Friday Bird Droppings: Where the Orioles remembered how to win

Good morning, Camden Chatters.

Have you heard? The Orioles won a game last night! They salvaged the finale of the three-game series with Oakland, grabbing their first and only win against the A’s this season. Dylan Bundy finally pitched well again, the O’s got a bunch of clutch hits, and the bullpen bent but didn’t break at the end. Alex Church recapped the lovely totals.

That eliminates any possibility of the Orioles ending the season with a 23-game losing streak. Huzzah! They now get a break in the schedule with back-to-back home series against the White Sox and Blue Jays before they end the season with three straight sets against playoff-bound teams: the Yankees, Red Sox, and Astros.

If watching young players is the only thing getting you through this depressing slog to the end of the season, you’ll want to tune in tonight, when righty prospect Luis Ortiz makes his first major league start. Good luck, Luis.

Links

Rosenthal: With key issues to resolve, the Orioles are in a state of confusion – The Athletic
Entering one of the most important offseasons in club history, it’s unclear who’s even running the Orioles right now, Ken Rosenthal writes. Well, that’s just wonderful.

Showalter: Orioles ‘trying to satisfy a lot of things’ as Adam Jones sits again Thursday - Baltimore Sun
Buck Showalter tries to explain Adam Jones’ benching without giving any actual specifics. To me, it’s simple: if you’re not replacing him with anyone better than Joey Rickard or John Andreoli, then go ahead and let Adam play.

Andrew Cashner, Alex Cobb dealing with injury - MLB.com
Orioles pitchers are dropping like flies, as the availability of both Andrew Cashner (knee) and Alex Cobb (blister) is in doubt for the rest of the season. I have an idea for a new fan promotion: if you come to an O’s game, you might get randomly selected to be that day’s starting pitcher.

Cedric Mullins on recent struggles and DJ Stewart on his debut - Steve Melewski
The entourage on hand for Stewart’s major league debut included the pastor who will be marrying him and his fiancee in January. That's going to make for a good story at the wedding.

What does the future hold for Jonathan Villar? That’s mostly up to him – The Athletic
Jonathan Bernhardt makes the case that Jonathan Villar needs to continue playing well so he can get the heck out of Baltimore. Sadly, it’s hard to argue with that.

Orioles birthdays and history

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! Your two Orioles birthday buddies are 2007-08 submariner Chad Bradford (44) and 2014-15 outfielder Delmon Young (33), who delivered perhaps the most memorable hit in Camden Yards history with his go-ahead, bases-loaded double in the 2014 ALDS. Let’s all watch and enjoy together, shall we?

Ah, happier times.

On this day in 1987, Cal Ripken Jr.’s consecutive-innings streak ended at 8,264 when he was pulled for a defensive replacement in the eighth inning in Toronto. What kind of manager would have the gall to do such a thing?? ...Oh, it was his dad, Cal Ripken Sr.

Big news! Thanks to their win last night, the Orioles have assured they won’t be the single losingest club in modern baseball history. The worst they can do is finish in a tie with the ‘62 Mets with 120 losses. I’m more excited about this than I should be. In their upcoming series against the White Sox, dare I dream that the O’s can get the two wins they need to clear both the ‘62 Mets and the ‘03 Tigers? I’m aiming high, folks.