the bigs. In addition, Jason Hammel will miss his start on Thursday with knee soreness. Whew. (All of this courtesy of Dan Connolly’s Twitter page).

They’ll be talking about this one for a long time.

17 innings. Over 500 total pitches thrown. Six-plus hours of baseball. A big lead, a blown lead, a heap of home runs (including a grand slam). Position players in to pitch for both teams. And when it was all said and done, 1B/DH Chris Davis earned a win on the mound by throwing two scoreless innings while going 0-8 at the plate. In doing so he secured a rare sweep for the Orioles over the Red Sox at Fenway Park.

The O’s are now 19-9 (10 games over .500 for the first time since ’05) and sitting atop the AL East, if only barely.

I’m not going back on my No Expectations, Just Baseball mantra just yet. I’m taking things as they come and just enjoying all of it. I will allow, however, for this: anybody who wants to get excited could hardly be criticized for doing so.

This team is playing great ball. They’re delivering strong pitching and hitting when it counts. As importantly, they’re consistent. They don’t get too high or too low. Not yet, anyway. They’re doing exactly what they need to do to put together a long run of decent success. So far, this isn’t just luck.

Which has me thinking about something that might provide a glimpse into their long-term prospects.

As talk of the economy continues to dominate the news you might have come across the term “virtuous cycle.” In a nutshell that’s a way to describe how bad streaks are often broken by the process of good results giving rise to more good results. The mechanics are of course more concrete in economic theory but the idea has application to a lot of things, sports included. I’m starting to wonder if the O’s might be in a virtuous cycle of their own.

It’s not hard to imagine how this might work. The line between a bad team and a good team is far thinner than it seems. Even last year’s Orioles, bad as they were, would have been a .500 squad had just 12 games gone the other way. If you accept that working to improve is an ongoing process then it stands to reason that at some point they might crack the code. Wins beget confidence and confidence is a solid foundation for more wins. Doing well, in other words, is the first step to doing even better.

Lots of baseball left to be played but there’s some interesting stuff going on with this team. Some very interesting stuff, indeed.

***

Programming Note: I’m stoked to welcome longtime stalwart commenter Dan the Man to the front page as a regular contributor. I’ve been needing someone to help share the labor around here for awhile and Dan’s about as good a choice as there is. He’ll be on board all season (and hopefully beyond) to help me tend the garden and keep this place going as one of the best spots anywhere to talk Orioles. Welcome him, won’t you?

Let’s pretend it’s 2009. Orioles GM Andy MacPhail just made a late roster move in Spring Training, trading away former top pitching prospect Hayden Penn to the Marlins for shortstop Robert Andino. Penn was out of options, Andino was stuck behind Hanley Ramirez, and it made sense to shore up the Orioles’ middle infield depth, which consisted of Cesar Izturis and Ryan Freel. Still, O’s fans could only muster a shrug and a sigh that another pitching prospect hadn’t turned into a #1 starter, but instead a utility guy at best.

At best!

Fast forward to September 28, 2011, and we all know the rest. But in between 2009 and that fateful date last season was a long and winding road for ol’ Bob Andino, including getting on Dave Trembley‘s bad side and eventually passing through waivers to toil away in Norfolk. But Buck Showalter would enter (as the 3rd manager in the 2010 season) and despite mediocre numbers at AAA, give Andino a September call up, a vote of confidence, and a hat that fit. Buck saw return on that faith in 2011 as Andino filled in admirably for Brian Roberts, drawing 41 walks, hitting a respectable .263, playing good defense, notching 2.2 WAR, and best of all, bouncing the Red Sox out of the playoffs. And doing it with swagger, son.

The story doesn’t end there, either, as the former 2nd-round pick is off to a blazing start in the 2012 season, batting a ridiculous .342/.388/.443 with a noticeably improved batting eye.

Certainly no one, even MacPhail, could have predicted the path Robert Andino has taken to eventually become one of the most important nuggets on the team. That’s just the game of baseball. But here he is entering a series in Fenway Park as one of the Orioles’ better overall players and with a patented Boston Curse attached to his name, no less.

The O’s will face Jon Lester, Aaron Cook, and Clay Buchholz with their own Wei-Yin Chen, Jason Hammel, and Tommy Hunter. Another series win on the road against the AL East would certainly make upcoming games against Texas and Tampa Bay a little less daunting.

Some other nuggets:

• Down goes Mo. A shame if that’s how it ends for one of the more likeable Yankees, but if there was a time for the Orioles to get a jump on their AL East rivals, it’s right now with a host of injuries to Boston, New York, and Tampa. Something tells me we haven’t heard the last of Rivera just yet, however.
• Speaking of Andino, he’s been putting birds on things with Adam Jones. Nice.
• Nolan Reimold looks to be DL-bound with the call going to former Red Sox catching prospect and recent waiver claim, Luis Exposito. Can’t say I  saw that one coming.

Tonight, the Orioles go for another series win against an AL East opponent. A win against the Yankees in New York tonight would seal their third series win in four attempts against the AL East.

What is this, 1996?

Well, not yet. O’s fans are still in the process of awkwardly figuring out how best to handle this whole winning thing. Standing in the way of another cautious step towards fully believing in this year’s squad is, as Neal appropriately put it, a gauntlet of winning teams that stretches well into the month of May. If the dust clears and the O’s are still within a few games of their rivals, then we may have something.

In the meantime, it’s all about enjoying it one game at a time. Last night’s decisive win in New York showed us that Brian Matusz‘s status as Orioles Bust may yet be premature – quite possibly this season’s biggest, legitimate turn of good fortune. Tonight’s game features would-be Orioles ace Jake Arrieta, who has struggled in his past two starts, going against Yankees diamond-in-the-rough Ivan Nova, winner of 15 straight decisions. With a series against the surging Red Sox looming, this qualifies as a big game.

Other random news and notes up for discussion:

• Tsuyoshi Wada will undergo Tommy John surgery, so says Roch. An unfortunate turn of events, but one that is lessened by the quality of Orioles pitching at the moment. A mistake signing or just a tough break? I’m going with the latter, judging how stringent the Orioles’ physicals are rumored to be.
• Nolan Reimold has a bulging disc in his neck (ouch), but nevertheless expects to be ready to roll by Friday. Miles raised a fair question in the comments about a possible temporary replacement if Nolan ends up on the DL. What say you?
• Kevin Gregg continues to occupy a roster spot, despite not even being able to get into a 7-1 game last night and having only 5.2 IP on the season. The O’s are essentially pitching a man short – my gut says there’s a trade in the works here. Something has to give sooner or later.

As will happen to every team in the AL East at least a few times per season, the Orioles are about to run a gauntlet. Tonight’s close loss at the Yankees kicks off a tough May schedule that includes series at the Red Sox and Nationals along with home series against the Rangers, Rays, and Yankees again. The early strength of the pitching (the O’s have so far allowed the fewest runs in their division and the third-fewest in the AL) will be tested to say the least, as will the offense’s ability to deliver clutch hits.

April was a hell of a month for those of us who have bought into the No Expectations, Just Baseball mantra. There’s been a lot to love and things so far have been wildly successful by pretty much any measure. Is it for real?

I think parts of it are but I also think some kind of regression to the mean is inevitable. It’s hard to imagine the calendar turning over to June with the team still five games over .500. Regardless of what happens, though, we’re in damn good shape and should be enjoying every minute of it.

Not just in the quasi-Zen sense I’ve been advocating but also in the sense that these guys are truly playing respectable ball. Even when they lose they’re generally not embarrassing themselves and in fact are delivering the kind of grinding, workmanlike performances that we haven’t seen enough of in recent years. All in all I find this team incredibly easy to like, and that’s quite refreshing.

So, if they must stumble, let them stumble. It’ll be alright. There’s plenty to enjoy and that, as we’ve said and must say again, is what 2012 is all about. Good year to be a Birds fan so far.