Labor Day Bird Droppings: The rookies are here and I like what I see

Happy Labor Day, Camden Chatters! We have reached the unofficial end of summer, and I don’t know about you but I’m ready to put this summer behind me. It wasn’t the greatest, you know?

But you know what was great? The four-game series the Orioles just completed against the Yankees. After losing the first game of the doubleheader on Friday, the Orioles went on to win the next three. But in the second game, Ryan Mountcastle led the offense to a comeback win. Then on Saturday, Keegan Akin out dueled ace Gerrit Cole. And yesterday, another rookie, Dean Kremer, made his major league debut and pitched six innings with only one hit allowed.

So not only did the Orioles finally start beating the Yankees, the major contributors were players who could easily be a part of the next good Orioles team. And that is pretty darn exciting.

And just because it’s always fun to engage in some Yankees schadenfreude, here is a tweet that New York media personality Mike Francesa made the day before the series started:

Links

The Orioles future is arriving and it looks pretty bright - Call to the Pen
This was written before Kremer pitched yesterday, but the sentiment is the same. Are we finally seeing young talent arrive in Baltimore?

An inning-by-inning look at Dean Kremer's strong debut - Steve Melewski
Melewski has the deep dive into Kremer's major league debut. It was pretty exciting how well he pitched!

Can anyone ever match Cal Ripken Jr.’s consecutive games streak? He might be the only one who thinks so. - Baltimore Sun
Of course Cal thinks someone else could break his streak. But if it does happen, I'm sure it'll be after I'm dead.

25 years later: An oral history of the night Cal Ripken Jr. became the Iron Man – The Athletic
Mark included several 2131 remembrance articles yesterday, here is another good one from Dan Connolly.

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! You have a bunch of Orioles birthday buddies who I have never heard of, including: Willie Morales, Wade Rowdon, Orlando Sánchez, and Tommy Matchick. It’s also the birthday of one former Oriole I have heard of, utility-player extraordinaire David Newhan.

On this day in Orioles history, per Baseball Reference:

• In 1996, Mike Mussina pitched a complete game shutout against the Tigers to get his 19th win. It was the first shutout of the season for the Orioles, which is kind of mind boggling for a team that ended up in the playoffs.
• In 2018, the Orioles lost their 100th game. It was the fastest a team ever got to 100 losses. They really were the best at being the worst.