Thursday Bird Droppings: The Orioles are finally coming back to your TV tonight

Hello, friends.

There are now 15 days remaining until Orioles Opening Day. MLB’s 2022 season begins two weeks from today. The O’s don’t get in a home game for another 18 days. Prospects who are assigned to Triple-A Norfolk will get into action before that, with only 12 days to go until they get started.

Today is something of a treat in spring training as MASN, the Orioles-owned network that broadcasts Orioles games, is actually bothering to broadcast tonight’s game. They’ll be playing the Red Sox starting at 6:05 tonight. This is one of three spring training games that the network will broadcast.

According to the recent reporting from The Athletic’s Dan Connolly, the MASN broadcasters will be remote. So even the good thing comes with a disappointing aspect to it. The game will also be carried on the flagship stations of the Orioles Radio Network - 97.9 FM and 101.5 FM/1090 AM - and those radio broadcasters will be in Sarasota for the game. At least one of the pairs will actually be on site.

Through six spring training games, the Orioles are now 2-3-1. Though none of it counts, we’re not very far removed from when things will start to count, and it’s more than a little bit concerning that the Orioles have given up seven or more runs in four of their six games to date. That included last night, when the Yankees were bombing away against both Alexander Wells and Mike Baumann, two guys who figure to be in the initial pitching mix for the team. That’s especially true with the 28-man roster settled for the first weeks of the season.

One crucial piece of bad news came out of Orioles camp yesterday, as GM Mike Elias announced that the hamstring strain suffered by tough-luck prospect Heston Kjerstad is serious enough that he will be out for 8-12 weeks. It’s a sad development after he’d worked hard to return to the field after dealing with a lengthy bout of myocarditis. I’ll be rooting for a quick recovery and hoping his pro potential isn’t harmed by more lost playing time.

Closer to the MLB roster picture, there’s one more injury development to watch for today. Last night’s game saw DJ Stewart strike out swinging on a pitch that ended up hitting him on the left hand. After the game, manager Brandon Hyde told reporters that Stewart would be getting an x-ray on the hand today, with concern for one of his knuckles in particular. By the time the pre-game press conference rolls around, we could have a better idea of whether there’s an injury serious enough to knock him out of the Opening Day roster picture.

Want something better before we move along? Here’s Hyde on pitching prospect Kyle Bradish, who tossed two scoreless innings against the Yankees A-team lineup as the starting pitcher in last night’s game:

Around the blogO’sphere

Orioles make a splash: Jimmy’s Famous Seafood is coming to Camden Yards (The Baltimore Sun)
This is the kind of stuff the Orioles should be trying to do, so good for them. At the same time, there would have to be a significant financial inducement to get me to roll the dice with a seafood menu item at a sparsely-attended spring weeknight game.

How Orioles lured Lyles to organization and how he helps (School of Roch)
Jordan Lyles said of the Orioles that “they expressed how they feel about me and certain ways they think they can help me get to the next level.” It would be fun if they’re right! I don’t have high hopes. For now, the clubhouse sees him as providing some veteran presence, including for locker neighbor Grayson Rodriguez.

Mike Elias talks arbitration process for Mancini, Means, injury updates for Kjerstad and Rutschman (Baltimore Baseball)
On Adley Rutschman’s injury, Elias said it was “still weeks rather than days” before he gets into games, although he also said he wouldn’t completely rule out Rutschman for Norfolk’s Opening Day.

Q&A: D.L. Hall on his health, his future, and his name (The Athletic)
Asked whether his name should be written as “DL” or “D.L.” Hall, he expressed that he does not really care, though he did acknowledge that “grammatically it’s supposed to be periods in there. Because it’s names.” A solid stance.

New lead Orioles play-by-play Kevin Brown ‘still learning things every day’ (Press Box)
“I don’t want to feel like a fly-by-night guy who comes in and does some games, you know what I mean?” said Kevin Brown about his decision to move to Baltimore full-time as he becomes the main Orioles broadcaster on MASN. Hard to go wrong with that kind of approach.

Birthdays and Orioles anniversaries

Of all of the players to ever play for the Orioles, only one has had a birthday today. That’s 1954 first baseman Dick Kryhoski, who played in 100 games for the inaugural O’s team. He passed away in 2007 at the age of 82.

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you! Your birthday buddies for today include: Dutch admiral Michiel de Ruyter (1607), magician Harry Houdini (1874), baseball Hall of Famer George Sisler (1893), animator Joseph Barbera (1911), actor Steve McQueen (1930), designer Tommy Hilfiger (1951), wrestler The Undertaker (1965), football Hall of Famer Peyton Manning (1976), and actress Jessica Chastain (1977).

On this day in history...

In 1603, the emperor of Japan granted the title of shogun to Tokugawa Ieyasu, establishing a military government for the country that would last until 1868.

In 1721, Johann Sebastian Bach dedicated a series of six concertos to the Margrave of Brandenburg-Schwedt. The Brandenburg Concertos, now recognized as some of the greatest works of the Baroque era, were not performed for over a hundred years, only being rediscovered and published in 1850.

In 1944, 76 Allied prisoners of war attempted an escape from the German camp Stalag Luft III. The escape, dramatized in the movie The Great Escape starring the birthday boy McQueen, saw just three of the prisoners make it to safety; fifty men were killed by the Gestapo after being recaptured, a war crime according to the Geneva Convention.

In 1989, the oil tanker Exxon Valdez ran aground in Prince William Sound, Alaska, spilling nearly a quarter million barrels of crude oil.

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And that’s the way it is in Birdland on March 24. Have a safe Thursday. Go O’s!