Monday Bird Droppings: Where the Orioles still haven’t won a series since April

Hello, friends.

We are now double-digit days into June and the Orioles last won a series on April 22-24. This may be the impressive achievement of failure that the 2019 O’s manage to achieve. It has been more than a month since they won consecutive games. This isn’t surprising if you’ve spent a lot of time watching the team. The lineup isn’t very good, the rotation isn’t very good, and the bullpen is incredibly bad. Still, it’s shocking to really think about how much the day-to-day failure translates into brutal stretches of baseball.

The Orioles were shut out by the Astros on Sunday afternoon, racking up their winless series streak to 13. It’s impressive, if not in a good way. Check out Drew Bonifant’s recap for the not-so-lovely totals - although the Orioles actually outhit the Astros even on the way to losing 4-0.

At 20-45, the 2019 Orioles are now on pace to win 50 games this season. It is technically an improvement over last year’s 47 wins, although not enough to really feel like much of an improvement. Through 65 games, the 2018 Orioles were 19-46. Being only one game ahead of that historically bad team’s pace through the same number of games makes the idea of improvement feel even harder to accept.

If it’s any consolation, the Orioles only gave up one home run in the course of yesterday’s loss. That leaves them having surrendered 127 homers in their 65 games. Those who are quick at mental math already noticed that the O’s are now below two home runs allowed per game, for the moment. They’re on pace to allow 317 homers over a full season. That will still break the record of home runs allowed by a team, but if they give up just one homer per game from here on, they’ll avoid the record.

The Orioles have the day off today, so they will not be giving up any home runs on this day. Next up are the Blue Jays, starting on Tuesday at home.

Maybe the O’s can start turning their attention to signing some of their draft picks now. The signing deadline isn’t until July 15, so they’ve got time. Other teams are getting their first rounders inked, though, including yesterday’s news that the Royals, who had the #2 pick, signed their selection, Bobby Witt Jr., for the full slot value of about $7.8 million.

The Orioles and Royals continue to be tied for the worst record in MLB. The Royals were also losers yesterday, falling to the White Sox, 5-2. The O’s hold the edge for the #1 pick in next year’s draft by virtue of the tiebreaker: The 2018 Orioles had a worse record than the 2018 Royals.

There have been 142 days since Mike Mussina was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. The Orioles have not yet announced any plans to erect a statue or retire his jersey number.

Around the blogO’sphere

Mike Elias slowly molding Orioles into the team he envisions (Baltimore Baseball)
The thing about the molding is that it’s not going to be too visible in what happens with the 2019 team.

In Orioles 65th game, manager Brandon Hyde reuses lineup for the first time (Baltimore Sun)
This meaningless yet still interesting streak has finally come to an end. Hyde kept the lineup the same from Saturday’s win. The repeated lineup got shut out.

Hyde on Davis, Broxton, Trumbo, Hays, and more (School of Roch)
The big league staff has noticed Austin Hays’s return to the Triple-A level. They’re six days away from having to make a decision about what to do with Mark Trumbo’s rehab. I am not excited about that second one.

Controversial ending a learning moment for O’s (Orioles.com)
Fans can hope that the bulk of the learning is done by Chance Sisco, who dropped a strong relay throw to end Friday’s game and then couldn’t collect it fast enough to actually tag a runner who never seemed to touch home plate.

Gunnar Henderson on being drafted by Orioles (Steve Melewski)
The Orioles got the (by one ranking) #27 prospect in the draft at #42. That’s pretty good! Next, signing him.

For Orioles rookie Richie Martin, progress at the plate coming slowly but clearly (Baltimore Sun)
Martin homered once in each series in Texas, which is a lot better than one home run total in the first two months of the season.

Birthdays and anniversaries

In 1978, Jim Palmer threw a complete game three-hit shutout in a 1-0 Orioles victory over the Athletics. For Palmer, it was his fourth CGSO in his past five starts, and the third 1-0 victory over that stretch. He eventually finished third in the year’s Cy Young voting.

In 2005, the Orioles were involved in a historic game where three 500 home run club members appeared in the same game for the first time. The Orioles lineup had Rafael Palmeiro and Sammy Sosa, while the Reds had Ken Griffey Jr. The O’s won, 4-3. Griffey homered for the Reds in the game.

There are a few former Orioles with birthdays today. They are: 2006 reliever Julio Manon, 1975-84 outfielder Ken Singleton, 1961 reserve Hank Foiles, and the late 1957-58 reliever Ken Lehman. Today is Singleton’s 72nd birthday, so an extra happy birthday to him.

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you as well! Your birthday buddies for today include: first woman to serve in the US Senate Rebecca Latimer Felton (1835), self-proclaimed North Pole explorer Frederick Cook (1865), actress Hattie McDaniel (1895), novelist Saul Bellow (1915), actress Judy Garland (1922), illustrator Maurice Sendak (1928), Pixies band members Kim Deal (1961) and Joey Santiago (1965), and model Kate Upton (1992).

On this day in history...

This has been a bad day in to be an emperor or other conqueror, with the following deaths on this date: Alexander the Great (323 BC), Shu Han Chinese emperor Liu Bei (221 AD), Tang emperor Daizong (779), Southern Han emperor Liu Yan (942), and Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa (1190). Frederick I drowned while crossing a river on his way to join the Third Crusade.

In 1692, Bridget Bishop was executed by hanging in Salem, Massachusetts, after being found guilty of witchcraft. She is the first person who was executed during the Salem Witch Trials.

In 1805, a treaty ended the Barbary Coast War, which involved the United States and four North African states. As later hostilities came to be known as the Second Barbary War, we now know this as the First Barbary War. The Eastern Shore’s Stephen Decatur was one of the prominent figures in both wars.

In 1940, during World War II, Italy declared war on France and the United Kingdom. On this same day, the last forces of Norway fighting the Germans surrendered. This occupation continued for the rest of the war.

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And that’s the way it is in Birdland on June 10 - or at least, unless something happens later on the Orioles off day. Have a safe Monday.