Wednesday’s Bird Droppings: Where disappointment knows no time zone

Morning, Birdland!

Welp, at least Alex Cobb was pretty good. If you’re like me, and you must be since you come to Camden Chat every day, you didn’t watch much of last night’s game. But have no fear, Ben Hansford recapped the Orioles 3-2 loss to Angels in agonizing detail.

In short, it was what we have come to expect from this group. The starter turned in a solid performance, but the offense showed up too late and Brad Brach was bad. It doesn’t seem to matter what coast they play on. These Birds don’t change their stripes...or something like that.

On a positive note, Dylan Bundy pitches tonight, so that’s kinda cool. He had his worst outing of the year last week and he will surely hope to get back to winning ways as soon as possible.

Links

Adam Jones is Mr. Baltimore, but will he be an Oriole for life? - ESPN
He’s a club legend that is going to go down as one of the best players in franchise history regardless of what happens this offseason (or earlier). He’s also one of the best guys to ever play professional sports in Baltimore. It would seriously hurt to see him leave, but he also deserves one last shot at a ring, and it seems unlikely that will happen here.

Trumbo’s return; Hollywood & Manny; Ohtani & radio musings - Baltimore Baseball
Dan Connolly touches on pretty every topic that O’s fans are talking about.

Trumbo activated, Vielma recalled - MASN Sports
Mark Trumbo is back, baby! Is that a good thing? Who knows. The O’s offense has been better over the last week, but they could still use some help. As bad as Trumbo was in 2017, he is still better than some of the guys getting significant playing time in Baltimore these days.

Fail to Win 10 April Games and Not All Hope is Lost - Camden Depot
This has been a historically bad start for the Birds. However, there is a precedent of teams that have turned around equally bad beginnings to make the playoffs. Is it likely? No. But is it possible? Probably not.

Orioles not willing to entertain trade talk for Manny Machado - Baltimore Sun
A lot of people seem to be freaking out about this talk for no real reason. This has been a bad season for the O’s. They will probably trade Machado at some point. It’s a reality. However, that time is not now. They still have at least another month before they really need to be thinking about selling.

Eddie Murray selected to Negro Leagues Baseball “Hall of Game” - Baltimore Sun
The Orioles Hall-of-Famer will be joined by Dick Allen, Kenny Lofton, Mudcat Grant and J.R. Richard in this induction. What an honor for one of the finest first basemen of all time.

Floundering Orioles face uncertain future, nowhere to go but up - Sporting News
The Orioles stink and they will continue to stink for a while. But they won’t stink AS bad as they have stunk so far this season. Yay?

Orioles birthdays and history

Is it your birthday? Happy Birthday! You (probably) only have 54 fewer career games as an Oriole than the two guys who share your birthday.

Keith Moreland batted .215/.243/.280 with one home run and 10 RBI over 33 games as a first baseman, third baseman and catcher for the 1989 Birds. He turns 64 years old today.

Brent Bowers is 47. The leftfielder batted .308/.308/.359 over 21 games in the only major league season of his career. He was a member of the 1996 Orioles that eventually made it to the ALCS, but Bowers wasn’t on the playoff roster.

1611 - The King James Version of the Bible is first published.

1920 - The inaugural Negro National League game is played in Indianapolis.

1980 - Ellie Kemper is born. She is known for her roles has Erin in The Office and as the title character in Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

2010 - Ty Wigginton, who went on to be an all-star that year, hits a walk-off double against Boston’s Jonathan Papelbon. The Orioles win 3-2 to sweep the Red Sox in Baltimore for the first time since 1974.

2011 - Osama bin Laden is killed.

2015 - Princess Charlotte of Cambridge is born.