Friday Bird Droppings

So, after going bananas to open up the series in KC, the offense goes into hibernation and the team limps home after a road trip that began with such promise. Sigh. The Red Sox come to town out of a sort of rough patch, but plan on sending the resurgent John Lackey to the hill as well as hated foe Jon Lester. A strong series from the Birds, however, would probably knock the Sox out of first, given the otherworldly month the Rays have had (picking on inferior competition...hope you're paying attention, guys). The Mariners and Astros follow the Sox to town.

It's been a long week. I think we all could use a little home cookin'.

School of Roch: What's the next move for the offense? Coming home with a short bench, Roch speculates on call ups...the Italian Stallion or L.J. HOOOOOOOOOOEEEEEESSSSS?

Urrutia impressing in small sample with O's | orioles.com: News Hammering Hank gets on track...Tsuyoshi Wada? Do you REALLY want to know?

What will Orioles do with Dickerson? | Comcast SportsNet Baltimore From GIF of the week darling to waiver wire fodder...the baseballing life can be so cruel.

PressBox: Orioles' Momentum Stalls Out In Kansas City PaulFolk wraps up the KC series.

MLB Power Rankings: Redbirds stay No. 1 but red-hot Rays are right behind | The Strike Zone - SI.com The O's hang around the top ten in Jaffe's latest rankings.

Average or Excellent: The Two Miguel Gonzalez' | Baltimore Sports and Life Well, last night was unfortunate, but Miguel Gonzalez has kind of been the man over the last year.

An update on bad pitchers with good strikeout-to-walk ratios - Baseball Nation Long considered a valuable data point in pitcher evaluation, Grant Brisbee ponders the worth of K/BB.

On this day in 1970, Boog Powell powered O's to an 11-1 win over the Tigers, hitting a homer and a single with the bases loaded; in 1980, Steve Stone bolstered his case for that season's Cy Young award with his 14th straight win (yeah, yeah...).

It's the birthday of Alex Burnett, the youthful Pete Ward and Lou Jackson.