When did they start calling him Howard Kendrick? Whatever, everybody knows Howie is a cop. Switch to bourgeois given name isn’t fooling anybody. Why his beat includes basepaths and infield in Orange County, Calif. is anybody’s guess. Maybe he works for Sgt. Stedenko.

Anyway Det. Kendrick’s master plan to foil Team’s winning road trip came unraveled Sunday afternoon as Nick Markakis’ ferociously struck grounder ticked off constabular mitt into shallow center field and Jim Johnson’s sinker left Howard and his moustache at home plate for final out.

Moustaches like that are dead giveaway.

Fans of Team learned a lot about 2012 vintage on this newly ended road trip through three cities where dreams of winning win percentage often go to die.

First and foremost, fans of Team did not see any listless losing streaks. Terminating losing streaks before they blossom is hallmark of well-coached, motivated squads.

We also saw Team dodge veritable Rogue’s Gallery of Oriole Killers including, but not limited to, Jose Bautista, Alex Rios, Paul Konerko and Vernon Wells — not to mention presumptive Oriole-killer Albert Pujols.

And we see where Adam Jones is trying to add rampant base-thieving to his list of tricks. Per Joe and Fred, he’s getting lessons from Brian Roberts on how to steal third base. Jonesie needs another lesson or two because he made second out at third base in second inning Sunday.

(Of course Mark Reynolds was up so who could blame him. Reynolds certainly wasn’t picking him up. Reynolds couldn’t pick up a ______ in a _________* these days.)

Very importantly we learned — not for first time — that Jonesie will blow bubble at any given moment. Here he is, base-thiefage in progress, firing air pocket into wad of Double Bubble:

Image via FS West

It’s important to blow bubbles and to appear nonchalant when you’re on thieving mission with Officer Kendrick on patrol just steps away.

We also saw continuation of Capt. Nicky’s “more vocal” attitude about balls and strikes and assume it translates to clubhouse.

Maybe it does not but he’s looking mighty put-upon these days when Umpires, presumably anxious to get to Early Bird specials on Sunday afternoons across this fine land of ours, try to run him on pitches that ARE NOT STRIKES.

Weltschmertz via MASN

Getting back to Reynolds for moment. He is turning into one of about four total singularities on roster from which no unfavorable outcome can escape. Blog won’t trouble you to name list of said Time-Space Continuums since it’s not exactly revelatory.

Maybe a couple of them including Reynolds come around to contribute but in a way it’s a good thing because this Team has PLENTY OF ROOM to make changes with NO DOWNSIDE AT ALL should it need to.

Blog also couldn’t help but notice that Buck is taking dugout steps backwards these days. Those knees must be really screwed up. This also could explain why starting pitchers are staying deeper into games. Nobody wants to be THE GUY who makes Buck climb those damned steps!

* too early to think of something clever

Small hints early on that 2012 vintage could be different.

Pickles exceeded critical mass, but that’s nothing new…

Jake Arrieta looking regal in his white-facaded cartoony bird hat and gunning mid-90s.

Baltimore always has been colorful

Nick Markakis, Adam Jones, J.J. Hardy and Matt Wieters displaying power, looking healthy.

They made a big deal of 200th anniversary
of beginning of War of 1812

Role players like Wilson Betemit, Nick Johnson and Ryan Flaherty making contributions.

Getting dizzy. Maybe it’s the Bohs

Starters pitching deep into games. Jim Johnson looking competent.

I get triple peanut. Nick hits triple. Coincidence?

Of course it was Twins. But they had their Lirianos, Morneaus and Mauers out there…

Good day to be mascot

Exciting weekend. But let’s not get ahead of selves! Yankees and West Coast swing in queue. Can Team stay above .500 into late April?

Dunno.

Look at Weet’s follow through! You know he can send it 300 yards down fairway.

Image via Team

Blog wonders if Matt thinks Tiger Woods is “beatable.” Also here is funny video about dumb Red Sox. My favorite things! Sure it’s a few months old but fond memories are worth reliving. Also in hope department, Matt likes what he is seeing early on from Brian Matusz.

“After having that difficult year last year, for him to have the ball come out of his hand the way it was today, I was impressed. He looked a lot like Matusz from 2010.” — via Sun

So we got that going for us. Which is nice.

First off: Ravens played solid game overall but miscues hurt ‘em awful. Sorry about outcome, Baltimore. Also, in first quarter, bogus illegal contact call against Lardarius Webb gave Patriots eventual margin of victory.

Anyway – on to real sport. Not easy to find optimism this offseason for Team of Blog. But a Blog can try. So consider this your optimistic take on what’s possible for 2012 Cartoony Birds:

Maybe our friend Jake Arrieta will blossom and our bud Brian Matusz, under tutelage of Rick Peterson and Brady Anderson, will “snap back” to use an economic term currently en vogue.

Blog is relatively sure Zach Britton is going to be good and possibly great.

Maybe Tsuyoshi Wada and Wei-Yin Chen, Team’s new eastern imports, will bolster rotation and keep it from its traditional mid-summer collapse. Chen especially appears to have promise.

Maybe Adam Jones and  Matt Wieters continue to blossom. And maybe they extend Jones, who made some news at FanFest this week with an endorsement of Baltimore that went far beyond his previous truisms.

Maybe Nolan Reimold grabs his chance to become a power-hitting, defense-playing every day left fielder.

And maybe they get some productive swings from Chris Davis.

Maybe Jim Johnson becomes a good closer and maybe Kevin Gregg, out of spotlight, finds his feet as a set up man. In other words, maybe Team finally finds continuity at back end of bullpen.

And maybe, from inside out, Team — especially pitching staff — becomes stronger, tougher, grittier and less inclined to fall victim to listless horrible losing streaks. This is what J.J. Hardy is calling for when he says “step up.”

Baseball isn’t Hollywood movie, but there is value in having some fight in you.

Maybe Team really still IS in market for Prince Fielder. That could explain why Buck  preemptively cleared decks, sending Mark Reynolds back to third base in pre-Spring announcement that essentially came out of nowhere. Speaking of Reynolds, word is he’s lighter and intent on improving his batting average and fielding.

Maybe Brian Roberts is on track to recovery.

String together 78 percent of these maybes and maybe a couple of other maybes and you could be looking at something. Think of it as a three-pick parlay that pays $20 to $1 — it doesn’t happen often, but if you hit it it’s going to be sweet and you’re going to look a genius.

Also Blog of Team thinks Blog is buying ski hat with Cartoon Bird. It’s cold out!