Wednesday Bird Droppings: Jorge López soaks up his all-star moment

Good morning, Birdland!

If you stepped out for a bathroom break or maybe a snack, you will have missed Jorge López’s appearance in last night’s All-Star Game. It lasted all of three pitches, in which he did retire the two batters he faced, before he was lifted as part of manager Dusty Baker’s efforts to get all of his available pitchers into the contest.

But honestly, that may have been an ideal outcome. López didn’t have to labor. He didn’t struggle. He got in the game, had his moment, seemed to love it, the broadcast gave us a “How ‘bout dem O’s?,” and he got outta there.

Hopefully he is able to maintain this level of performance, and he can make this trip an annual thing. Maybe he will even stay with the Orioles and have a few teammates with him next time.

So what’s next? Well, there is next to no sports the next couple of days. Baseball resumes tomorrow, but the Orioles do not play again until Friday, when they host the Yankees. Soccer fans could watch the quarter finals of the Women’s Euro this afternoon, or I guess we could subject ourselves to the ESPYs.

Links

López has scoreless outing in All-Star Game | School of Roch
Our closer was glowing out there. All-Star Games get a lot of flak, and for good reason, but clearly it means something to many of the players. López was one of those players on Tuesday. He has had some significant ups and downs in his career, so it has to be a dream come true that he was able to take his spot among the game’s elite last night.

O’s draft 7-footer, would be Majors’ tallest player ever | MLB.com
It can be a long journey from the 13th round of the draft to a major league mound, but the Orioles will hope that left-handed pitcher Jared Beck out of Saint Leo University can pull it off. The O’s area scout is saying that he has seen Beck up to 95 from the left side. If that is true he certainly makes for an interesting prospect.

Orioles complete draft, take 7 more pitchers | Baltimore Baseball
For all the folks worried about too few pitchers in the O’s system, here ya go! The Orioles seem to prioritize quantity when it comes to arms, and then they trust their development staff to find a few gems.

Orioles birthdays

Is it your birthday? Happy birthday!

• Pedro Severino turns 29. He served as the team’s catcher for most of the recent rebuild, spending 2019 through 2021 as their everyday backstop. He is currently on the Brewers’ big league roster.
• Alexi Casilla is 38. The infielder wrapped up his big league career with parts of two seasons in Baltimore from 2013-14.
• Mr. Spring Training himself, Jake Fox, is 40 years old. His O’s career lasted two seasons, 2010-11, when he had a 93 OPS+ over 65 total games.
• Charles Johnson celebrates his 51st birthday. He caught for a couple of poor O’s squads in 1999 and 2000 before he was dealt to the White Sox.
• Mark Lee is 58. The southpaw appeared in 39 games out of the Orioles bullpen in 1995.

This day in O’s history

2001 - A train derailment from two days prior postpones another Orioles game, this time against the visiting Angels.

2021 - The first all-woman broadcast team presents a game between the Orioles and Rays at Tropicana Field on YouTube. Melanie Newman provides play-by-play, Sarah Langs does color commentary, Alana Rizzo handles on-field reporting, while Heidi Watney and Lauren Gardner are the in-studio hosts.