Sunday Bird Droppings: The Orioles are up to .500 again

Hello, friends.

Did you give up on the Orioles last night after they trailed 3-0 at the end of seven innings where the offense looked lifeless again? Joke’s on you if you did, since if you tuned out you missed the O’s storming back with five runs, including three home runs, in the eighth inning to give the O’s the win over the defending champions. Check out Stacey’s recap of the game, and don’t forget to vote in the MBP poll!

The Orioles are now 7-7 after 14 games of this 60 game schedule. In an ordinary season, that would be like being 19-19. No one would have expected these Orioles to be 19-19 if the season had happened as planned. That they’re .500 so far is not much less surprising. They are the second place team in the AL East, 2.5 games out of the lead. They’re closer to first place than they are to the #1 pick, with the 3-12 Pirates kept with the devil way down in the hole.

If the standings from the end of Saturday’s games held the rest of the way - which obviously they won’t - the Orioles would qualify for the postseason with the seventh-best record in the American League. They would be in while both 2019 World Series teams, the Nationals and Astros, would be out.

The Orioles-Nationals series concludes today starting at 12:35pm Eastern. After last night’s dramatic win, the Orioles have a chance to pull off a road sweep if they are able to win this game. They’ll have their work cut out for them, as the Nats are starting Stephen Strasburg.

Around the blogO’sphere

Akin first O’s prospect called up in ‘20 (Orioles.com)
Keegan Akin was about to go grocery shopping when he got the call up to the big leagues. That’s a pretty good prospect call-up story.

Wojciechowski starting Sunday in D.C. (School of Roch)
It’s John Means’s turn in the rotation today, but he’s not going to be returned from the bereavement list yet after his father passed away last week. So it’s Asher Wojciechowski on three days rest, with Wojo having thrown only 67 pitches on Wednesday.

The Orioles’ latest advice to struggling Chris Davis? Just get in there and swing. (Baltimore Sun)
The advice has not helped yet in 2020. Davis is now in 15th place on the career strikeouts list.

Birthdays and Orioles anniversaries

There is one lone former Oriole with a birthday today. Happy 89th to Chuck Essegian! He had one pinch hit appearance for the 1961 Orioles before being traded for Dick Hall and Dick Williams.

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you! Your birthday buddies for today include: orphanage founder Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton (1757), Mary Poppins creator P.L. Travers (1899), Redken co-founder Paula Kent Meehan (1931), actress Melanie Griffith (1957), designer Michael Kors (1959), hockey man Brett Hull (1964), two-sport pro athlete Deion Sanders (1967), and actress Anna Kendrick (1985).

On this day in history...

In 48 BC, Julius Caesar’s army defeated Pompey’s legions in the Battle of Pharsalus despite being outnumbered two-to-one, after which Pompey fled to Egypt, where he was later assassinated.

In 1173 AD, construction began on a campanile for a cathedral in Pisa. It took about two centuries to complete and still stands today, although it leans a little bit.

In 1945, the American bomber Bockscar dropped an atomic bomb over Nagasaki, Japan.

In 1969, Charles Manson-directed followers murdered five people, including actress Sharon Tate and coffee heiress Abigail Folger.

In 1974, in the aftermath of Watergate, President Richard Nixon resigned from office. This made him the first president to resign.

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And that’s the way it is in Birdland on August 9. Have a safe Sunday. Go O’s!