Monday Bird Droppings: An exhausting two days of baseball continues

Good morning, Camden Chatters.

If your favorite pastime in life is watching Orioles-Royals baseball games, boy, are you in hog heaven right now. After rainouts on both Friday and Saturday wreaked havoc on the schedule, the two clubs are in the midst of playing three games in a 24-hour span. Because the public demanded it, obviously. We need our fix of Orioles-Royals.

The grind began with yesterday’s doubleheader that kicked off at 1:35, with the Orioles’ defensive meltdown costing them game one, as described by Alex, before a well-pitched game two salvaged a split for the Birds, which Drew recapped. And with the COVID-induced seven-inning doubleheaders now a thing of the past, that meant 18 full innings of baseball on this day.

But there’s no rest for the weary, because the two teams will be back on the field for a 12:05 makeup game this afternoon, each losing their mutual off day to conclude the series. Poor Carlos Hernandez, who had his Friday start rained out, then had his Saturday start rained out, then was skipped over for two different Royals starters on Sunday, will finally get his chance to pitch for Kansas City. Tyler Wells will be on the bump for Baltimore.

Don’t look now, but the 11-17 Orioles have moved out of the AL East cellar thanks to the woeful Red Sox, whose loss yesterday dropped them to 10-19. Too bad, so sad. In fact the Orioles are currently better than four other American League teams: the Sox, the aforementioned Royals (9-16), the Tigers (8-19), and the Athletics (10-18).

Don’t get me wrong — nobody should be dancing in the streets over an 11-17 record. But it feels nice, for however long it lasts, that the Orioles aren’t the league’s primary punching bag, for once. And with Adley Rutschman and other prospects soon on the way up, maybe there’s a glimmer of optimism that better times are ahead.

Links

Answers to your Orioles questions, Part 1 - BaltimoreBaseball.com
Rich Dubroff tackles questions from readers, including a few about some ex-Orioles castoffs. If you were wondering what happened to Hunter Harvey, you’ll never believe this, but he’s currently on the injured list.

Adley’s imminent arrival start of ‘big wave’ of young talent - MLB.com
Trey Mancini, Brandon Hyde, and other Orioles are just as excited as the rest of us to see the prospects arrive. Let’s just hope the term “big wave” doesn’t become the new “cavalry.”

Orioles gain split of doubleheader with 4-2 win (updated) - School of Roch
You guys, is Bruce Zimmermann...good? I feel like he's good!

Orioles birthdays and history

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! Three former Orioles were born on this date: utility men Jace Peterson (32), Tom Chism (68), and Ron Jackson (69).

May 9 has been a very fortuitous day in Orioles history, with the club holding an excellent 35-20 all-time record on this date, including nine consecutive wins from 2001-2009. The first game the O’s ever played on May 9, in their inaugural season of 1954, was an extra-innings, walkoff victory over Cleveland on Gil Coan’s RBI single that made a winner of Bob Turley, who threw 10 innings without allowing an earned run.

In 1961, Jim Gentile became the first player in major league history to hit grand slams in consecutive innings, bashing salamis in both the first and second innings — first off Pedro Ramos, then Paul Giel — and collecting nine RBIs in the Orioles’ 13-5 rout of the Twins.

In 1987, Eddie Murray also achieved an MLB first, homering from both sides of the plate for a second consecutive game. His blasts, off lefty Joel McKeon and righty Bob James, powered the Orioles to a 15-6 blowout of the White Sox at Comiskey Park.

And on this day in 2017, the Orioles pulled off a dramatic comeback against the Nationals. Trailing 4-2 in the ninth after Max Scherzer’s eight brilliant innings, the O’s rallied against the bullpen, with back-to-back RBI hits by Jonathan Schoop and J.J. Hardy tying the game with two outs in the ninth before Mark Trumbo won it with a walkoff single in the 12th.