Sunday Bird Droppings: Dreaming of a winning Orioles June

Hello, friends.

There’s a glass half-empty perspective to take from yesterday’s loss and a glass half-full perspective. Why is it half-empty? The Orioles are going to need decent-or-better starting pitching if they are to ever again count themselves among the better teams in the league. One of the prospects who they seem to be counting on to work his way into this category, Kyle Bradish, stunk again yesterday while failing to complete five innings and now has a 7.38 ERA after ten starts. It’s not great!

The half-full conclusion to draw from the game is that, despite that Bradish clunker, the Orioles battled from a 6-2 deficit to tie the game at 6-6. Though the O’s did ultimately lose to the Rays, 7-6, a person inclined to see the positives might view this not-there-yet team showing that kind of resilience as a sign of better things in the distance. I leave it up to the reader to decide. Check out Andrea’s recap of the game if you missed it.

After Saturday’s loss, the Orioles are 8-8 for the month of June. If you’ve been reading Camden Chat for a while, you know I’ve been looking forward to the Orioles snapping their streak of full calendar months without having a winning record, which has been going on since their last winning month in August 2017. It’s a long time!

The O’s have today’s series finale against the Rays, then nine straight games against teams with currently losing records to close out the month. The Orioles will need a 6-4 record over this ten-game stretch to break the streak. (The 2019 Orioles were 12-12 in July.) An unexpected series victory over the Rays would be a nice way to keep themselves from needing to do too much to have the winning month.

It’ll be up to Jordan Lyles to reverse his recent fortunes to give the Orioles a good chance as the series closes out at 1:35 today. The O’s offense will try to put in a solid performance against Corey Kluber, who’s been good (3.50 ERA in 12 starts) so far this season.

Around the blogO’sphere

Orioles option Gillaspie (School of Roch)
One piece of Orioles roster news from yesterday: Joey Krehbiel is back from the injured list. That means the team sent down Logan Gillaspie to make room. The O’s are going to need to pare down to 13 pitchers (currently 14 on the roster) tomorrow as MLB’s pitcher limit on the roster will finally take effect after being kicked down the road for two years.

It’s all about Dad for O’s/Apple TV voice Melanie Newman (MLB.com)
I don’t get tired of Melanie Newman articles. This particular one is relevant on Father’s Day because Newman’s father passed away earlier this year. I’m sure the absence will be felt particularly today.

Another top draft pick means another tough decision for Orioles, Mike Elias: ‘We’re gonna have a nice lively debate’ (The Baltimore Sun)
Mike Elias says that the Orioles have narrowed down to five names for the #1 pick next month, among other things. Will it be Druw Jones? We’ll know in two days shy of a month!

Cionel Pérez would like to play in World Baseball Classic, but can’t (Baltimore Baseball)
There’s been some talk across the league this week about how Cuban-born MLBers, who’ve had to defect from their native country in order to play here, are advocating for being able to put together a team for the World Baseball Classic. The Orioles reliever offered his thoughts recently.

Kyle Stowers talks about additions of Henderson and Westburg in Norfolk (Steve Melewski)
I continue to be delighted by every story of one Orioles prospect talking up other Orioles prospects. I hope we get to see all of these guys in Orioles uniforms at the same time.

Birthdays and Orioles anniversaries

You have to go back to the 2016 season to find the most recent Orioles victory on this date. The 2016 team beat the Blue Jays, 11-6, to improve to 40-28 on the season and hold on to a game lead in the AL East. Matt Wieters had four hits and four runs driven in, Jonathan Schoop had three of each, and Chris Davis was on base four times in the win.

One 2022 Oriole has a birthday today, though he’s already come and gone from the 40-man roster. Happy 27th to Cody Sedlock. Former Orioles with birthdays today: 2017 pitcher Logan Verrett, 2004 outfielder Val Majewski, 2004-06 pitcher Bruce Chen, 2001-03 pitcher Willis Roberts, 1988-89 outfielder Butch Davis, and 1955-57 pitcher Don Farrarese. Today is Ferrarese’s 93rd birthday, so an extra happy birthday to him.

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you! Your birthday buddies for today include: Throne unifier James VI/I of Scotland/England (1566), baseball Hall of Famer Lou Gehrig (1903), novelist Salman Rushdie (1947), singer-songwriter Paula Abdul (1962), and rapper Macklemore (1983).

On this day in history...

In 1865, the end of slavery in America was proclaimed by an Army officer in Galveston, Texas; the former slaves who heard the message are regarded as the last Southern state slaves to be formally freed after the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation. As of last year, this date, Juneteenth, was recognized as a federal holiday.

In 1960, NASCAR held its first race. The inaugural race took place at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

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And that’s the way it is in Birdland on June 19. Have a safe Sunday. Go O’s!