2015 Topps Chris Tillman Growth Chart

Today the Orioles Promotional Items is a fun one that Card Collectors may appreciate.

2015 Topps Flavored Growth Chart Chris Tillman

The O's took the 2015T design and stretched it out Tallboy Style to create a Growth Chart as a giveaway for the younger set which is still growing.

2015 Topps Opening Day #12 Chris Tillman

The Growth Chart does not contain the same image as Tillman's 2015T Card, we have added the action shot here for comparison.

Hopefully this will spur the O's onto a playoff run.

Sources and Links
Cardboard Connection
Baltimore Orioles

Snapshots 2014 09 04 Reds @ Orioles

It has been a busy summer and Thursday night I finally made my first trip of 2014 to Camden Yards.  The Orioles won the slugfest 9-7 including  6 runs via the Homer. 

SnapShots

Nelson Cruz

This is Cruz at the plate - This is from the pitch that he would knock out to center for the first of the Orioles 3 home runs.

Brad Brach vs Devin Mesoraco 

Devin Mesoraco had a big night for the Reds. He was 4-4 with a Homer and a Double with 4 RBI.

Chris Tillman 

The Orioles offense spotted Tillman 6 runs unfortunately he was only able to get through six innings and the bullpen couldn't hold the lead.

Yorman Rodriguez 

The Reds #12 Prospect (mlb.com) Yorman Rodriquez made his Major League Debut on Thursday night. He was 0 for 3 prior to being lifted for a pinch hitter.

It was a bit warm but still more than nice enough for a game. Sadly the O's drew just a touch over 21K fans. They are a first place team, hopefully they will pack a few more in as the playoffs near.


Sources
Baseball-ref
mlb

2010 Topps #552 Chris Tillman

This week the Baltimore Orioles host the New York Yankees for a four game set that could propel one of the two teams into a Wild Card spot. 

Entering the series the Orioles are 2 games behind the Rays for the 2 WC, while the Yankees are an additional 1/2 game behind. The O's are sending out their Ace for game 1 of the series.  

2010 Topps #552 Chris Tillman

Yes I said ACE. Chris Tillman is only 25 but I have him as the #1 pitcher on the O's staff. He leads the team in Wins, ERA, Ks, and Innings. For the Orioles to make the playoffs, they are going to need Tillman to continue to perform at an Ace level.

The O's are on ESPN Monday Night Baseball tonight and with the Phillies out of it, I will be keeping an eye on my AL squad this week.
 
2010 Topps

Two notes on 2010 Topps. I generally like the design of the set.   The wave along the cards lefthand side gives a nice splash of colors, however the Orioles got screwed here - the black wave is way to dark for my taste.

The other observation I wanted to note is the common complaint regarding the poor scanning of foiled fonts. I have moved over to using a smart phone to upload pix of cards.  This is for a variety of reasons, but this time through I realized that I can beat the foil by tilting the camera(phone) at angles until I get the photo I want. The image is a little dark, but I think that is low afternoon light in the Team Phungo card room, more than the camera angle.

#54  
2010 Topps is only three years old but the #54 Tillman is shown wearing on the card is 2 numbers ago for the righty.  Tillman wore 54 has a rookie in 2009, he yielded that number for #24 which he retained until 2012 when Wilson Betemit joined the Orioles. Tillman then switched to the #30 which he currently wears.   





Sources
mlb.com
baseball-ref.com

Phungo Game Report - 2010 09 05 Tampa Bay Rays @ Baltimore Orioles - Happy Anniversary Cal Ripken!

For the second day in a row Team Phungo got to go to the ballpark and see a team hit four home runs and lose. Yes on a beautiful day at Camden Yards, the Tampa Bay Rays provided lots of pop, but that was not enough to contain the persistent line up that led the Orioles to an 8-7 victory.

The pitching match-up featured a pair of prospects that each organization is hoping become part of their rotations of the future as the Orioles 22 year old Chris Tillman squared off against Wade Davis (age 24). Neither pitcher dominated, although Tillman pitched well only giving up 1 run through 5 before giving up a 2 run shot to Evan Longoria in the 6th.

The 6th inning was pivotal as the Rays took a 5-4 lead on another 2 run homer - this time by BJ Upton. The Orioles hitters then showed their resilience by battling back to score four runs of their own in the bottom of the inning. The damage was done by three consecutive singles with men in scoring position and a sacrifice fly. The O's Bullpen will give up 2 more runs but hold on for the win.

Notes

Prior to the game the Orioles honored the 15th anniversary of Cal Ripken Jr passing Lou Gehrig in number of consecutive games played. Cal returned to the yard to throw out the first pitch - photo above. Cal is not sporting faux-hawk - that is the white hat of a fan in the stands.

BJ Upton got to test his arm several times yesterday as he attempted to throw runners out at the plate three different times. Unfortunately for him, none of the chances were successful. The day had a couple of just missed plays on D including Orioles CF Corey Patterson just missing in his attempt to pull back Longoria's homer in the 5th.


Fan Favorite Rocco Baldelli had a triumphant return to the Rays as he tagged O's Reliever Mike Gonzalez for a 2 run homer. It was Baldelli's first game as a Ray since the 2008 World Series - Team Phungo was in the house for Rocco's last previous AB for Tampa when he also homered.

I also wanted to mention that we got to see a fan make arguably the best catch I have ever seen at a game. The young man was probably in his late teens, and he had to jump slightly reach over his head and backwards to make a two-handed grab of a line drive down the RF line. Unfortunately I haven't seen any highlights of the catch. Congrats to the young man regardless.


Snapshots


Chris Tillman

Tillman was the 49th overall selection in the 2006 draft. His Start on Saturday was the 19th of his MLB career.

Wade Davis v Brian Roberts (click to enlarge)
Another one of my super-wide pitcher v batter shots. I think this is Roberts first AB in the game. The crowd filled in from base to base in the lower level as the O's drew 28K+ for the game.

Roberts and Markakis

Check it out two base runners on one base. This is actually during a pitching change - The O's 3rd base coach is Gary Allenson.

Looking Back

Yesterday was the most recent Game Report featuring the Brewers and Phillies.

The Last O's Game Report was a few backs when they hosted the Rangers and lit up former Phil Cliff Lee.

This is the first Phungo Game Report on the Rays, although I do have one of my favorite postings from the last time I saw them play.

Links
Phungo Cal Ripken HoF Index