Tuesday Bird Droppings: Where I’m just going to pay attention to Mullins and Mountcastle

Happy Tuesday, Camden Chatters! Have you voted for Cedric Mullins yet today? Get on over to MLB.com and take care of it! I threw in a vote for Lil Yaz while I was there. It’s not his fault the Orioles made a bad decision.

As we approach the end of June, the Orioles have played nearly half of their season and for the most part have looked pretty bad doing so. Yesterday Tyler Young wrote down his thoughts on the Orioles being unwatchable, check it out if you haven’t done so yet. Lots of good discussion in the comments, too.

Two Orioles who haven’t been hard to watch lately are Cedric Mullins and Ryan Mountcastle. Mullins has been dominating the league since day one and Mountcastle has put up incredible numbers for the month of June. He went into last night’s game hitting .349/.381/.648 during June and added two walks and two hits, including his 14th home run of the year. As cold as he was to start the season, that’s how hot he’s been this month.

As for Mullins, the future all star had another multi-hit game last night. No big whoop.

Links

Should the Orioles trade Trey Mancini? A panel of former GMs discuss what they'd do – The Athletic
What would you do, dear Camden Chatter? Would you trade Trey Mancini?

As outfielders battle lingering injuries, Brandon Hyde shows appreciation for ‘good enough to play’ mindset - Baltimore Sun
Basically there are a bunch of guys hobbling around the outfield.

Cedric Mullins is a bright spot in a lost year for the Orioles - Beyond the Box Score
Our friends over at Beyond the Box Score are endorsing Cedric Mullins for the All Star game. Bold.

The waiting for Jahmai Jones is the hardest part - School of Roch
People are ready for Jahmai Jones. Twitter was hopping with people arguing about it the other day. Roch addresses the reasons that he's not in Baltimore yet.

Birthdays and History

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! You have three Orioles birthday buddies. Current Oriole Travis Lakins is celebrating birthday number 28 this year. Pitcher Pedro Viola, who appeared in six games from 2010-2011 for the O’s, turns 38 today.

And also born on this date is the late Dizzy Trout (b. 1917, d. 1972). Dizzy Trout had a very interesting career. He pitched for the Detroit Tigers from 1938-52, then was traded to the Red Sox midway through the 1952 season. He then quit playing and became a broadcaster and ran for political office and lost. In 1957 at age 42 he decided to try to come back and signed a minor league deal with the Orioles. The Orioles called him up in September,

Here is an account from Trout’s SABR.org bio page that captures his entire Orioles career:

Trout returned to the majors in Boston’s Fenway Park, on the same mound where his career had supposedly ended almost exactly five years earlier. Weighing more than 220 pounds and looking mighty like a whale, he milked it for maximum drama. On the way in from the bullpen in the eighth inning, he detoured to the dugout for a drink of water and hauled out his trademark red bandanna to wipe his glasses. The Red Sox protested the flapping sleeve on his sweatshirt, so the game was delayed while he took it off. Then he threw two pitches and retired the only batter he faced on an infield popup. But in his next game, against Kansas City, he gave up two singles, a double, and a triple for three runs before he was relieved without pitching for the cycle or recording an out. That ended his comeback.

If you get the chance today, I recommend reading the entire bio. It’s entertaining.

On this day in 1972, Jim Palmer lasted less then two innings against the Yankees, ending his eight-game winning streak.

In 2013, Chris Davis hit two home runs to get to 30 on the year, the most in the majors. He’d go on to hit 53 for the season.

In 2019, the Orioles beat Cleveland 13-0 for the second straight game. It was a rare highlight in a mostly terrible season.