Thursday Bird Droppings: Ten straight Orioles wins and a winning record in July, OMG

Hello, friends.

Forgive me for completely freaking out over here but THE ORIOLES HAVE WON TEN STRAIGHT GAMES AND NOW THEY HAVE A WINNING RECORD FOR THE SEASON IN JULY and holy moly how is this even possible, you know? The Orioles haven’t lost a game since I got married! The 2022 Orioles! The team who in April was generating the usual tepid jokes about how they’re an embarrassment to the game of baseball. Here we are three months later. They’re winners, for now.

If you didn’t get to follow along with the latest victory as the Orioles pushed their winning streak into double digits, check out my recap of the game. In the process, the Orioles snapped the second-longest drought of any MLB franchise since their last 10+ game winning streak. The Orioles haven’t hit 10+ since a 13-game streak in September 1999. Only the Marlins, who’ve never had 10+ wins in a row in their history, were longer.

Twinning the Orioles right now are the Seattle Mariners, who are also winners of ten straight. Seattle swept a doubleheader from the O’s useless southern neighbors, the Nationals, on Wednesday to pick up its ninth and tenth straight wins in one go. The Mariners, like the Orioles, were below .500 when their current streak began. The Mariners, like the Orioles, were riding a long drought without a 10+ game winning streak; their last streak of this length came along in 2002.

As the Orioles have ascended above .500, they are also in the wild card hunt for the time being. The Rays, at 48-40, hold the first spot and have a 1.5 game cushion on three teams tied for the final two spots. Those same Mariners, as well as the Red Sox and Blue Jays, sit at 47-42. The 45-44 Orioles are two games back of those three teams.

If you really want, you can spend this off day for the Orioles doing some scoreboard watching. The Red Sox are playing the Rays tonight, so the good news is that whatever happens, one of those teams will fall a half-game closer to the Orioles. The Mariners head to play the 41-45 Rangers, while the Blue Jays host the woeful 35-53 Royals. What’s more, the Royals have ten unvaccinated idiots who are about to be deactivated for the coming four-game set. Probably can’t count on those guys to steal many games that would help the O’s heading into the All-Star break.

If the Orioles are going to go any further from here, they’ll have to help themselves. They will face the Rays on the road for three games for their final series before the break. The last time the O’s were in the Trop, they got swept to start off this very season 0-3, confirming everybody’s preseason thoughts about the team. Though the O’s do now have a winning record overall, they’re still just 23-30 against teams that are above .500. The weekend could bring the good vibes to a screeching halt... or it could launch them into even higher unimaginable levels.

Around the blogO’sphere

Will Orioles consider Heston Kjerstad for another promotion later in the summer? (Steve Melewski)
Kjerstad has all of one Aberdeen game under his belt, but his Delmarva tenure was so good that Melewski can’t help but wonder whether Kjerstad could get to Bowie before the end of the season. It would be amazing if he did. Kjerstad had a hit and walk for the IronBirds last night before their game was suspended due to a lighting failure stemming from damage from Tuesday’s storm.

What MLB scouts think of the American League prospects in the Futures Game (The Athletic)
GUNNAR HENDERSON

Dempsey to represent Orioles at MLB draft (Orioles.com)
The most recent Orioles World Series MVP will be announcing the team’s picks on Sunday night. He’ll be busy, as the Orioles have four picks on day 1 of the draft.

Hays on wrist: “It feels good enough to go out there and play” (School of Roch)
Austin Hays was 3 for his last 42 before last night’s game, so perhaps his wrist hadn’t actually been good enough to go out there and play. We can hope four hits last night are the start of his heading back in a good direction.

Birthdays and Orioles anniversaries

Today in 2012, Taylor Teagarden, playing in his first Orioles game of the season, hit a 13th-inning home run to give the O’s an 8-6 walkoff win against the Tigers. The win improved the Orioles record to 46-41.

There are a number of former Orioles who were born on this day. They are: 2021 reliever Isaac Mattson, 2020 infielder Andrew Velazquez, 2005 infielder Bernie Castro, 1999 outfielder Derrick May, 1984 infielder Victor Rodriguez, 1977-79 infielder Billy Smith, 1973-74 catcher Earl Williams, and 1979-81 pitcher Steve Stone. Today is Stone’s 75th birthday, so an extra happy birthday to him.

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you! Your birthday buddies for today include: women’s suffrage activist Kate Gordon (1861), author Irving Stone (1903), animator William Hanna (1910), musician Woody Guthrie (1912), and 38th president Gerald Ford (1913).

On this day in history...

In 1789, French revolutionaries stormed the Bastille fortress in Paris. The symbolic importance of the capture of the Bastille stood larger than its practical impact: Only seven prisoners were held inside at the time it fell.

In 1881, Billy the Kid was shot and killed by Sherriff Pat Garrett in Fort Sumner, New Mexico.

In 1983, Mario Bros. was first released in Japan. This was the first game to feature Mario as the title character, though he’d debuted in 1981’s Donkey Kong.

**

And that’s the way it is in Birdland on July 14. Have a safe Thursday.