Thursday Bird Droppings: Cheering on the Manny Machado show

Hello, friends.

MLB’s postseason rolls on, and for those of us with no primary rooting interest, these have been some great games. Wednesday’s back-and-forth that saw the Padres even up their series against the Phillies after coming back from a 4-0 deficit was tense stuff all the way through. I’m happy with the outcome, since for me the Manny Machado-led Padres are the team that’s the most interesting.

That NLCS matchup is off today as the teams travel to Philadelphia. The ALCS will be in action at 7:37 tonight. That was a close one as well, with Justin Verlander dominating and the Astros bullpen holding on through some tense moments to take down the Yankees in Game 1 of that series. I also approve of this outcome, obviously, because the sins of Jeffrey Maier can never be balanced out in this lifetime.

In the meantime, I continue to impatiently await the arrival of the baseball offseason so we can see what’s going to happen with the Orioles. As I have written before and will write again, it’s been tremendously boring the last few years and it sounds like interesting things might be happening with moves to improve the team over the hot stove season this year. Maybe I’m a fool for believing in that.

We’ll be waiting another couple of weeks to get to that point. The World Series doesn’t get under way until the 28th, and if it goes the distance of seven games, it could go as far as November 5th. When offseason-related things can begin is based on when the World Series ends. Until then, go Padres and boo Yankees.

Around the blogO’sphere

Could Orioles field a homegrown lineup in 2023? (School of Roch)
For a variety of reasons, the homegrown lineup for next year posited by Kubatko here is probably not going to happen, but for those who’ve been getting excited about O’s prospects during this rebuild, it’s an exciting list to look over.

Félix Bautista used to dream of being the closer. Now that he’s here, the Orioles right-hander isn’t settling. (The Baltimore Sun)
Bautista’s 2022 success might be the thing I’m most nervous about just casually assuming it can carry over to next year. It’ll be great for the team if it does.

Finally healthy, O’s Kjerstad rewriting script in AFL (Orioles.com)
Heston Kjerstad is OPSing over 1.000 through 11 Arizona Fall League games. All I can keep saying is I hope he can keep it up the rest of the way.

The Orioles first key offseason decision (MLBTR)
It’s whether or not to exercise the option for Jordan Lyles next year. If your level of Orioles awareness is as unhealthy as mine, you’ve been wondering about this for months now. It’s better for you if you haven’t.

The case for the defense (Steve Melewski)
The Orioles had a top 10 defense this season as measured by total Defensive Runs Saved. Nine of the playoff teams were in the top 10. It’s encouraging. I hope they can keep it up or even improve this next season.

Birthdays and Orioles anniversaries

Nothing serious has happened on this day in Orioles history because they have never been deep into a postseason since postseasons started lasting at least this long into October. Maybe that will change some year soon.

There are a pair of former Orioles who were born on this day. They are: 2019 five-game reliever Ty Blach, and 1968-70 reserve infielder Bobby Floyd. Today is Floyd’s 79th birthday, so an extra happy birthday to him.

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you! Your birthday buddies for today include: St Paul’s Cathedral architect Christopher Wren (1632), actor Bela Lugosi (1882), baseball Hall of Famers Mickey Mantle (1931) and Juan Marichal (1937), musician Tom Petty (1950), Vice President Kamala Harris (1964), and rapper Snoop Dogg (1971).

On this day in history...

In 1740, the Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI died without any sons. His daughter, Maria Theresa, was supposed to inherit the personal possessions of the Habsburgs, including Austria, but several European powers including France and Prussia decided they did not like this, and so began the War of the Austrian Succession, which while burning through 1748 eventually spilled over into North America as one of the French and Indian Wars.

In 1818, the United States and the United Kingdom signed an agreement delineating the US-Canada border for the western part of the continent at the 49th parallel.

In 1973, two successive attorneys general were fired by President Nixon for refusing to derail the special prosecutor investigating the Watergate break-ins and coverup. The prosecutor, Archibald Cox, was eventually fired when Nixon found someone - future failed Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork - to do the job of what’s now in American political lore as the “Saturday Night Massacre.”

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And that’s the way it is in Birdland on October 20. Have a safe Thursday.