Thursday Bird Droppings: The World Series off day edition

Hello, friends.

There are now 161 days remaining until the next scheduled Orioles game, which is Opening Day 2021 on April 1. There will not be any baseball around to entertain us on this day, because it’s the off day for the World Series. In ordinary times, this would involve the teams traveling from California to Florida, but in this strange 2020 they’re just staying right where they are in Texas.

After two games, the series is tied at a game apiece. The Rays and Dodgers will resume on Friday night, with the Rays having flipped to the home team. Last night’s Rays win featured an outing by the Dodgers’ Tony Gonsolin that was the shortest start in a World Series since 2003.

Elsewhere in the baseball world, teams are carrying out fall instructional league activities. Orioles prospects are no exception, having played some intrasquad things and even against another team’s prospects earlier in the week. This is the kind of activity that usually doesn’t mean very much, but in a year where there was no minor league season at all, getting to check in with the prospects and give them some instruction is probably a bit more meaningful than it would normally be.

The early reports from the O’s camp have been positive, though it’s also the case that those are reports that O’s personnel are giving to beat writers. This is not the kind of situation where we’re likely to learn much that’s negative about a player’s development. But it’s something, and hopefully the early good reports are carried forward into future seasons. And maybe eventually we’ll find out the “non-sports medical reason” that’s kept 2020 first round pick Heston Kjerstad from being on the camp roster.

Around the blogO’sphere

Looking back at some non-roster invites (School of Roch)
The World Series hasn’t even finished yet and we’ve reached the “Roch looks back to spring training players who were not ultimately relevant” part of the offseason.

Top farm systems helped the Rays and Dodgers reach the World Series. The Orioles’ is climbing the rankings (Baltimore Sun)
A high-ranked farm system doesn’t guarantee big league wins in three or four years, but it sure doesn’t hurt.

Orioles instructional league prospect report (Orioles.com)
Jonathan Mayo is here with some of the story so far from Sarasota this month. Gunnar Henderson and Jordan Westburg are both referred to as “thoroughbred stallions.”

Cobb can help the Orioles young starters in 2021 (Baltimore Baseball)
This is a level of optimism that I do not share.

O’s still not ready to worry much about closer’s role (Steve Melewski)
Melewski notes that the Rays led the AL with 23 saves, and they had 12 different pitchers get a save. If you have good relievers, a closer doesn’t matter.

Birthdays and Orioles anniversaries

There are several former Orioles who were born on this day. They are: 2012-18 reliever Darren O’Day, 2005 catcher Eli Whiteside, 2003 reliever Hector Carrasco, 2004 catcher Keith Osik, and 1989 catcher Jamie Quirk.

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you! Your birthday buddies for today include: composer Franz Liszt (1811), Three Stooges actor Curly Howard (1903), Maryland-born baseball Hall of Famer Jimmie Foxx (1907), novelist Doris Lessing (1919), actor Christopher Lloyd (1938), and figure skater Brian Boitano (1963).

On this day in history...

In 1721, Tsar Peter I proclaimed Russia to be an Empire after Russia’s victory in the Great Northern War, which had been waged with Sweden since 1700.

In 1879, Thomas Edison tested the first electric incandescent light bulb. The bulb burned out after about 13.5 hours.

In 1962, President John F. Kennedy announced that Soviet nuclear weapons were discovered in Cuba by American recon planes.

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And that’s the way it is in Birdland on October 22. Have a safe Thursday.