Monday Bird Droppings: Where the Orioles got a west coast series win

Happy Monday, Camden Chatters! I hope you had a nice weekend. If you’re in the Baltimore area you had some beautiful weather. How did you spend it? Were you doing yardwork? Going out for a nice walk around the neighborhood?

I’ll tell you what I did: I went out to dinner. At a restaurant. It was my first meal at a restaurant since last fall, and it was just the perfect night out on the patio. Takeout is perfectly acceptable but it’s just not the same. Here’s to more fresh, hot French fries!

Oh right, this is an Orioles blog. The Orioles are on the west coast, where they historically are just not great. They especially seem to have trouble with the Oakland Athletics. Even in years when the Orioles are good and the Athletics are bad, it seems like they just can’t win in Oakland. Happily, that wasn’t the case this weekend! They won the first two games of the series and and, while they lost yesterday, it was an exciting back and forth affair. You can read all about yesterday’s game in Tyler Young’s game recap.

Things aren’t going so well for Bruce Zimmermann, sadly. I root for all Orioles to play well, but there is just something about a local player. I know you all get it. But Zimmermann just doesn’t seem to have it right now. For his third straight start, Zimmermann failed to complete five innings yesterday.

It seems that he is probably better suited as a relief pitcher, the same as his rotation mate, Jorge López. But what he and López both have going for them right is the fact that there isn’t really anybody else to put in the rotation at this very moment. I do hope he turns things around. He’s very fun to root for.

If you want to watch the Orioles the next few nights, you’ll have to stay up late. Both tonight and tomorrow the Orioles and Mariners play at 10:10 pm ET, before closing out the series with a 3:40 game on Wednesday. I’m very grateful that Camden Chat has such fine game recappers, because I will not be staying up.

Links

Means muting Cy Young murmuring - School of Roch
John Means is pitching well. Really well. But can we cool the "Cy Young murmuring" so that I don't get too excited? One start at a time, John Means.

We are now just two days from minor league opening day - Steve Melewski
The minor league season is almost here! Finally! Steve Melewski talked to Matt Blood, director of player development, about what to expect.

How Orioles rookie Ryan Mountcastle is pulling himself out of his early-season slump: ‘I’m starting to feel a little better’ - Baltimore Sun
It seems like Ryan Mountcastle is coming out of his slump. His early season performance has been one of the more disappointing parts of the year so far, so yay.

Birthdays and History

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! You have three Orioles birthday buddies, all short timers, all pitchers. Bob McCrory (39) appeared in 15 games for the Orioles between 2008-09, the only major league games in his career. Gabe Molina (46), started his four-season career with 31 games as an Oriole in 1999-2000. And Tony Arnold (62) pitched for the Birds from 1986-87.

On this day in 1992, Gregg Olson became the youngest pitcher in major league history to record 100 saves. He was just 25 years old!

In 1999, the Orioles played their second exhibition game against the Cuban national baseball team, this one in the United States at Camden Yards. The Orioles, embarrassingly, lost 12-6.