Monday Bird Droppings: A baker’s dozen of consecutive losses

Happy Monday, Camden Chatters! We start another week with the Orioles being the worst team in baseball, and getting worse. I mean I guess you can’t be worse than being the worst team, but the Orioles seem worse than they were last week and even worse than the week before that. It’s a never ending downward spiral, or so it seems.

If you missed yesterday’s game, then you missed the O’s 13th consecutive loss. That’s not good, you guys. I know that there are draft pick rooters who might be ok with this, but it’s truly been a brutal stretch of baseball to behold. I actually didn’t watch yesterday’s game, but Tyler Young did. And he has a recap of the loss so you can get all of the ugly details.

I did watch (most of) Saturday’s doubleheader and found myself in awe of the absolute futility of the lineup. Every time the team managed to get someone on base, I’d see who was up next and heavy sigh. Which is more depressing, Stevie Wilkerson pinch hitting for Pat Valaika, or Pat Valaika pinch hitting for DJ Stewart? Because both happened during the doubleheader.

Another question I have for you: who would you rather stay on the roster, Pedro Severino or Chance Sisco? Because according to Roch Kubatko, Austin Wynns is in Baltimore! It stands to reason that means that one of those fellas is on the way out. Sisco has been unbelievably terrible at the plate this year with a batting line of .154/.247/.185. Woof.

Severino, meanwhile, is just regular bad (OPS+ 78). Neither has been great shakes behind the plate but Severino has been especially frustrating behind the plate as far as, you know, catching the ball. Severino is out of options while Sisco has one remaining, so that could be a consideration.

Who do you want to see sent packing in favor of Austin Wynns?

Links

Orioles top Minor League performers for 2021 week 3 - MLB.com
There have been promotions aplenty in the last week for the O's minor leaguers. Joe Trezza has the details of that and some top performers.

Former Orioles catcher Matt Wieters dropped from Team USA Olympic qualifying roster - Baltimore Sun
Aw, sorry Matt Wieters. I would have had fun rooting for him!

Another slow day on offense leads to latest loss - Steve Melewski
The lineup, it is so bad. Just like, so so bad.

Birthdays and History

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! You have two Orioles birthday buddies. Icon of the early 1990s, Joe Orsulak, turns 59 today. Orsulak played outfield for the Orioles from 1988-1992. It feels like longer to me, as these were formative years of my Orioles fandom. Orsulak’s best year at the plate came in the team’s best year of his tenure, 1989. He had an OPS+ of 121 that year, well above his career average of 93.

It’s also the 71st birthday of relief pitcher Tippy Martinez. Martinez pitched in the majors for 14 seasons, 11 of which were with the Orioles from 1976-1986. In his long Orioles career he 499 games with a 3.46 ERA. His finest year with team was 1983, the last year the Orioles won the World Series. In that season he appeared in 65 games with a 2.35 ERA and made his first and only All Star team.

Of course, he is best remembered for one particular game in 1983, August 24th, when he picked off three runners in one inning. On Tippy’s birthday last year, Tim Kurkjian published an article with Tippy’s firsthand account of the day. It’s really worth the read.

On this day in 2001, Cal Ripken hit the 420nd home run of his career. He’d hit 11 more in the season to end his career with 431.