Sunday Bird Droppings

Manny Machado's patience fueled his offensive breakout in 2015 - Beyond the Box Score
Here's a whole bunch of stats showing why Manny Macahdo was really, really good at hitting this year.

Boston Red Sox-MLB rumors: Would Chris Davis take Orioles hometown discount with Scott Boras as agent? | masslive.com
"I think there are a lot of people who really have such a bad image of who Scott is," Chris Davis told MassLive.com back in September. "Obviously, he gets big deals for players. But he's also done some deals in the past where guys have wanted to stay at certain places or go to certain places and he's not forcing our hand to sign the biggest, best contract that's offered. But his job is to go out there and get the best offer and he does that. There's no doubt about it. But I think at the end of the day he leaves the decision in our hands and supports us whatever we do."

Alex Gordon Draws League-Wide Interest - KC Kingdom
"It’s almost comical the number of teams that are ‘linked’ (officially or unofficially) to Alex Gordon." And the Orioles are one of them.

Happy Birthday to former Orioles Guillermo Quiroz, Brian Holton, and Joe Price. They share it with famous folks like 1427 - Zhengtong, Emperor of China; 1803 - Christian Doppler, physicist; 1832 - Louisa May Alcott, author; 1898 - C. S. Lewis, author; 1911 - Klaus E J Fuchs, German/British atomic physicist/spy; 1927 - Vin Scully, American sportscaster; 1940 - Chuck Mangione, jazz hornist; 1955 - Howie Mandel, comedian; 1956 - Leo Laporte, technology podcaster; 1960 - Cathy Moriarty, actress; 1964 - Don Cheadle, actor; and 1976 - Anna Faris, actress.

On this date in Orioles history...

1975 - Two Orioles standouts, with a combined total of 24 Gold Glove Awards, are each honored for the last time. Brooks Robinson and Paul Blair are the two making swan songs on The Sporting News fielding team, while outfielders Garry Maddox and Fred Lynn both win the award for the first time.

In world history on this date...

526 - Antioch in modern day Syria struck by Earthquake, about 250,000 die

1745 - Bonnie Prince Charlie's army moves into Manchester & occupies Carlisle

1951 - 1st underground atomic explosion, Frenchman Flat, Nevada

1972 - Nolan Bushnell (co-founder of Atari) releases Pong (the first commercially successful video game) in Andy Capp's Tavern in Sunnyvale, California.

1995 - CNN/fn, the financial network by Turner Enterprises, launched

Consider this your discussion space for NCAA 3rd Round Playoff action as the No. 10 seeded Maryland will travel to South Bend for a battle with No. 7 seed Notre Dame on Sunday at 2 p.m.