Saturday Bird Droppings: Where all is well in the playoffs, so far

Hello, friends.

There are now 172 days remaining until Orioles Opening Day 2018. For today, at least, we will be able to be entertained by the second game in each of the National League Division Series matchups.

It’s hard to be much happier with how the division series round has gone so far. As of this writing, the Red Sox, Yankees, and Nationals are all winless. That’s exciting for someone who approaches the postseason fueled by hate and not wanting to see certain teams win. Obviously, I am such a person. May they continue losing.

Of those three teams, only the Nationals lost a home game. The next two games - if there are two more games - in the AL series will be played in New York and Boston. Would I enjoy if those fans watched their teams be eliminated at home? Yes, you know that I would. And I hope that you would too.

Around the blogO’sphere

Analyzing the pending free agents in the playoffs that the Orioles could target (Baltimore Sun)
There are quite a few free agents who are on the playoff teams. Here’s a whole lot of names the Orioles won’t sign along with maybe one or two they will.

What was wrong with Orioles slugger Chris Davis in 2017? (Press Box)
It may be easier to ask what wasn’t wrong.

Flaherty on free agency: “I have a lot of loyalty to this team” (School of Roch)
In case you’ve been losing any sleep about the prospect of Ryan Flaherty’s free agency.

Ripken’s hometown dispute concerns, puzzles Aberdeen residents and him (Baltimore Sun)
The Ripkens have gotten themselves into a bit of a conflict in negotiating with the city of Aberdeen about non-baseball uses for the stadium.

What really ails the O’s? The happy bird hats (Baltimore Sun)
Here is a Baltimore Sun reader’s letter that was written by a demonstrably terrible Orioles fan and possibly human being.

Has the era of the super team arrived? (Fangraphs)
This doesn’t have much to do with the Orioles, who are decidedly not a super team, but they’re going to have to beat some super teams in the future... if we are in that era.

Birthdays and anniversaries

There are two former Orioles with birthdays today. They are: 1968 reliever John O’Donoghue and the late Grady Hatton of the 1956 O’s. It’s also the birthday of possible future bad Orioles free agent starting pitcher signing Alex Cobb.

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! Your birthday buddies for today include: Jacobean poet John Marston (1576), early American settler/soldier Captain John Underhill (1597), physicist Niels Bohr (1885), anti-apartheid activist Desmond Tutu (1931), singer-songwriter John Mellencamp (1951), cellist Yo-Yo Ma (1955), and Maryland-born singer-songwriter Toni Braxton (1967).

On this day in history...

In 3761 BC, the modern Hebrew calendar originated.

In 1763 AD, King George III of the United Kingdom issued a proclamation that lands north and west of the Alleghenies were closed to American settlers.

In 1919, Netherlands flag carrier KLM was founded. KLM is the oldest airline in the world that still operates under its original name.

In 1959, Soviet probe Luna 3 transmitted the first ever photographs of the dark side of the moon.

In 1998, Matthew Shepard, a student at the University of Wyoming, was found tied to a fence after having been horribly beaten. Federal hate crime prevention legislation from 2009 bears his name.

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And that’s the way it is in Birdland on October 7 - or at least, unless something happens later. Probably nothing will, at least not with the O’s, but there’s always the playoffs for everybody else. Have a safe Saturday.