Tuesday Bird Droppings: Where the video game Orioles are off to a hot start

Good morning, Camden Chatters.

If you, like me, have been missing Orioles baseball, yesterday’s MLB The Show Player’s League offered the closest facsimile you’ll be seeing in a while. And it was...actually pretty exciting!

For those unfamiliar, 30 players — one from each major league team — are competing against each other in the MLB The Show video game, with the broadcasts aired live online. Yesterday, Orioles representative Dwight Smith Jr. played his first set of four, three-inning games, and heck yeah I was tuning in.

It turns out Smith is pretty darn good. Even saddled with a somewhat lacking Orioles roster, he won three of his four games against some tough opponents.

The night began at Yankee Stadium, where Smith and the Orioles took on Yanks reliever Tommy Kahnle and his squad. Smith spotted the Yankees four runs in the first — including a Gleyber Torres three-run homer, because of course — but immediately charged back, plating six runs in the top of the second. Pinch-hitter Chris Davis tied the game with a three-run homer, leading Smith to exclaim, “LET’S GO! Chris is not done yet!” Kahnle then brought himself (or technically, the video game version of himself) into the game and coughed up a go-ahead, two-run homer to Anthony Santander.

Smith pressed all the right buttons — literally and figuratively — as he guided the O’s to a tense 6-5 victory. “Oh my God! That was awesome. That game was awesome,” Smith said on his Twitch feed afterwards. “I had adrenaline like I was playing a real game. My heart’s beating out of my chest.”

Next, Smith cruised to a 2-0 shutout of Hunter Pence’s Giants, thanks to a Trey Mancini first inning homer. “Welcome to the Boom-Boom room, baby!” Smith shouted as the ball cleared the virtual fence. Tanner Scott closed out the game, won by Alex Cobb.

Smith’s perfect record was shattered by a heartbreaker against Blake Snell and the Rays. The O’s jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first against Snell himself, including a homer by Smith himself. “We can hit lefties, dawg! Let’s go!” Smith yelled in triumph. But closer Mychal Givens blew the lead in the final half of the third, and Mike Zunino’s walkoff homer ended it in the fourth.

Smith rebounded with a win over Cole Tucker’s Pirates in the finale, featuring another Smith home run and another pulse-pounding ending. Pittsburgh put runners at second and third with nobody out before Smith elected to intentionally walk the next hitter to load the bases. The decision panned out perfectly when Miguel Castro induced a home-to-first double play and then got a grounder to short to secure a 1-0 victory.

I’m not really a guy who likes to watch other people play video games on the internet, but I’m glad I made an exception in this case. This was pretty cool. I got way more invested in the virtual Orioles than I expected, and Smith’s running commentary about himself and his video game teammates was a hoot. (“Bert, what was that?” asked Smith after video game Hanser Alberto overran a grounder. “That was suspect, yo.”) And his managerial chops were on point. Smith had a knack for pulling his pitchers at the right time and making bold decisions (like removing second baseman Rio Ruiz in the middle of an inning after an error).

Along the way, Smith answered questions from Twitch commenters, including his opinion on Hunter Harvey’s mulleted hairstyle. “I’m going to start calling him Joe Exotic,” he said.

After the roughly two-hour endeavor was finished, Smith said he needed a nap. “This is awesome,” he said. “This tournament is going to be sick.”

Smith’s next set of games is scheduled for Thursday. It’s worth tuning in for.

Links

Elias on Mancini, draft preparations and more - School of Roch
Mike Elias checked in with the media about a variety of topics, most importantly the health status of Trey Mancini, who he says will be out for “months rather than weeks.” Take all the time you need, Trey. Get well, and there’s obviously no need to rush back.

Another proposal to start the season has issues - BaltimoreBaseball.com
Rich Dubroff discusses the many logistical issues of MLB’s latest brainstorm to divide teams into Florida and Arizona for the regular season. Sigh. You guys, I’m starting to feel like we're not going to get any baseball this year.

Orioles’ Top 5 third basemen: Trezza's take - Orioles.com
Joe Trezza lists the top 5 third basemen in O’s history, in which No. 1 is a slam dunk. But kudos to the 2 percent of Twitter voters who chose Melvin Mora. I guess when you have quintuplets, you have a good built-in voting base.

Cal Ripken Jr. gives advice to MLB’s active games played streak leader Whitt Merrifield | NBC Sports Washington
Cal Ripken recently joined Twitter, and so far he’s at that early, cheerful stage where you enjoy interacting with people before realizing that Twitter is mostly kind of a cesspool. Here, Cal offers some tongue-in-cheek advice to Whit Merrifield, who’s a mere 15 years away from breaking his consecutive games record.

Cooking with the Orioles - Steve Melewski
Orioles prospects aren’t just working on baseball skills — they’re also learning how to cook, via Zoom, to ensure proper nutrition. You know who would have loved that? Brandon Snyder. (Do any Camden Chatters still get that reference?)

Orioles birthdays and history

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! This was a popular day for Orioles players to be born, as a whopping eight of them have an April 14 birthday. They include extremely rushed-to-the-majors prospect Jeff Fiorentino (37); lefty and Ken Griffey Jr. mammoth-homer-giver-upper Brad Pennington (51); righty relievers Mike Trombley (53) and Jay Aldrich (59); and catchers Greg Myers (54) and Gregg Zaun (49), the latter of whom might be related to a famous Oriole or something. It’s never been mentioned.

It’s also the posthumous birthday of 1955 infielder Kal Segrist (b. 1931, d. 2015) as well as lefty Frank Bertaina (b. 1944, d. 2010), who had two stints with the O’s in the ‘60s.

On this day in 1954, the Orioles notched their first win in franchise history, beating the Tigers, 3-2, in Detroit. The O’s got all three of their runs in the first inning on back-to-back RBI singles by Sam Mele and Vern Stephens, then held on to the finish thanks to a complete game by Duane Pillette. Hall of Famer and Baltimore native Al Kaline, who passed away last week, went 1-for-4 that day as a 19-year-old rookie for the Tigers.