Nick Markakis

We all know that there are certain players who have struggled through the first half of the season. We also know that there are players who notoriously produce better in the second half. Here are five hitters that other owners in your league may be ready to give up on, yet could produce plenty of value in the second half (all stats are through Sunday):

I had probably the same reaction as most when the Orioles announced Trent Mummey as the team's fourth-round pick a few weeks ago.

Nice name, but....who?

And like some of you, I dug a little deeper to see what kind of havoc Mummey brought on SEC pitchers this year.

What I found was very, VERY impressive.

Mummey tore the cover off the ball to the tune of a .366 average, 20 points less than Hunter Morris, his teammate at Auburn and fellow fourth-round pick, but still impressive.

"Grow the arms and buy the bats."

That's the philosophy Andy MacPhail said he was going to try to rebuild the once great Baltimore franchise with.

So here we are, three years later. The arms have been grown: Brian Matusz, the fourth overall pick in the 2008 draft; Chris Tillman, stolen from the Seattle Mariners in the one-sided Erik Bedard trade; Jake Arrieta, Triple-A superstar, and on the verge of joining the big league rotation any week now; and, Zach Britton, one of the more promising, underrated arms in the minors.

Now, how 'bout those bats?

It's been nearly 12.5 years since the Baltimore Orioles have been in a playoff game. It's been 12.5 years since Baltimore has last finished a season with a final record above the .500 mark. It's been nearly 5.5 years since the Orioles have seen any place in the final standings better than fourth (and if you don't count the 2004 season, it's been nearly 12.5 years, as well).

I want to start this piece by making it clear that I have been a loyal fan of the Baltimore Orioles for 40 years and hope to be a fan for another 40 years.

With the start of the 2010 baseball season now upon us, those around the Baltimore Orioles are cautiously optimistic that after more than a decade of decay, the team is ready to turn things around. The big question, given their current streak of 12 consecutive losing seasons, is what would be considered a successful season for the O’s in 2010.

On a freshly cut field in Sarasota, the sun is shining while four or five Orioles take batting practice. Adam Jones punishes room-service fastballs as Matt Wieters and Nick Markakis share a laugh. A new day shimmers as baseball is in the air. Little does this team know, they are the future.

After 12 straight losing seasons, optimism is high in Baltimore that 2010 could be the season the Orioles move back over the .500 mark.

However, considering that they won only 64 games a year ago, even with a plethora of young talent, there is much to be done if the O’s are really going to move to the plus side of the ledger.

This is part two of a three part series about the 2010 Orioles. In part one we looked at keys to the season.

The Baltimore Orioles are looking to make a run in the AL East or at least trying to improve on their past seasons. Last year the Orioles finished dead last in the AL East with a 64-98 record, worse than their 2008 season. Already this season they started off losers by not signing Matt Holliday and letting go long-time third baseman Melvin Mora.