Friday Bird Droppings: Where the Orioles are headed out west

Good morning, Camden Chatters.

The Orioles’ second homestand of the year is behind us, and while the Birds lost more than they won, they did manage to quadruple their season win total at Camden Yards with a trio of victories. That includes a walkoff, 10-inning takedown of the Yankees yesterday afternoon to salvage a split of the four-game series. In case you weren’t able to watch the fun, Mark Brown’s recap has you covered.

Now the Orioles will do something they haven’t done since 2019: play on the West Coast. Last year’s pandemic-shortened, travel-reduced schedule never took the Orioles out of the eastern time zone. This year they haven’t gone west of Arlington until now, when they’ll embark on a six-game trek through Oakland and Seattle. Three of the games — tonight, Monday, and Tuesday — start at 9:40 PM ET or later, so get ready to stay up until the wee hours of the morning if you want to watch. Or don’t. You do you.

The last time the Orioles ventured to the left coast was a three-city, nine-game trip July 22-30, 2019 through Arizona (which is technically on Mountain Time instead of Pacific Time, but close enough), Anaheim, and San Diego. The Birds went a successful 5-4 on that trip. But in an earlier jaunt that year through Oakland and Seattle, the same opponents they’re now about to face, the O’s went just 1-6. Let’s hope history isn’t about to repeat itself.

Links

Orioles split 4-game series with Yankees; Mancini paces offense; Mullins, Hays come through - BaltimoreBaseball.com
Brandon Hyde and Trey Mancini weigh in with their thoughts on the series finale win against the Yankees. Don’t look now, but Trey is heating up in a big way. Was there ever any doubt?

Updating Galvis and impact of short bench - School of Roch
Freddy Galvis, who’d become one of the Orioles’ better hitters before suffering his adductor injury, could be close to a return. He’s no game changer, but the flagging O’s lineup could use all the help it could get.

Orioles prospect Rylan Bannon Q&A - Orioles.com
Joe Trezza does a rapid-fire Q&A with Rylan Bannon, who says his baseball role model is Dustin Pedroia. I have conflicting feelings about that.

Connolly: Orioles must consider demoting Ryan Mountcastle if he keeps struggling – The Athletic
Ryan Mountcastle’s great debut last season seemed to signal the first arrival of the next wave of promising O’s prospects. For him to have to go back to the minors, if that ends up happening, would be kind of a punch in the gut.

Orioles birthdays and history

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! And a very happy birthday to newly minted big leaguer Zac Lowther (25), who made his debut this past Sunday with a scoreless inning. He’s now back at the Bowie alternate site and will likely be part of Triple-A Norfolk’s opening day roster this upcoming Tuesday. Other Orioles born on this day are 2019 catcher Jesus Sucre (33) and utility man and Randy Johnson destroyer Jeff Reboulet (57).

On this day in 1967, in game one of a doubleheader, O’s hurlers Steve Barber and Stu Miller combined for a no-hitter! Pretty good, right? ...Well, except the Orioles lost the game. Barber’s control was a mess; he issued an astounding 10 walks and two hit batsmen in his 8.2 innings and had only one perfect inning. Barber still managed to carry a 1-0 lead into the ninth, but allowed another three walks and a wild pitch to plate the tying run, and a fielder’s choice error with Miller on the mound gave the Tigers a 2-1 lead. And that, friends, is how you turn a historic achievement into a sloppy defeat.

The last time the Orioles played a game on this date was in 2017, when they pulled off an improbable extra-innings win at Yankee Stadium, 7-4. After blowing a two-run lead in the ninth, in part thanks to a questionable balk call on Darren O’Day that got manager Buck Showalter ejected, the O’s tallied three runs in the 11th on RBI singles by Mark Trumbo and Welington Castillo. Logan Verrett, making his Orioles debut, worked two scoreless innings and escaped a bases-loaded jam to get the victory. He would pitch just three more games in his MLB career. Also, the Yankees had a pitcher play first base for some reason. It was a weird game.