Tuesday Bird Droppings: Where the Orioles are staying up late

Good morning, Camden Chatters.

The Orioles’ West Coast trip is upon us, with three games in Anaheim followed by three in Oakland. The first four of those games start at 10 PM Eastern time, then 9 on Saturday before the 4 PM Sunday finale. East coast Orioles fans are faced with a tough choice: stay up until the wee hours of the morning to watch every pitch, or call it a night after a few innings? Nobody would blame you for choosing the latter, even if the Orioles were a good team.

The Orioles have yet to win any road games this season that weren’t at Yankee Stadium — getting swept in Houston, Boston, and Detroit — and they generally struggle on West Coast trips. Getting out of California with even a .500 record on the trip would be a minor miracle.

Whether you choose to watch or to sleep, best of luck to the Orioles this week. They’ll need it.

Links

The Orioles 21-game losing streak in 1988 will never be matched - SBNation.com
If there's a more entertaining sports writer in the world than Grant Brisbee, I don't know them. A Grant Brisbee deep-dive piece about the woebegone 1988 Orioles is a must-read.

Inbox: How will O's get Davis' bat going? (MLB.com)
Britt Ghiroli fields questions from O's fans about Chris Davis, Alex Cobb, Mark Trumbo, and Richard Bleier.

Showalter strives for turnaround from last-place Orioles (AP)
If you're looking for quotes from various Orioles talking about how they're keeping their chins up and they know they can turn things around, you've come to the right place.

Nick Castellanos chases down young Orioles' fan who lost hat during on-field race | MLive.com
Fan loses hat, Castellanos runs it back to him. Who says chivalry is dead?

Orioles birthdays and history

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! Your one major league Orioles birthday buddy is righty Allan Ramirez (61), who spent his entire 11-game career with the Birds in 1983. He went 4-4 with a 3.47 ERA. But he got a World Series ring out of it, so not too shabby!

It’s also the 46th birthday of right-hander Bobby Chouinard, the Orioles’ fifth-round draft pick in 1990. He didn’t get to the majors with the O’s, but they dealt him to the Athletics in 1993 for Harold Baines, now a member of the Orioles Hall of Fame. Nice trade.

On this day in 2012, Buck Showalter won his 1,000th career game as manager in a 7-1 O’s victory over his former club, the Yankees.

In 2014, the Orioles swept a doubleheader against the Pirates; in Game 2, Manny Machado made his season debut after missing the Birds’ first 25 games recovering from knee surgery. I was in attendance for both games that night, and what I remember most is that there were multiple rain delays, including one between games, so I had to peace out before Matt Wieters won the nightcap with a walkoff homer.