Monday Bird Droppings: Where the Orioles have the day off

Hello, friends.

We could all use a day off from the Orioles after they’ve lost eight of their last nine games, including the just-finished sweep at the hands of the Rangers that saw the O’s get their butts whipped in the final two games. That is exactly what the schedule offers today. There is no O’s baseball tonight.

After today, the O’s will have 16 games scheduled in 16 days, so enjoy the break while you’ve got it. For one day at least, the O’s will not climb any closer towards the 300 home runs allowed mark, with another two surrendered on Sunday to make it 276 for the season, nor will they get any closer to giving up a record number of runs over a whole season for the franchise.

Check out Drew Bonifant’s recap of the 10-4 drubbing, which was the 25th time this season that the Orioles have given up double digit runs.

The ten runs that they gave up yesterday put them at 884 for the season, just eight shy of how many runs last year’s woeful Orioles pitchers and defense gave up, and a mere 30 runs away from setting a new franchise record for runs allowed. The previous high of 913 runs came from the 2000 Orioles.

If you want to include the St. Louis Browns, which longtime readers of Camden Chat know that I do not, five different clubs are above that mark, the worst of which was the 1936 Browns who gave up 1,064 runs in 155 games. As bad as the 2019 Orioles are, I don’t think they’ll give up about 9.5 runs per game over their final 19 games.

It’d take giving up about six runs per game to hit four digits. A potent Dodgers offense awaits its chance to see off against these jabronis. They will probably set the new team record for runs in the coming series.

The sweep at the hands of the Rangers leaves the Orioles still looking for win #47, the same number of wins that they had last season. They’ve lost five straight since winning their 46th. Many things have proven elusive for the O’s this season, except for long losing streaks. They’re good at finding those.

Mike Mussina was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame 233 days ago. The Orioles have not yet announced any plans to retire his jersey number or erect his statue at Camden Yards.

Around the blogO’sphere

Austin Hays’ callup gives him trial as Orioles center fielder of the future (Baltimore Sun)
It’s said of talented prospects that learning to deal with failure is one of the toughest things to do. Hays observed that he hadn’t tasted any before last year.

Palmer, diagnosed with myelitis, out of broadcast booth for recovery (Orioles.com)
If you’re wondering where Jim Palmer is, he is dealing with an infection of the spinal column caused by the shingles virus. He’s been well enough to tweet. Get well soon, Jim!

Elias on losing and regaining Alberto (School of Roch)
Hanser Alberto has been a pleasant surprise this year. Mike Elias said he kicked himself after he lost Alberto on waivers over the offseason and was glad to have the chance to claim him back.

Elias explains why Mountcastle, Mullins, and Akin didn’t get call (Baltimore Baseball)
Anyone upset not to see any of those three players in Baltimore this September should hear out what the GM had to say about why they’re staying in the minors for now.

Birthdays and Orioles anniversaries

Today in 1999, the Orioles beat the Twins, 6-5. The game was noteworthy for seeing Cal Ripken Jr. ground into a double play for the 324th time in his career, setting a new MLB record that has since been eclipsed by Albert Pujols.

In 2009, Brian Roberts hit his 50th double of the season during a 7-5 loss to the Red Sox. Roberts became just the fourth player to ever hit 50+ doubles three times in his career. The others, Tris Speaker, Paul Waner, and Stan Musial, are all in the Hall of Fame.

A smattering of former Orioles were born on this day. They are: 2017 three-gamer Edwin Jackson, 2010 first baseman Rhyne Hughes, 2003-04 pitcher Kurt Ainsworth, 1996 third baseman Todd Zeile, and 1999 reliever Jim Corsi. Corsi pitched 1.1 scoreless innings on his 38th birthday in Ripken’s record-setting double play game. Now he’s 58.

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you! Your birthday buddies for today include: Three Musketeers foe Cardinal Richelieu (1585), HMS Bounty mutiny survivor William Bligh (1754), author Leo Tolstoy (1828), chicken magnate Colonel Sanders (1890), occasionally funny man Adam Sandler (1966), singer-songwriter Michael Bublé (1975), and actress Michelle Williams (1980).

On this day in history...

In 9, a coalition of six Germanic tribes ambushed three Roman legions in the Battle of Teutoberg Forest, killing almost all of them in what historians have termed Rome’s greatest defeat. The Romans never again tried to conquer land east of the Rhine river.

In 1791, the capital of the United States was named Washington, District of Columbia, in honor of President George Washington.

In 1956, Elvis Presley made his first-ever appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show.

In 1969, Canada’s Official Languages Act led to French being put on equal footing to English across its federal government.

In 2015, Queen Elizabeth II surpassed Queen Victoria as the longest-reigning British monarch. Today marks the 24,687th day of Elizabeth’s reign.

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And that’s the way it is in Birdland on September 9 - or at least, unless something happens later on the Orioles off day. It probably won’t, but you never know. Have a safe Monday.