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Sunday Bird Droppings

Brian Matusz gets a start to show off, Jonathan Schoop spent the winter kicking a soccer ball, and Ubaldo Jimenez is 5+ mph slower than he was five years ago. That might be a problem.

Manny Machado
Manny Machado
Jonathan Dyer-USA TODAY Sports

Karns Pitches 4 Perfect Innings As Rays Beat Orioles 3-2 " CBS Baltimore
"Brian Matusz, who normally relieves, got a start and pitched three scoreless innings, giving up two hits and striking out three." Gotta show the buyers the merchandise, I suppose. I mean, we are all expecting him to be traded in the next 10 minutes, right?

Orioles second baseman Jonathan Schoop drops weight, and expectations soar - Baltimore Sun
"The [soccer] field was just a five-minute bike ride from my house," Jonathan Schoop said. "You know you have to be in shape before you have to run for 90 minutes. The drills I did were to make my agility better. It's running with quick feet. You stop and go there, run, dribble, pass. I didn't do it because I wanted to lose weight, because last year I wasn't feeling bad or anything. But I want to do something to get better."

Report: Orioles encouraged by C Matt Wieters' progress : Fantasy News
"Matt Wieters will catch back-to-back games for the first time since having Tommy John surgery in June. The plan is for him to catch his first Grapefruit League game on Tuesday." He caught yesterday, will catch today, and will clear to attempt to throw out baserunners Tuesday. So, we'll get a pretty good idea quickly of where Wieters is in his rehab.

Baltimore Orioles' absent offense is no cause for alarm in spring training - carrollcountytimes.com
Stacey said it best - Spring Training stats don't mean anything. Stop worrying about them. I mean, even Peter Schmuck knows this.

Examining the Orioles options for Ubaldo Jimenez - BaseballEssential
"In 2014, the average velocity of an Ubaldo Jimenez fastball was 90.6 MPH, a far cry from the 96.3 MPH he posted during his 2010 All-Star season." Have we talked about this? I'm not sure we have. But losing 5+ mph off your fastball sure does shrink your margin for error.

Joe Torre stops by Orioles training camp, says speed-up plan going well - Baltimore Sun
MLB executive vice president says that players are getting used to rules and tools that squeeze time between innings. I'll believe it when David Ortiz actually gets a meaningful penalty.

Happy Birthday to one-fifth of the 2008 Five-Headed Shortstop Monster Freddie "Boom Boom"  Bynum, Mike Pagliarulo, and Eastern Shore legend Harold Baines (who in high school was known as the fastest player ever to play in Bayside Conference, believe it or not).

Nothing meaningful happened on this date in Baltimore baseball history.

After they've freshened your laundry, use dryer sheets to clean anything--baseboards, your television or laptop screen, bookshelves--and the anti-static chemicals will actually repel dust in the future.

Use this space to discuss the NASCAR CampingWorld.com 500 from Phoenix later today. Or what Rafael do Anjos did to Anthony Pettis last night. Didn't see that coming.

I don't want to get married, I want to stay single and let my hair flow in the wind as I ride through the Open Thread firing arrows into the sunset.