Monday Bird Droppings: Where the Orioles are almost not the worst

Hello, friends.

Another day has dawned with the Orioles in last place in the American League East. They remain 27.5 games out of first place, trailing both the Yankees and Red Sox. The O’s are 12.5 games out of even fourth place. The good news is that they almost don’t have the worst record in MLB any more, with their 23-53 mark now being only a half-game worse than the 23-54 Royals.

The O’s concluded a 3-3 road trip, which is not too bad by their standards, with a loss to the Braves on Sunday afternoon. Of course they couldn’t sweep a first place team. Check out Ben Hansford’s recap of the 7-3 loss for the not-so-lovely totals. By the way, speaking of little stretches of .500, if the Orioles went .500 from this point for the whole rest of the season, they would finish with a 66-96 record. Yeah. Ouch.

In their 76th game in 1988, the Orioles beat the Blue Jays, 7-0. Jay Tibbs got the win as both Fred Lynn and Eddie Murray drove in three runs each for the O’s. This improved their record to 22-54 and left them 25 games out of first place. So the 2018 O’s remain one game ahead of the 1988 O’s, for now. Remember, though, that the 1988 team won 54 games and the 2018 O’s are currently on pace to win just 49 games.

With the road trip over, the O’s will kick off a four-game series against the surprisingly good Seattle Mariners starting tonight. They might be my favorite non-O’s team in the AL right now. They just seem like fun. I still hope that the O’s take four games from them over the next four days.

Around the blogO’sphere

How did this happen? Orioles players examine why season spun out of control (Baltimore Sun)
“Pose the question to anyone in an Orioles uniform ... the sigh is audible, the stare far away.” Oh, yeah. It’s THAT kind of article.

Updates on Beckham and Trumbo (School of Roch)
Tim Beckham was supposed to be back today, but maybe the Orioles will dither about it if they can’t figure out how they want to set up the infield when he returns.

Could Padres be surprise entrant in Machado derby? (FRS Baseball)
Considering the Padres are 10.5 games out of first place, yeah, I’d say that this would be a surprise.

Minors report: McKenna promoted, Akin and Lowther continue dominance (Baltimore Baseball)
At Baltimore Baseball, Dean Jones is feeling bullish on quite a few guys. I hope his optimism about players like Cedric Mullins and Keegan Akin are proven to be correct.

Young shortstop Adam Hall gets pro career going at Aberdeen (Steve Melewski)
If you want to know a little more about the O’s second round pick from last season, here you go.

Manny Machado surprises Orioles fan in Atlanta (Orioles.com)
Every now and again, social media can be used for something good.

Birthdays and anniversaries

In 1961, the Orioles and Angels played a 14 inning contest where they set a record for number of pitchers used in a game: 16 combined, with each team using eight. Ron Hansen hit a home run in the 14th inning to win the game for the O’s, 9-8.

There are a few former Orioles with birthdays today. They are: 2008-11 slugger Luke Scott, 2000-01 pitcher Ryan Kohlmeier, and 1977 reliever Dick Drago.

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! Your birthday buddies for today include: explorer/botanist David Douglas (1799), five-star Air Force general Henry “Hap” Arnold (1886), royal uncle Louis Mountbatten (1900), novelist George Orwell (1903), singer-songwriter Carly Simon (1945), the late chef/author Anthony Bourdain (1956), singer-songwriter George Michael (1963), and basketballer Dikembe Mutumbo (1966).

On this day in history...

In 1848, the June Days uprising in Paris was captured in photographs, the first known instance of photojournalism.

In 1876, Custer had his last stand in the Battle of Little Bighorn.

In 1947, The Diary of Anne Frank was first published.

In 1950, North Korea invaded South Korea, beginning the Korean War. Though the fighting ended about three years later, the two Koreas have never signed a peace treaty.

In 1984, Prince released Purple Rain, his most successful album.

**

And that’s the way it is in Birdland on June 25 - or at least, until something happens later when the Orioles are scheduled to play the Mariners. Have a safe Monday. Go O’s!