Saturday Bird Droppings: Where the Orioles might never win again

Good morning, Camden Chatters.

Can you believe we’re only at the halfway mark of the 2018 schedule? I feel like this season has lasted approximately 20 years already. But nope, we’ve got another 81 games of this nightmare.

The O’s played their 81st game of the year last night and, as usual, lost. It wasn’t even competitive, either, just a 7-1 blowout win by an Angels team that had lost six in a row before feasting on the Birds. Alex Church’s recap has the full details.

The Orioles, who dropped their sixth straight, are 23-58. They’re on pace for a 46-116 record. Yes, 116 losses. That would be the fifth most in baseball history.

It can’t be this bad all year, can it? Don’t answer that.

Links

At the season's 81-game point, O's are on pace to obliterate franchise's loss record - BaltimoreBaseball.com
The headline says it all.

Meisinger and Fry talk about their promotions - School of Roch
Two new Orioles were called up and pitched last night. Ryan Meisinger, a Calvert County native, grew up an Orioles fan. Paul Fry is the first member of #TeamPaul on the O’s since Paul Janish retired last year. Here, they talk about their big league dreams coming true.

Orioles honor shooting victims in Annapolis (MLB.com)
One of the victims of the Capital Gazette shooting on Thursday was John McNamara, a frequent presence in the Camden Yards press box. The Orioles paid tribute to him and the four other victims of the attack Friday night.

Camden Depot: Buck Showalter Enjoys Analytics, Except When He Doesn’t
Buck Showalter gave a FanGraphs interview in which he was a bit dismissive of analytics, and Matt Kremnitzer is not having it.

Reshuffling 'Dean's Dozen' at midseason produces a new No. 1 Orioles' prospect - BaltimoreBaseball.com
Baltimore Baseball's resident minor league expert, Dean Jones Jr., has unveiled his updated Orioles prospects rankings. Austin Hays is no longer in the No. 1 spot, but he's been replaced by one of his Bowie teammates.

In case you missed it, Orioles Hall of Famer and MASN broadcaster Jim Palmer tweeted a link to Tyler Young’s article here on Camden Chat yesterday. Then Palmer threw some shade:

Orioles birthdays and history

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! You have no Orioles birthday buddies. Sorry, friend.

This date in 2009 was one of the most epic games in O’s history, a day best known on Camden Chat as “Birdland Day.” The Orioles, down 10-1 in the seventh to the Red Sox, pulled off the biggest comeback in the history of the franchise. They stunned Boston’s bullpen for five runs in the seventh and five more in the eighth and held on for an amazing 11-10 win. You can relive all the glory in Stacey’s recap from that night. I highly recommend it.

On this day in 2012, the Orioles acquired Jim Thome from the Phillies. Jim Jam didn’t contribute much on the field during his brief stint with the O’s, but he was so darn lovable.

2018 Orioles vs. 1988 Orioles

In their 81st game, the ‘88 Orioles lost in Chicago, 5-1. Starter Jay Tibbs gave up four doubles and a home run, getting tagged for all five White Sox runs. Melido Perez held the O’s offense in check as the Birds fell to 24-57 and 26 games out of first place. How quaint! The 2018 Orioles are even worse (23-58) and are even further out of first place (31 games).

Once a team is more than five games off the pace, I remove them from this list. The White Sox are on the brink of doing so. Pretty soon it’s going to be just a two-team race between the Orioles and Royals for the worst record in baseball.