Sunday Bird Droppings: Where the Orioles snapped their losing streak

Hello, friends.

Unlike Friday night, if you stayed up late on Saturday to watch the Orioles, they made you happy, with a 9-6 victory over the Rockies. This improves their record on the season to an unfortunate 16-36, a pace that, over a full season, would lead to their winning 50 games. That’s still three games better than they were last year, but that’s a lot less fun than when they were on pace to win ten or more than last year.

The Orioles still have the worst record in MLB. The Marlins, at 16-33, were losers on Saturday and are the next-closest competition. The Royals, now 17-34, were swept by the Yankees in a doubleheader to also stay in this chase to be the worst of the worst. The 19-30 Tigers and 20-32 Blue Jays are also below a .400 winning percentage.

Even as they won Saturday’s game, the Orioles pitching staff still gave up two home runs. The O’s have now allowed a still-whopping 113 home runs in their 52 games. Over a full season, that is a pace of 352 home runs. That’s almost more than a hundred home runs more than the 258 homers allowed by the 2016 Reds. David Hess, who has allowed 17 homers this season, pitches for the O’s today in the series finale in Coors Field. Brace yourselves.

Mike Mussina was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame 127 days ago. The Orioles have not yet announced plans to retire his jersey or erect his statue at Camden Yards.

Around the blogO’sphere

Ynoa gets Orioles start on Monday (Baltimore Baseball)
Good luck to Ynoa, who by virtue of being an Orioles pitcher will surely need it.

Straily on his bullpen assignment (School of Roch)
Dan Straily is trying to look for the positives in his bullpen assignment. Having a good attitude is probably one reason why he’s still on the team.

With Chris Davis in a ‘little bit of a rut,’ Brandon Hyde unclear when he’ll play again (Baltimore Sun)
There was a solid few weeks of genuinely good performance from Chris Davis. It seems to be over now.

Former Orioles prospect Mike Yastrzemski debuts for Giants (Baltimore Sun)
With all of their young outfielders in the minors, the Orioles decided in spring training to swap Yastrzemski elsewhere. He’s getting his big league shot with the Giants now. In his debut on Saturday, he went 0-3 in a 10-4 loss.

Birthdays and anniversaries

One current Oriole has a birthday today. Gabriel Ynoa is celebrating his 26th birthday. There are also a pair of former O’s with birthdays. They are: 1993 pitcher John O’Donoghue, and 1991 four-gamer Stacy Jones.

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you! Your birthday buddies for today include: vaudeville singer Mamie Smith (1883), actor Al Jolson (1886), actor John Wayne (1907), jazz man Miles Davis (1926), Fleetwood Mac vocalist Stevie Nicks (1948), astronaut Sally Ride (1951), musician Lenny Kravitz (1964), South Park/The Book of Mormon co-creator Matt Stone (1971), and musician Lauryn Hill (1974).

On this day in history...

In 1637, as part of the Pequot War, colonists and allies in Connecticut attacked a Pequot village along the Mystic River, a massacre of about 500 people.

In 1830, Congress passed the Indian Removal Act, eventually leading to the forced relocation of Native Americans that we now know as the Trail of Tears.

In 1897, Bram Stoker’s Dracula was first published.

In 1940, the Allied forces began Operation Dynamo, the effort to evacuate trapped British and French forces from Dunkirk, France. Over the next eight days, a total of 338,226 soldiers were evacuated from the beach and back to Britain.

In 1967, The Beatles’ album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band was released.

**

And that’s the way it is in Birdland on May 26 - or at least, until something happens later when the Orioles play the Rockies. Have a safe rest of your Memorial Day weekend. Go O’s!