Saturday Bird Droppings: And just like that, the good feelings disappear

About Last Night

Late-inning walks burn Orioles in loss to Rays - Baltimore Sun
"If there was any lesson within the Orioles’ unsettling 6-4 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday night, it was the damage that late-inning walks in close games can cause." SPOILER ALERT: They're bad.

Schmuck: Dan Duquette in buy mode as Orioles make midpoint recovery - Baltimore Sun
“To sustain a competitive team, you need to have your good closer on the end and your ace pitcher. We had the unfortunate set of events the first half of the season where we haven’t gotten a lot from our first two starting pitchers and our closer wasn’t available to us." - Orioles EVP Dan Duquette.

Not Everything Is Horrible

Orioles notes: DL Hall signs for 'about $3 million;' Chris Davis' return date unknown - Baltimore Sun
"DL Hall, 18, and the Orioles made their match official when the team announced that he signed his rookie contract before Friday’s series opener against the Tampa Bay Rays."

Showalter offers his input on All-Star team - School of Roch
“I know a lot more than ... I know who they’re considering and they got my input on it. I think Dan (Duquette) gave his. I gave them my thoughts and said these are the four guys I’d take. Which means they’ll take probably one. I don’t know. We’ll see." - Buck Showalter. And his list of four apparently includes Trey Mancini.

The scoop on Schoop: Coolbaugh on his breakout season - Steve Melewski
“You look at some hitters that are having better years than in the past, like Justin Smoak with Toronto, they have raised their strikezone and raised their sights. That is what he (Schoop) has been able to do in a nutshell,” Orioles hitting coach Scott Coolbaugh said.

Rehab Report

Notes on Crichton, Davis, Wright, Castillo, Flaherty and more - School of Roch
“He’s (Chris Davis) trying to push for a little more activity,” Buck Showalter said. “I asked him, ‘Do you think you might make it after the break?’ And he said, ‘I was hoping to make it before the break.’ " Hey now, big guy, nothing stupid, OK?

Orioles' Chris Davis: Eager to ramp up activity - CBSSports.com
Chris Davis (oblique) is pushing the Orioles to let him increase his activity, Roch Kubatko of MASN Sports reports.

Britton looks like himself in Keys rehab outing - Frederick News-Post

“[Buck] Showalter wanted me to throw the ninth tonight, just to kind of sit down for a whole game and go through the process of what I would do normally. It actually worked out because I felt the best today that I have,” Zach Britton said about his MiLB rehab outing.

Birthdays and History

Happy Birthday to everyone’s favorite One Year Oriole, Nelson Cruz! Former Oriole and noted redneck cooking expert Jamie Walker has a birthday today, too. They share today with famous people including songwriter and "The Father of Gospel Music" Thomas Andrew Dorsey 1899; film director William Wyler 1902 (and if you haven't checked out 'Five Came Back' on Netflix yet, do so); cosmetics maven Estee Lauder 1908; blues musician and Led Zeppelin co-writer (well, eventually) Willie Dixon 1915; “Gone With The Wind” actress Olivia DeHavilland 1916 (who's still alive, by the way); "M*A*S*H" actor Jamie Farr 1934; comedian and actor Dan Aykroyd 1952; Olympic gold medalist Carl Lewis 1961; Princess Diana (Spencer) 1961; Faith No More keyboardist Roddy Bottum 1963; "actress" Pamela Anderson 1967; and model and actress Liv Tyler 1977.

Today in Baltimore baseball history...

1957 - Orioles pitcher George Zuverink and catcher Frank Zupo form the first "Z" battery in major league history as the Yankees beat the Birds, 3 - 2.

1967 - Baltimore's Jim Palmer gives up a grand slam - but it is in the minors. Sent to Rochester (International League) to rehabilitate from back problems, Rochester manager Earl Weaver starts the 21-year-old against Buffalo, in a game moved to Niagara Falls because of racial disturbances on Buffalo's east side. Palmer is given a 7 - 0 lead, but the Bisons score five runs in the 3rd, four coming home on a grand slam by Johnny Bench. Rochester hangs on to win, 10 - 8.

1967 - Mike Adamson makes his major league debut for Baltimore: he is the first draftee to bypass the minors and go straight to the majors, though he'll play in the minors next year.

1994 - The Orioles and Angels combine to hit a major league record-tying 11 home runs in a contest won by Baltimore, 14 - 7. The Orioles smash six of the round-trippers and the Angels hit 5. It is the 8th 11-home run game in history. Surprisingly, none of the homers goes as far as 400 feet.

2001 - The Orioles defeat the White Sox, 11 - 3, on Cal Ripken Jr. Day. Ripken gets three hits in the Baltimore cause.

It’s also the yearly anniversary of Bobby Bonilla getting another $1.19 million from the New York Mets. He’ll get that check every July 1 through the year 2035.

Today in world history...

1862 - The U.S. Congress established the Bureau of Internal Revenue.

1863 - During the U.S. Civil War, the first day's fighting at Gettysburg began.

1867 - Canada became an independent dominion.

1943 - The U.S. Government began automatically withholding federal income tax from paychecks.

1946 - U.S. President Harry Truman signed Public Law 476 that incorporated the Civil Air Patrol as a benevolent, nonprofit organization. The Civil Air Patrol was created on December 1, 1941.

1963 - The U.S. postmaster introduced the five-digit ZIP (Zoning Improvement Plan) code.

1979 - Sony introduced the Walkman.

1991 - The Warsaw Pact dissolved.

1997 - The sovereignty over Hong Kong was transferred from Great Britain to China. Britain had controlled Hong Kong as a colony for 156 years.

1999 - The U.S. Justice Department released new regulations that granted the attorney general sole power to appoint and oversee special counsels. The 1978 independent-counsel statute expired on June 30.

Consider this your discussion space on how Bobby Bonilla is going to celebrate today.