The Monday night Orioles game thread: vs. Braves, 7:05

Maybe the Orioles are out there trying to sell to whoever's offering the best prospect package. Maybe the Orioles are out there trying to buy Justin Upton. Somebody knows, but they probably aren't telling ESPN's Jayson Stark. And in the meantime it's all unimportant. The Orioles who are on the field today need to find a way to win today's game. The rest is irrelevant.

Speaking of things that are irrelevant, I'm already tired of hearing about Nick Markakis making his return to Camden Yards. If you're lucky you've avoided the hand-wringing on Twitter and elsewhere of people wondering whether he will be booed or cheered, staking out strong positions that all other people must adhere to or be shunned. I don't care.

He was on the Orioles for a long time and he was good a long time before the Orioles were good. I'm glad he was here. I'm not sad he's not here any longer. He deserves no boos for taking the best contract for his family. He deserves no cheers because he's not on the Orioles right now. But all should do what they feel is right and suffer no sanction from the sanctimonious.

If I was there tonight, which I'm not, I would do the same thing when he's introduced that I do when pretty much every other non-Orioles player in baseball is introduced: Absolutely nothing. The game goes on, and hopefully Markakis doesn't decide to get his second home run of the year to show the Warehouse what they're missing out on.