Monday Bird Droppings: Where there’s a spring training off day

Hello, friends.

There are now 24 days remaining until Orioles Opening Day. This number has been used for the last couple of seasons by Pedro Alvarez, who may be back to use it again at some point this season as well - though he’s wearing #2 in spring games. It’s also Rick Dempsey days until Opening Day, so try to go about this Monday with the same kind of carefree spirit that lets you slide across a wet tarp. Don’t literally slide across the tarp, though.

It’s a spring training off day today, so there won’t be even an untelevised fake game to occupy our attention at any point. The spring schedule is about one-third over. No shortage of fake games to get players ready for the season. And it can be an off day for ailing Orioles like Chris Davis, Austin Hays, and Craig Gentry to get themselves healthy, hopefully by the end of the week in each case.

For all that I make fun of spring training, it was about as exciting as it gets yesterday as the Orioles pulled off a comeback to beat the Red Sox, 10-8. Many individual Orioles had good games, although Gabriel Ynoa wasn’t one of them, and neither was Ryan Mountcastle in the field.

Around the blogO’sphere

Chris Tillman’s simulated game puts offseason delivery changes on display (Baltimore Sun)
Everyone is saying that Chris Tillman looks better than last year, which is a low bar to clear, to be sure. Here’s hoping they’re right.

MRI reveals no structural elbow or forearm damage for Chris Davis (ESPN)
If you weren’t keeping tabs on Orioles news over the weekend, you may have missed that Davis needed an MRI, but it’s OK! He’s only going to be out for a few days, for now.

Manny Machado has lofty goals for 2018 (Orioles.com)
He’s sure off to a hot start in spring training, which doesn’t mean anything for the regular season, but it’s better than nothing.

More camp cuts and wrapping up a 10-8 win (School of Roch)
The Orioles have trimmed the camp roster down to 60 players so far. None of the cuts up to this point have decisively settled any of the open roster questions.

Myriad O’s thoughts: Valencia signing; Gausman’s outing; Sammy Stewart’s life (Baltimore Baseball)
Dan Connolly runs down some of the weekend happenings, including the fact that Danny Valencia is back on a minor league contract, and he’s either going to make the MLB club or leave!

Birthdays and anniversaries

In 1996, the Veterans Committee named Earl Weaver and three others to the Hall of Fame.

There are a few former Orioles with birthdays today. They are: 2012-13 three-gamer L.J. Hoes, eventual legendary trade piece and 2002-07 pitcher Erik Bedard, 1993-98 outfielder Jeffrey Hammonds, and 2000-01 starter Jose Mercedes.

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! Your birthday buddies for today include: cartographer Gerardus Mercator (1512), magician Penn Jillette (1955), and funny man Aasif Mandvi (1966).

On this day in history...

In 1616, Copernicus’s book On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres was placed on the Catholic Church’s Index of Forbidden Books, 73 years after it had been published.

In 1770, British troops shot and killed five Americans in Boston, a massacre that later proved important as revolutionary fervor simmered.

In 1836, Samuel Colt received the patent for the first production-model revolver, which was a .34 caliber.

In 1940, six Soviet Union politburo members, including Joseph Stalin, signed an order for the execution of 25,700 Polish people, including POWs and intelligentsia. Thirteen years later on this same day, Stalin died of a cerebral hemorrhage.

In 1970, after having been ratified by 43 nations, the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons took effect. The treaty states that non-nuclear powers will refrain from developing those weapons, while nuclear powers will share peaceful nuclear technology.

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And that’s the way it is in Birdland on March 5 - or at least, unless something happens later, which it probably won’t unless the Orioles make a surprise signing. Have a safe Monday.