Monday Bird Droppings: Where the Orioles are trying to stay ready

Hello, friends.

In the original plan for 2020, this was going to be the start of the week where Orioles baseball would be back. The still-ongoing global efforts to combat COVID-19 have made baseball one of many irrelevant concerns for a while.

It feels like all of this has been going on forever, and really it’s only been about ten days since efforts were really stepped up to stem the tide. The original date of Opening Day will instead be the day where we can start to get an idea of whether things in Maryland were shut down in time to avoid some of the catastrophic scenarios that have played out elsewhere in the country and the world.

How are you keeping yourself entertained in these days where the biggest thing being asked of all of us is to practice social distancing? If you’ve got a good show to binge or a good game to play, I think a lot of other people would be glad for the idea. I have been going down the rabbit hole of modestly known nerds who broadcast their Dungeons and Dragons sessions on the Internet. Yes, I am a nerd, if you never noticed before.

I hope all of you are doing as well as can be so far throughout all of this and that you can keep yourselves and the people around you safe.

Around the blogO’sphere

Hyde on Stewart and impact of shutdown on development (School of Roch)
One potential positive for the Orioles with the delayed season is that DJ Stewart will now be ready whenever things get rolling.

For rebuilding Orioles, Mike Elias ‘calm and patient’ about coronavirus shutdown’s impact on draft and player development (Baltimore Sun)
Things will be chaotic whenever they get going again. Orioles fans can at least remain confident that the guy in charge is prepared for whatever comes.

How might it look in 2020: The O’s rotation (Steve Melewski)
Steve’s read on the rotation when spring training was put on pause was Means, Cobb, Wojciechowski, LeBlanc, Milone. That’s a lot of left-handers, and probably would have been an extremely horrible rotation.

Birthdays and Orioles anniversaries

There are a few former Orioles who were born on this day. They are: 1975-80 first baseman Lee May, Salisbury-born 1968 swingman Bruce Howard, and 1963-68 reserve outfielder Sam Bowens.

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you! Your birthday buddies for today include: geologist William Smith (1769), sociologist Erich Fromm (1900), actress Joan Crawford (1904), filmmaker Akira Kurosawa (1910), Nazi and later American rocket designer Wernher von Braun (1912), women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma (1954), and gold medal distance runner Mo Farah (1983).

On this day in history...

In 1775, Patrick Henry delivered a speech at a church in Richmond where he delivered one of the now-famous rallying cries of the American Revolution: “Give me liberty, or give me death!”

In 1806, Lewis and Clark and companions started back for home after having completed their exploration of the Lousiana Purchase territory, as well as finding the Pacific Ocean.

In 1933, Germany’s Reichstag passed the Enabling Act of 1933, which made Adolf Hitler the dictator of the country.

In 1977, Richard Nixon sat down for the first of twelve taped interviews with journalist David Frost.

In 2001, the Mir space station was disposed of as planned, first breaking up in the atmosphere and eventually crashing into the southern Pacific Ocean.

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And that’s the way it is in Birdland on March 23. Have a safe Monday.