Monday Bird Droppings: Where at least the Orioles can’t lose today

Hello, friends.

Another day has dawned with the Orioles in last place in the American League East. After their loss on Sunday, they remain tied for the worst record in MLB at 8-26. They are 17 games behind the first place Red Sox and eight games behind even the fourth place Rays. The good news is that they can’t lose today, since they don’t play today.

The final game of the west coast road trip went the same as all the rest. The Orioles lost. They have now lost twelve road games in a row. When you get a streak like that, that always comes with, “That’s the most (thing) since...” and saying that about the 2018 Orioles now gives you the most of whatever or the worst whatever since 1988. That’s how bad these Orioles are.

If you missed Sunday’s game, you missed another one where there was a good starting pitching performance that got ruined by poor defense and a pathetic showing by the offense. This is not the first game where that has happened this season and it probably will not be the last. You can check out my recap for the not-so-lovely totals from the game.

Will anything interesting happen on this off day? Probably not, although you never know. If things keep going on like this, somebody has to get fired eventually, even before the point where we may have imagined that a bad Orioles team might start to see some firings.

So far, loyalty is being shown even to people who are not getting the job done - perhaps because the decision makers aren’t blaming the coaches or manager or front office, and perhaps because of that same misguided loyalty.

Around the blogO’sphere

Something has to give for the Orioles. The question is, when? (The Athletic)
Ken Rosenthal also seems to think that it’s only a matter of time before people start getting fired. I am often charged with being a pessimist, and I have to tell you that even I did not imagine, before the season, that this is what we would be talking about in early May.

The Baltimore Orioles are in some serious trouble (SB Nation)
Even the SBN mothership has noticed how bad things are going for our favorite baseball team.

Joseph: “We’ve got to man up, grow up, start playing better” (School of Roch)
This post-game quote from yesterday shows that Caleb Joseph is in touch with the same reality that we are observing:

We’re not good on defense. We haven’t been very good offensively. Our baserunning has stunk at times. Just every phase, absolutely every phase. Starting pitching, relieving, closing, defense, outfield, infield, you name it. We can improve on everything.

Alex Cobb finds form again with second straight quality start in California (Baltimore Sun)
You can’t exactly call it silver lining, but if Cobb and Kevin Gausman are going to continue to pitch like this now that they have left the west coast, that will be a plus as far as the rest of the 2018 season being a bit less miserable.

Birthdays and anniversaries

There are a few former Orioles with birthdays today. They are: 2000-03 catcher Brook Fordyce, 1994-96 outfielder Mark Smith, and the late Dick Williams, utility man from 1956-63.

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! Your birthday buddies for today include: philosopher David Hume (1711), poet Robert Browning (1812), composers Johannes Brahms (1833) and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840), and wrestler Owen Hart (1965).

On this day in history...

In 558, the dome of the Hagia Sophia in what was then Constantinople collapsed. The Byzantine emperor of the day, Justinian I, ordered that it be rebuilt. The structure still stands today, though it looks a little different since the Ottomans conquered it in 1453.

In 1718, the city of New Orleans was founded. Its founder: Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville.

In 1824, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony received its world premiere in Vienna. Although it’s probably not actually true, I’ve heard it said that when compact discs were being designed, they made them specifically with enough storage to fit a typical performance of Beethoven’s Ninth on it.

In 1915, the RMS Lusitania was sunk by a German submarine, U-20, leading to the death of 1,198 people. Among the dead were 128 Americans, contributing to anti-German feelings that preceded America entering the Great War.

In 1942, American and Japanese naval forces fought the Battle of the Coral Sea, the first time in history that a naval battle was waged by carrier-based planes with ships never coming in contact. The Japanese won the battle by sinking more ships; however, two Japanese carriers were heavily damaged and unavailable for the soon-to-come Battle of Midway, which proved crucial.

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And that’s the way it is in Birdland on May 7 - or at least, unless something happens later on this off day. Enjoy the day where the Orioles can’t lose. Have a safe Monday.