2013 Opening Day Jim Johnson

True to his word, Matt from over at Once a Cub offered me his Opening Day extras from the debacle that was Blaster Wars. I turned him down though as I plan to buy a complete set in the near future and figured he would be able to trade them off for other stuff. With that said, I did take him up on his offer to let me scan a few for the purposes of this blog.

 

The Orioles have yet to play so in honor of their Opening Day today, here is Jim Johnson's card from this year's set.

I don't really follow American League baseball so it could just be me,  but the Orioles kind of came out of nowhere last year. And a big part of that was closer Jim Johnson. His 51 Saves, was three more than the next the closest guy, division rival the Rays' Fernado Rodney and nine more than the nearest National League leaders, the Cardinals' Jason Matte and the Braves Craig Kimbrel.

 

That was enough to garner him a few Cy Young votes in an otherwise tight race between starters Justin Verlander and winner David Price. He also pitched a perfect inning in his All-Star Game debut against a dominant National League team that pounded other American League pitchers for an 8-0 victory.