Monday Bird Droppings: The playoffs roll on with two former Orioles still standing

Happy Monday, Camden Chatters!

As is to be expected, there isn’t much Orioles news to talk about. It’s still the postseason, after all. But how about that postseason? It’s not going the way many thought it would.

If you weren’t paying attention over the weekend, both the Dodgers and Braves have been eliminated from the playoffs. The Padres took out the Dodgers while the Phillies defeated the Braves. The top two seeds in the National League were expected to go much further than the division series, but that’s baseball. The NLCS begins in San Diego tomorrow at 8 pm eastern time.

Over in the American League, the wild card teams haven’t taken over as in the NL. Trey Mancini’s Astros swept the Mariners and the Yankees beat the Guardians last night to force a game five in the series. That game is tonight at 7 p.m. at Yankee Stadium. I have been watching a lot of playoff baseball this year, but if the ALCS ends up being between the Astros and Yankees, I’ll probably use that time to catch up on TV instead.

I will be watching the NLCS as my bedtime permits, rooting for the Padres and Manny Machado. I know a lot of Orioles fans haven’t kept the love for Manny after he left, but he’s just so good. The absolute joy he showed celebrating won me over, especially when I saw the interaction between him and Adam Jones after the game.

It goes without saying that this is all just a pale imitation of what I really want, which is the Orioles in the playoffs. Maybe next year? Although watching the teams who made it this year makes me wonder. They just seem a lot better than the Orioles. But I have chosen to trust Mike Elias. He better not let me down.

If you couldn’t care less about the postseason, don’t worry. We have plenty of Orioles content for you here! Today we have a review of Spenser Watkins’s surprising season and a look at his future with the team; a story on prospect Joey Ortiz, who absolutely crushed the ball to finish the 2022 season; and Mark Brown checked in with Orioles in the Arizona Fall League.

Links

Sunday Notes: Joe Maddon is Glad He Didn’t Get the Boston Job | FanGraphs Baseball
Amongst his notes, David Laurila recounts part of his discussion with Eve Rosenbaum, assistant GM for the Orioles, about the team's hitting-development program. If you'd like to hear the entire interview, check out the podcast.

AL East Notes: Moreno, Rutschman, Red Sox - MLB Trade Rumors
MLBTR notes that Nathan Ruiz of The Baltimore Sun thinks the best move the Orioles could make this winter is to lock up Adley Rutschman. Do you agree with that?

More Orioles reflections from 2022 season - MASN Sports
Roch Kubatko looks back at the catching situation with the Orioles and the season that César Prieto had with the organization.

Birthdays and History

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! You have four Orioles birthday buddies. Former Oriole and current Dodger Hanser Alberto turns 30 years old today. Happy birthday, Hanser! It’s also the birthday of Ken Dixon (62), who pitched for the Orioles from 1984-87; Kelly Paris (b. 1957, d. 2019), who played in five games each in 1985 and 1986 with the Orioles; and Jim Hutto (75), who went 0-for-5 in four games with the 1975 Birds.

October 17th is a lousy day in the Orioles’ history. They’ve only played two games on this date, one in 1971 and one in 1979. Both games were against the Pittsburgh Pirates and both were game seven in the World Series. As good Orioles fans know, both games were heartbreaking losses that handed the Orioles a WS defeat. In both, the O’s scored just one run on four hits, weirdly. The less said about these games, the better.