Monday Bird Droppings: The walkoff euphoria edition, part 2

After a win that the Orioles desperately needed on Sunday, it seems like most of the baseball media is taking some time off and enjoying their holiday weekend. Pretty slim pickings as far as Orioles-related links are concerned, but here are a few to get your morning started.

Machado wins AL Player of the Month Award - Brittany Ghiroli (MLB.com) - In case there was any doubt, Manny is back.

Sunday Notes: Vision and Data fuel opportunity for Tommy Pham - David Laurila (Fangraphs) - Most of this is non-Orioles related but there is a section on Zach Britton with some interesting quotes about spin rate, his injury, etc. Worth a click.

Asher optioned, updates on Gentry and Hardy, more - Roch Kubatko (MASN) - Here are a handful of updates on some injured Orioles, as well as Alec Asher, who was optioned to Bowie in order to stay fresh / act as a ringer for their playoff run.

Why Yankees will skip Jaime Garcia for Jordan Montgomery on Monday - Randy Miller (NJ.com) - Spoiler alert: It’s because of Montgomery’s three-game track record against the Orioles.

O’s birthdays

There are three former Orioles with birthdays today. The first is utility infielder Luis Lopez, who apparently played in 108 games that I do not remember at all for the 2002 & 2004 Orioles.

The second is Eddie Waitkus, a first baseman who played for the 1954-55 O’s toward the end of his career. Despite multiple All-Star appearances in his twenties, Waitkus was best known for being shot by an obsessed fan in 1949, in one of the earliest high-profile cases of criminal stalking. The shooting was the inspiration for the beginning portion of the book and film The Natural.

Finally, we have Doyle Alexander, who pitched in 564 games for eight teams over a nineteen year career. Alexander was on the 1972-76 O’s until he was traded as the centerpiece of a monster ten-player deal that brought back Rick Dempsey, Tippy Martinez, Scott McGregor and two others from the Yankees.

Those three players alone combined for 49 bWAR in an Orioles uniform. You’d think teams would have learned their lesson after that, but Alexander was part of yet another uneven trade late in his career, when at age 36 he was traded from the Braves to the Tigers for some prospect named John Smoltz.

On this day in history

In 476, the Western Roman Empire officially ended when emperor Romulus Augustulus was deposed.

In 1666, the Great Fire of London reached peak destruction before subsiding a day later.

In 1862, the Maryland Campaign began, which was the Confederate Army’s first invasion of the North. The Battle of Antietam was fought thirteen days later.

In 1882, Thomas Edison flipped the switch to turn on the first commecial power plant in history.

In 1972, Mark Spitz became the first athlete to win seven medals at a single Olympic Games.

In 1998, Larry Page and Sergey Brin founded Google.

In 2002, the A’s won their 20th consecutive game on a walk-off home run by Scott Hatteberg that would later be immortalized on the big screen in Moneyball.