Saturday Bird Droppings: It's a good thing these games don't count!

Happy Saturday, Birdland. In case you missed it, the O's lost again yesterday, remaining winless thus far in spring training. They'll have two chances to change that today, with split squad games against the Twins (at 1:05) and the Rays (at 7:05). Tyler Wilson will be on the hill for the early game, and Kevin Gausman will take the late game.

In other news, hey, only 30 days until Opening Day! That's a number with some pretty good history for the O's. Chris Tillman has repped the number well in recent years, and before that it was worn by Luke Scott, Gregg Olson, Dennis Martinez, and Boog Powell (during his rookie year in 1961), among many others. Looking this up taught me that Boog Powell was basically Metta World Peace when it came to jersey numbers: he debuted with #30, then switched to #16, then to #26, then to #8, then back to #26.

Anyway, on to the links:

Orioles agree to minor league deal with first baseman/outfielder Mike Carp, pending physical - Baltimore Sun
Earth-shattering news from yesterday. Of note, Carp will not be invited to major league spring training.

School of Roch: Jimmy Paredes on his wrist injury (plus Blue Jays lineup)
This injury could be a blessing in disguise for Paredes, since he was looking like a potential casualty of roster math.

Maybe Ground-Ball Pitchers Actually Are a Bad Bet? | FanGraphs Baseball
This has nothing to do with the Orioles, but it's interesting. Long story short: ground ball pitchers might age more quickly and severely than other pitchers.

Camden Depot: Two More Minor-League Free Agents
The Depot discusses two 2012 Orioles that have found their way back to Birdland, Xavier Avery and Steve Tolleson.

Patient Tolliver hopes 2016 will finally be his year with Orioles | CSN Mid-Atlantic
Here's a profile of one of the guys in spring training with the Orioles that you probably haven't heard of.

If today is your birthday, you'll be sharing it with L.J. Hoes, Erik Bedard, Jeffrey Hammonds, and Jose Mercedes. You also share a birthday with Lu Blue, an outfielder who had a nice career in the 1930s for the Browns before they moved to Baltimore. I had to include him because of his name. Other people born on this day include King Henry II (1133), magician Penn Jillette (1955), and wide receiver Michael Irvin (1966).

Things that happened on March 5th include:

• In 1770, The Boston Massacre happened.
• In 1836, Samuel Colt filed the patent for the first production-model revolver.
• In 1933, Franklin Roosevelt passed the Emergency Banking Act, which temporary closed all U.S. banks.
• In 1960, Alberto Korda took the iconic photo of Che Guevara that now adorns the T-shirts of thousands of 19-year-olds (most of whom have no idea who Che Guevara is).
• In 1979, Voyager I made its closest approach to Jupiter. If you looked at a picture of Jupiter between 1979 and 2000, it was probably taken by Voyager I.

Have a great weekend!