Sunday Bird Droppings: Where the Orioles are going down in flames

Hello, friends.

Another day has dawned with the Orioles in third place in the American League East. The Orioles are now 13.5 games back of the division-leading Red Sox. They’re tied with the Rays that far out of the picture.

It’s been pointless to talk about the division race as if that was an attainable goal for a while. One more Orioles loss or Red Sox win will officially eliminate them from the division.

The last week and a half of Orioles baseball has similarly torpedoed the wild card race as a relevant topic of discussion. They remain 5.5 games out of the second wild card spot, behind the Twins. The “tragic number” for the wild card spot is nine. Of course it’s over already, but it’s nine more Orioles losses or Twins wins before that mathematical elimination arrives.

The Orioles have lost three in a row, nine out of ten, and they have just a 4-11 record in the month of September. The good news is, there are only 13 more games before we don’t have to watch them for a while. I’m sad to say that piece of information is good news.

Around the blogO’sphere

Orioles have to stop fooling themselves about the future of their starting rotation (Baltimore Sun)
Peter Schmuck thinks that it’s time for the Orioles to get real: Their internal options aren’t the answer.

Here’s how to build Orioles’ 2018 rotation (Press Box)
Stan “The Fan” Charles has his suggestion for the answer, though.

As Orioles’ ugly September skid continues playoff chase gives way to saving face (Baltimore Sun)
This current series gives the impression that there’s not a whole lot of face-saving going on.

Orioles' young pitchers lectured this morning - School of Roch
Do managers other than Buck Showalter obsess so much about pitchers’ time to the plate? Maybe they do and we just don’t hear about it. Maybe other teams are better at developing it so it never comes up.

Solid year: DJ Stewart produced 20-20 season at Bowie - Steve Melewski
Some prospects, including Stewart, give a little bit of reason to hope for the future. Just none of them are pitching prospects near the majors.

Tanner Scott joins Orioles ahead of callup | MLB.com
This should be officially announced today. Someone is about to get DFA’d. Hopefully it isn’t anyone we will end up missing.

Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees fined separately as part of MLB investigation into sign-stealing
Both the Red Sox and Yankees have officially been proclaimed cheaters by MLB, although the punishment is little more than a slap on the wrist.

Birthdays and anniversaries

On this day in 1970, the Orioles clinched the American League East following a Yankees loss to Boston. That team went on to good things, I’ve heard. In 1998, GM Frank Wren ordered the team plane to take off without Cal Ripken Jr. despite his phoning to say he was delayed by traffic and would be there within ten minutes.

One lone former Oriole has a birthday today: Wayne Krenchicki, a reserve for the 1979-81 Orioles.

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! Your birthday buddies for today include: Forceps inventor Stephen Hales (1677), outlaw Billy the Kid (1859), Marriott Corporation founder J. Willard Marriott (1900), novelist Ken Kesey (1935), baseball Hall of Famer Orlando Cepeda (1937), basketball coach Phil Jackson (1945), movie man Baz Luhrmann (1962), Sonic the Hedgehog creator Yuji Naka (1965), and rapper Flo Rida (1979).

On this day in history...

In 1787, the United States Constitution was signed in Philadelphia.

In 1862, the Union force under General McClellan blunted the advance of Lee’s Confederates at the Battle of Antietam, still the bloodiest single day in American military history. McClellan’s failure to pursue the outnumbered Confederate force led to his removal from command.

In 1928, the Okeechobee hurricane struck southeastern Florida, killing more than 2,500 people. This remains the third-deadliest natural disaster in American history, with only the 1900 Galveston hurricane and the 1906 San Francisco earthquake ahead of it.

In 1940, after having been defeated in the Battle of Britain, Hitler ordered an indefinite postponement, never to be revived, of Operation Sea Lion, the plan for a naval invasion of the United Kingdom.

Later on in the war, in 1944, the Allied Operation Market Garden, an invasion of the Netherlands that aimed to end the war before Christmas of that year, kicked off with the “Market” half - an airborne operation involving more than 40,000 troops trying to secure bridges for the ground forces to use.

In 1983, Vanessa Williams became the first black Miss America.

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And that’s the way it is in Birdland on September 17 - or at least, until something happens later, although honestly, if you don’t want to watch it, that’s OK. You might miss Scott’s MLB debut or something! Have a safe Sunday. Go Orioles!