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Hello, friends.
There are now ten days to go until Orioles Opening Day. Tomorrow, it will be in the single digits! For today it’s still ten, which is Adam Jones days to go until there is real Orioles baseball being played. It would take quite a lot for Jones to be unseated as the best #10 in Orioles history. The number was worn in the past by Terry Crowley and Elrod Hendricks in their playing days.
The spring training schedule rolls on here on this Monday, not that today’s game will grace the Baltimore airwaves in any way. The Orioles travel to Tigers camp this afternoon. The game isn’t televised on the Tigers end either, but if you subscribe to the right MLB products, you could listen to the Tigers radio broadcast.
Counting today, just seven Grapefruit League games remain for the Orioles to play before they head north. The start of the season will probably feel a little closer after we get past whatever snow is or isn’t supposed to happen tomorrow in the Baltimore area. Too bad yesterday’s weather couldn’t just be transported to Opening Day.
Around the blogO’sphere
Hart optioned, Showalter on backup catchers (School of Roch)
The Orioles still have a bunch of cuts left to make, but Donnie Hart getting sent to the minors does give us another answer of who won’t be in the bullpen to start the season.
Wynns optioned to minors, leaving Sisco, Susac to vie for backup catcher job (Baltimore Sun)
There was also an answer about who won’t be the backup catcher to start the season. I’m surprised by this one.
Yacabonis makes his pitch to to earn some time in the ‘pen this year (Steve Melewski)
Hart may have been dropped to the minors, but Jimmy Yacabonis is still hanging in the picture for now.
Rasmus enjoys fit with the Orioles, now looks to make roster (Steve Melewski)
Colby Rasmus likes the vibe of this team, you guys.
Birthdays and anniversaries
One lone former Oriole has a birthday today: 1996-99 pitcher Rocky Coppinger, who turns 44.
Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! Your birthday buddies for today include: explorer David Livingstone (1813), Wild West lawman Wyatt Earp (1848), former Chief Justice Earl Warren (1891), actress Glenn Close (1947), actor Bruce Willis (1955), and Japanese soundtrack composer Yoko Kanno (1963).
On this day in history...
In 1279, a Mongol army defeated the Song dynasty Chinese in the Battle of Yamen. This ended the Song dynasty, with Mongol leader Kublai Khan, grandson of Genghis, establishing his own Mongol-led Yuan dynasty.
In 1863, the SS Georgiana, a new ship being delivered from Scotland to the Confederacy, was sunk as it attempted to run the Union blockade outside of Charleston, South Carolina. The ship was thought to be the most powerful Confederate ship if it ever became active. Exactly 102 years later, teenager and budding underwater archaeologist E. Lee Spence discovered the wreck in Charleston harbor.
In 1918, Congress established time zones in America and also approved daylight saving time.
In 1941, during world War II, the US 99th Pursuit Squadron was activated. They are better known as the Tuskegee Airmen, the first all-black unit in the Army Air Corps.
In 1962, Bob Dylan released his first album, self-titled, for Columbia Records.
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And that’s the way it is in Birdland on March 19 - or at least, until something happens later, even if whatever happens doesn’t count. Have a safe Monday.