Tuesday Bird Droppings: The Orioles are set for the battle for B-W Parkway supremacy

Hello, friends.

The quest for the first winning full month of Orioles baseball since August 2017 continues. Sunday’s win over the Rays gave the O’s a 9-8 record for the month so far. There are nine games still to be played before the calendars turn to July, so it’s very simple. The Orioles must go 5-4 in those nine games to do this.

It feels like it should be doable. The game breakdown: Two-game set against the Nationals, then hitting the road for four with the White Sox and three playing the Mariners. The Orioles have been 13-22 on the road so far this year and 9-12 when playing teams with records under .500. The Nationals and Mariners are each among the nine teams who have a worse winning percentage than the Orioles do right now.

There are no gimmes here. Remember when we started feeling slightly good about the team and then they went and got swept in a three game series against the Tigers, who were and still are pretty bad? That wasn’t fun! The Orioles have had a fun little stretch over the last week, between splitting the four games in Toronto and winning two of three against the Rays (who, as we all remember, went 18-1 against the O’s last year) and it would be nice to build on that somehow. We’ll see if they can do it.

Working against the Orioles at the moment is something of a fluid starting rotation. Bruce Zimmermann got demoted to the minors and Jordan Lyles was scratched from his Sunday start due to a stomach virus. It’s not known yet whether Lyles will be ready to pitch tonight, so it’s TBD all the way down the board for the O’s.

The series against the Nationals is set to start at 7:05 this evening. The Orioles still need to activate a position player to the roster before the game.

Around the blogO’sphere

Each team’s most deserving All-Star candidate (MLB.com)
How do you feel about Austin Hays being listed for the Orioles here? Personally, I’m hoping that Trey Mancini can squeeze his way into the probable only Orioles roster spot, but it’s nice there seem to be several deserving potential O’s choices.

Austin Hays on his clutch hitting, other Orioles notes (Steve Melewski)
Speaking of Hays, he recently addressed some clutch hitting performance that includes an .860 OPS so far this season with runners in scoring position.

Why the Orioles haven’t drafted pitching recently - and why that ‘maybe’ will change this year (The Baltimore Sun)
Since there are no pitching candidates in the 1-1 pool this year, Mike Elias has already ruled out taking a pitcher there, but he says pitching is still in play at pick #33 in beyond. To date, his Orioles have not drafted a pitcher prior to the fifth round.

Orioles option Baumann to Norfolk to comply with 13-pitcher limit (Baltimore Baseball)
MLB has been trying to make a roster limit of 13 pitchers happen for over two years now and between the pandemic causing disruptions in 2020 and 2021 and the past offseason’s owner-imposed lockout throwing the 2022 preseason calendar out of whack, they’ve only actually followed through with the limit as of yesterday.

The result for the Orioles was Mike Baumann getting sent to Norfolk, and as mentioned above, they have yet to announce a corresponding move. I’d guess recent waiver claim Jonathan Araúz as the most likely candidate.

Birthdays and Orioles anniversaries

Today in 1966, Frank Robinson delivered an unusual type of walkoff - a home run robbery where he dove into the stands in right field in Yankee Stadium. When he stood up with the ball, this was ruled a catch, ending the game with a 7-5 Orioles victory instead of an 8-7 Yankees win in the first game of a doubleheader.

You don’t have to go back quite that far to find the last Orioles victory on June 21, but it has been a few years. The O’s were last victorious on this day in 2015, when they came out on top of a slugfest against the Blue Jays with four ninth inning runs to win, 13-9, and improve to 33-30 on the season. Jimmy Paredes and Manny Machado each drove in three runs.

There are a few former Orioles who were born on this day. They are: 2006 reliever Sendy Rleal, 2000 one-game pitcher Luis Rivera, 1992-93 starting pitcher Rick Sutcliffe, and 1955 swingman Eddie Lopat.

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you! Your birthday buddies for today include: philosopher/author Jean-Paul Sartre (1905), novelist Ian McEwan (1948), and musician Lana Del Rey (1985).

On this day in history...

In 1791, French king Louis XVI and his family made an overnight attempt at an escape from Paris into the countryside, with the apparent aim of linking up with royalist forces who might counter the ongoing French Revolution. The king was recognized and captured about 30 miles away from his destination; the monarch’s attempted escape is seen now as having turned public opinion against the royalty.

In 1964, members of the Ku Klux Klan murdered three men in Mississippi who were attempting to help register Black Mississippians to vote. It took 41 years for anyone to be tried specifically for the killings, with a conviction secured for three counts of manslaughter for one of the killers on this day in 2005.

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And that’s the way it is in Birdland on June 21. Have a safe Tuesday. Go O’s!