Monday Bird Droppings: Saying goodbye to an embarrassing weekend

Happy Monday, Camden Chatters!

Every now and then it’s very hard to sit down and write about the Orioles. To want to write about the Orioles. Today is one of those days.

After the Orioles beat the Blue Jays on Friday, I was feeling pretty good. There was some funny drama about stealing signs and the Orioles had been winning enough that we could forget for a moment how terrible they really are.

Then the rest of the weekend happened. Saturday’s doubleheader featured two blown saves and a horrific game two in which Keegan Akin and the Orioles took a no-hitter into the seventh (and final) inning only to see 12 out of 13 batters reach base to start the inning as the Jays put up 11 runs to seal the doubleheader sweep.

But all they had to do was bounce back for the final game of the series, right? Hahahahaha well....yeah. All that happened yesterday was the Orioles giving 30-3 a run for its money. They fell short and the final score was only 22-7. You can all of those grisly details in Alex Church’s recap. Poor Alex.

If you’re looking for good news, today is an off day! And starting tomorrow the Orioles get to play the Yankees, who are not having a great time of things of late. Starting with the two games they lost against the Orioles, the Yankees lost seven in a row before finally winning on Saturday night. Their playoff hopes are dangling by a thread and another series loss to the Orioles could sink them.

Or the Orioles might give up 22 more runs.

Links

Orioles prospect Zach Watson is on the verge of a rare 20-20 season: ‘He’s got a lot of bat speed for a little guy’ - Baltimore Sun
More attention is being given to his fellow draft mates Adley Rutschman and Kyle Stowers, but don't sleep on Zach Watson! He just needs one home run this season to have 20 homer, 20 stolen base season.

Ryan Mountcastle matches Cal Ripken Jr.'s rookie HR record - MLB.com
Sure, yesterday's game was garbage. But Ryan Mountcastle just keeps on going and his 28th home run of the year. The blast tied him with Cal Ripken for most rookie home runs for an Oriole.

Hanhold joins Orioles - School of Roch
In case you missed it, the Orioles called up Eric Hanhold yesterday. He gave up two runs in 1.2 innings so he'll probably be gone soon.

Birthdays and History

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! You have two Oriole birthday buddies, including 1983 World Series MVP Rick Dempsey. Dempsey is 72 years young today and was active in baseball for 24 total seasons. That’s a lot! He came to the Orioles in 1976 in a big trade with the Yankee that also brought Tippy Martinez and Scott McGregor to the Orioles, among others. Dempsey stayed with the Oriole through 1985 and then came back for his final big league season in 1992.

We haven’t seen as much from Uncle Rick since MASN parted ways with him last year, but he’ll always be an Orioles legend.

It’s also the birthday of Mike Adamson (74), who appeared in 11 games for the Orioles from 1967-69. Not quite the longevity as his fellow birthday buddy, but we wish him well all the same.

On this day in 1962, the Orioles were playing the Washington Senators when one of Washington’s players, Jim Piersall, got angry at a heckler and went into the stands after him! Take a chill pill, Jim. The Oriole won the game 7-1 with pitcher Chuck Estrada hitting a home run.

In 1971, Frank Robinson hit home runs in both games of a doubleheader against the Tigers. His home run in the second game was the 500th of his career.

In 2013, the now retired Chris Davis hit his 50th home run of the season in a 5-3 win over the Blue Jays. Could have used that bat this weekend!