Friday Bird Droppings: Where the Orioles have too many doubleheaders

Good morning, Camden Chatters.

The MLB powers-that-be really aren’t willing to cut the Orioles any kind of break, are they? For the second time this week, the O’s had a game rained out, a game that had no bearing whatsoever on any postseason races or draft pick positioning and was — for all intents and purposes — completely meaningless. Yet for the second time, instead of the game just being wiped off the schedule, the Orioles have to make it up at a later date as part of a doubleheader. Is this all just some twisted ploy to make sure the Orioles rack up as many losses as humanly possible? They don’t need anyone’s help to do that.

Last night’s tilt against the Astros in Baltimore, which was supposed to start the Orioles’ season-ending four-game series, was washed out and rescheduled as part of a straight doubleheader on Saturday. It will be the second doubleheader in a four-day span for the Birds, who are running so low on hurlers that they had utility man Jace Peterson pitch an inning on Wednesday afternoon. Yeah, just what we need, more days of 18-inning baseball.

The O’s and Astros will make a second attempt at starting their series tonight. In two days, this long national nightmare of a season will be over.

Links

Showalter unwilling to grow sentimental over last homestand - School of Roch
Buck Showalter isn’t letting himself be affected by the rumors about his imminent departure from the Orioles, taking time to thank the club for how good they’ve been to him. Whatever the future holds for Buck, he’ll always be a class act.

The Historically Awful Orioles Are Even Worse Than Their Record - Deadspin
Yet another national media outlet has caught on to how bad the Orioles are. Get used to these kinds of stories.

On Orioles’ short list for No. 1 pick overall, high school phenom Bobby Witt Jr. says, ‘I just want to keep working to maintain that spot’ – The Athletic
Dan Connolly offers an extensive profile and interview of Bobby Witt Jr., who may well be the No. 1 overall pick for the Orioles next summer. But first the kid needs to learn the name of the Orioles’ ballpark.

Stark: MVP, LVP, Cy Young, Cy Yuk—It’s time to hand out end-of-season awards – The Athletic
Jayson Stark issues his awards to the best and worst players in each league. You can probably guess who he chose as AL Least Valuable Player, and three Orioles are also represented in his “Cy Yuk” category.

If rebuilding O's look to Trey Mancini for leadership, he's ready to provide it - Steve Melewski
Trey Mancini says he’s ready to take a leadership role. Sure, why not? By next year he might be one of the only recognizable faces on the team.

Calling the Pen: Oriole fans get a final chance to show that all is not lost - BaltimoreBaseball.com
Jack Gibbons likens the Orioles’ final series to Fantastic Fan Night in 1988, urging fans to show support for the team despite their terribleness. I hope that happens, although the O’s certainly won’t be pulling in any crowds of 50,000+ like they had for that 1988 game.

Orioles birthdays and history

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! I hope you like right-handed relievers, because that’s who all three of your O’s birthday buddies are. Grant Jackson (76) pitched for the Birds from 1971-76 before being included in a famous 10-player trade with the Yankees. Mike DeJean (48) worked 37 horrible games in 2004. And the late submariner Todd Frohwirth pitched for the O’s from 1991-93. Frohwirth, who passed away of cancer last year, would have been 56 today.

On this date seven years ago, in one of the most exhilarating nights of baseball ever, the Orioles pulled off a stunning ninth-inning comeback against the Red Sox in the last game of the season, capped by Robert Andino’s walkoff single off Jonathan Papelbon. That, combined with the Rays’ incredible seven-run comeback against the Yankees at the same time, completed an epic Red Sox collapse in which they were nine games ahead at the start of September and missed the postseason entirely.

Be sure to stay tuned to the 52-second mark to lip-read Andino’s choice words for Red Sox fans!

Thanks to their win in Boston on Wednesday night, the Orioles assured that they’ll finish with a better record than the 1916 Athletics. So they won’t be one of the three losingest teams of all time. The O’s currently have 112 losses with four games to play, so they would have to sweep the Astros to avoid being one of the five losingest teams in modern history. My bet is that they’ll win just one game of this series and end up tied with the 1935 Braves with 115 losses.