Thursday Bird Droppings: Where the Orioles finally snapped their losing streak

Hello, friends.

Finally, the Orioles have won another game. After sliding into another long losing streak after picking up win #46, the O’s dealt the probably-hung-over-after-clinching-on-Tuesday Dodgers a 7-3 defeat on Wednesday night to pick up their 47th win of the season and equal the win total of last year’s woeful team. Check out Alex Church’s recap of the win for some lovely totals.

Along with equaling last year’s win total, the Orioles also exceeded one of the 2018 Orioles marks last night. It wasn’t a good one to pass, as the three runs allowed mean the 2019 O’s have given up 894 runs compared to the 892 surrendered by the 2018 team. Somehow, it is possible to get worse results than last year’s pitchers and defense. Even now that this has happened it seems impossible to me.

The one home run that the O’s allowed last night was their 280th of the season. They are on pace to give up 313 by season’s end. You might recall that the old MLB record was 258 home runs allowed. The Orioles have smashed it. As of yet, no other team has crossed the 258 threshold, though the Mariners and Rockies are both on pace to do so. It is a lot of home runs.

Speaking of home runs, the Orioles did take one positive piece of home run history from yesterday’s game. Jonathan Villar’s seventh inning, go-ahead, three-run home run that landed (if I saw it right) in the first row of seats under the left field overhang was also the 6,106th home run hit by an MLB player this season. That set a brand new record, with the old one of 6,105 from 2017 not staying in the history books for long.

While the Orioles were victorious last night, the game between the Tigers and Yankees was postponed, so for the moment the O’s sit three games clear of Detroit in the standings. The Tigers will likely hold on to the #1 draft pick spot, but the weekend’s coming four game series between the two teams will probably be what all but officially confirms the placement.

As playoff races come down to the wire, are you starting to feel any secondary sympathies towards any other team? I find the Brewers pulling at my heartstrings after the devastating injury to reigning NL MVP Christian Yelich. They won again on Wednesday. The Diamondbacks have now lost four straight and their hope is fading, though I’m still pulling for them to make something happen since they have Adam Jones.

There have been 236 days since Mike Mussina was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. The Orioles have not yet announced any plans to retire his jersey number or add his statue to Camden Yards.

Around the blogO’sphere

Hunter Harvey says biceps soreness was ‘normal stuff’ (Baltimore Baseball)
I’d be feeling better if there was no biceps soreness at all, but at least the team doesn’t seem too concerned about it.

Updating Wojciechowski and Lowther (School of Roch)
Because we’re not allowed to have nice things, Bowie’s Zac Lowther was scratched from his expected start in Game 3 of the Eastern League Championship Series due to what’s being called “minor” shoulder soreness. I don’t want there to be any shoulder soreness!

Orioles and manager Brandon Hyde admire Dodgers platoon system (Baltimore Sun)
Not that it takes a lot to admire the quality of a team that’s probably going to win 100 games this season.

For Hanser Alberto, low strikeouts lead to high batting average (Steve Melewski)
Alberto struck out for just the 44th time all season last night.

The top 10 prospects a year from now will be... (MLB.com)
The guy who helps make the MLB Pipeline Top 100 Prospects lists predicts who will be on his Top 10 list one year from now. I’m only posting this because Adley Rutschman is #2. I hope he’s right.

Birthdays and Orioles anniversaries

Today in 1964, the Orioles and Athletics played a game in which both pitchers tossed a complete game one-hitter. O’s pitcher Frank Bertaina was on the winning end of a 1-0 win, his first win of his career. Also in this game, the O’s set a record for the fewest official at-bats in a nine-inning game, with just 19 ABs. The O’s had a 1.5 game lead in the AL East after the win, but by season’s end their 97-65 record was only good for third place, 2.5 games back.

In 2014, Chris Davis received a 25-game suspension for testing positive for amphetamines.

A few former Orioles were born on this day. They are: 1988 outfielder Keith Hughes, 1988-89 pitcher Mark Thurmond, and 1959-60 outfielder Albie Pearson. Today is Pearson’s 85th birthday, so an extra happy birthday to him.

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you! Your birthday buddies for today include: Rotary printing press inventor Richard March Hoe (1812), gatling gun inventor Richard Jordan Gatling (1818), Baltimore-born legend H.L. Mencken (1880), gold medal track and field athlete Jesse Owens (1913), singer-songwriter Barry White (1944), composer Hans Zimmer (1957), singer-songwriter Ben Folds (1966), and actress Emmy Rossum (1986).

On this day in history...

In 490 BC, a Persian invasion force was beaten back by a largely Athenian army in the Battle of Marathon. The legend from this battle of a runner who traveled 25 miles from Marathon to Athens is still honored regularly in the modern day.

In 1814 AD, a British army marching towards Baltimore was beaten back in the Battle of North Point, setting the stage for the naval bombardment of Fort McHenry the next night. British General Robert Ross, who proclaimed, “Tonight we dine in Baltimore or we dine in hell!” was among the day’s casualties.

In 1910, Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 premiered in Munich. The composition has acquired the sobriquet “The Symphony of a Thousand” as that Munich performance featured a chorus with 852 singers and a 171-player orchestra.

In 1959, the television show Bonanza premiered on NBC, noteworthy for being the first regularly scheduled color TV program. At 431 episodes, it remains in the top 10 of longest-running live-action American television shows.

In 1962, President Kennedy gave a speech at Rice University. It’s known as the “We choose to go to the Moon” speech for his argument about why it was important for America to take up the challenge of a lunar landing.

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And that’s the way it is in Birdland on September 12 - or at least, until something happens later when the Orioles play the Dodgers. Have a safe Thursday. Go O’s!