Friday Bird Droppings: Where every Oriole is injured

Good morning, Camden Chatters.

How are you feeling today? Healthy? Physically capable of going about your daily tasks? If so, you have a leg up on the Orioles’ seemingly endless list of walking wounded.

I don’t know what in tarnation is happening in Texas, but in a mere three games, O’s players stumbled into one unfortunate injury after another. Pedro Severino had to leave with dizziness after taking a foul ball off the mask, Jonathan Villar suffered right thumb soreness, and DJ Stewart landed on the IL with a sprained ankle after colliding with Hanser Alberto.

And that was just Wednesday alone!

One night later, the O’s lost another contributor, Dwight Smith Jr., who smashed face-first into the left-field wall after making a catch and exited an inning later.

That’s not even to mention Trey Mancini’s sore foot that limited him to DHing, or Andrew Cashner’s leg soreness that bumped back his scheduled start, or Renato Nunez’s exit from Monday’s game with a sore leg. Why don’t you just tell me who’s not sore? By the end of the series, the Birds could barely piece together a lineup of nine healthy players.

To add insult to injury, the Orioles lost the series, coming up just short in last night’s rubber game, 4-3. Mark Brown recapped the action. And yes, injuries played a role in the defeat, not only with Smith’s exit, but with Chris Davis — forced to play right field to patch a hole — committing a costly error in the Rangers’ go-ahead rally. The 2019 Orioles, folks.

The last time the O’s won a series was April 22-24 against the White Sox. Since then, they’ve lost 11 series and split a rain-shortened one. The Orioles have even won the opening game of each of their last three series, only to go 0-6 in potential series-winning games.

Now the Orioles head to Houston to take on the winningest team in baseball. Good luck with that.

Links

Smith latest injured Orioles player in 4-3 loss - School of Roch
It’s getting ugly, folks. Actually, I shouldn’t say “getting.”

A few notes from the Orioles’ 2019 draft - Steve Melewski
Steve Melewski runs through the breakdown of recent O’s draftees. I didn’t realize they’d picked three teammates from Stanford. It’s always good to have some friends with you when you’re starting a new adventure.

College talent at heart of Orioles’ Draft haul - Orioles.com
The Orioles used 33 of their 41 draft picks on college players, and that was no coincidence. College players were the bee’s knees this year. Do people still say “bee’s knees”?

Orioles Pitching Prospect Dean Kremer Appreciates Support Of Baltimore Jewish Community - PressBoxOnline.com
Dean Kremer, the first Israeli to be picked in the MLB draft, says he gets offers from the Jewish community to come to Shabbat dinner. Sadly, he has to turn them down because of that pesky baseball thing.

Welk drafted by Baltimore Orioles | Penn State University
I've never heard of Penn State Berks before, possibly because no player from that school has ever been drafted by a major sports league. Until now! Best of luck to Toby Welk.

Orioles birthdays and history

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! Your Orioles birthday buddies are 2000-02 first baseman Chris Richard (45), failed 1999 reliever Heathcliff Slocumb (53), and 1968 right-hander Roger Nelson (75).

June 7 is a big day in history for Orioles superstars. On this day in 1998, the O’s retired Eddie Murray’s No. 33 in a ceremony at Camden Yards, a year after his 21-year career came to a close. Murray spent 13 of those seasons in Baltimore, where he was a seven-time All-Star and 1977 Rookie of the Year, and finished in the top six of the AL MVP voting for six straight years.

And on this day in 2010, the Orioles used the No. 3 overall draft pick on an 18-year-old Miami high schooler named Manny Machado. I’d say that worked out pretty well.

Through 62 games this year, the O’s have allowed 124 home runs, putting them on pace to break the franchise record held by the 2017 Orioles and the MLB record held by the 2016 Reds. The Reds held the A’s homerless in game No. 62 of their season. At the same point, the 2017 Orioles were in the midst of a brutal month of June in which they coughed up homers in all but one of their 28 games, including 26 in a row. In their 62nd game of the season, they surrendered two to the White Sox in a 10-7 loss.