Monday Bird Droppings: Another exciting Orioles wave of prospect promotions

Hello, friends.

So, the Orioles. They haven’t gotten much better since the last time you spent a lot of time thinking about how bad they are. More poor pitching doomed them in a Father’s Day loss to the Blue Jays, a 7-4 setback to close out the series with a loss. It is nice that Trey Mancini homered twice to reach the 100 career home runs milestone. Check out Harrison’s recap of the loss for the not-so-lovely totals.

The latest loss leaves the Orioles at 23-48 for the season. That’s a .324 winning percentage, or 52-110 over a full schedule of games. It’s not fun! The Orioles improved from 47 to 54 wins from 2018 to 2019, then played over the 60-game 2020 season at a pace that would have meant 68 wins in a 162-game schedule. That fooled me into thinking they might be a better team this year than they were two years ago. It just isn’t happening. They’re bad.

Despite this, they continue to not have the worst record in all of MLB. They didn’t even gain ground in the draft pick standings yesterday, as the MLB-worst Diamondbacks lost a 17th consecutive game, a 9-8 loss to the Dodgers, to fall to 20-53. Arizona is five back of the Orioles in the loss column. They had a 13-game losing streak last month and now in June are losers of 17 straight.

Arizona, as you may have heard, also set a new MLB record for consecutive road losses. They are at 23 and counting. Both the Diamondbacks and the Orioles are at home for the next three games, so we will be waiting until Thursday to see whether these teams can continue their road futility.

Waiting next for the Orioles are the Astros, whose karmic penalty over the whole business with the cheating by banging on trash cans to signal pitches appears to be minimal to nonexistent. After a Sunday win and an Athletics loss, the Astros are ahead in the AL West by percentage points. They are first in the American League in batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage. Good luck, Orioles pitchers. You’re going to need it.

Let’s talk about some happier news. The Orioles announced a variety of minor league promotions yesterday, headlined by Gunnar Henderson going from Low-A Delmarva to High-A Aberdeen:

Of the many struggling spots on the Orioles roster right now, few seem to have 2021 answers. These promotions don’t change that any. But guys succeeding and moving up makes it a little easier to believe that better times could be here in, I don’t know, 2023. The big one we’re all waiting for is when Adley Rutschman will be headed to Norfolk. For now, it doesn’t suck that he’s getting to catch Grayson Rodriguez in Bowie, even if I’d rather he be hitting against tougher pitchers a level higher to speed his arrival in Baltimore.

Around the blogO’sphere

Mancini rakes, but O’s face tough questions (Orioles.com)
The tough questions are what to do when there’s a slumping Anthony Santander whose ankle is clearly still bothering him, and what to do with Matt Harvey. I don’t think either of these is all that tough, actually.

Orioles top prospects are creating excitement at Bowie (Baltimore Baseball)
Rodriguez threw a 99mph fastball that broke Rutschman’s glove. That also doesn’t suck.

The losing streak is over: Relish celebrates Father’s Day with first Orioles hot dog race victory (The Baltimore Sun)
Some people got really invested in the winless streak of the animated relish-topped hot dog in Camden Yards Jumbotron races. I am not one of those people, but I won’t judge you if you are one of them. I was lying just now. You’re judged. Weirdo.

Birthdays and Orioles anniversaries

You have to go back to the 2015 season to find the last time the Orioles won a game on June 21. The Orioles beat the Blue Jays, 13-9, after scoring seven runs in the top of the second and immediately giving up six runs in the bottom of the second. They eventually broke a 9-9 tie with four ninth inning runs. The go-ahead hit was delivered by J.J. Hardy. This improved their record to 36-33.

There are a few former Orioles who were born on this day. They are: 2006 reliever Sendy Rleal, 2000 one-game pitcher Luis Rivera, Camden Yards Opening Day starter Rick Sutcliffe, and 1955 swingman Eddie Lopat.

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you! Your birthday buddies for today include: philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre (1905), novelist Ian McEwan (1948), actor Chris Pratt (1979), and musician Lana Del Rey (1985).

On this day in history...

In 1791, French King Louis XVI attempted to flee Paris, along with his family. They did not successfully escape the area. The flight is regarded as marking the end of any pretense that the French Revolution and monarchy might coexist.

In 1919, German Admiral Ludwig von Reuter ordered the scuttling of his ships, which had been interned at Scapa Flow in Orkney since the end of hostilities of what we now know as World War I. Nine sailors died in the course of this being carried out. They are regarded as the final casualties of the war.

In 1964, three men working to register Black voters in Mississippi were murdered by members of the Ku Klux Klan. The bodies of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner were not discovered until two months later. On this same day in 2005, one man was convicted of manslaughter for the killings; Edgar Ray Killen died in prison in 2018.

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And that’s the way it is in Birdland on June 21. Have a safe Monday. Go O’s!