Sunday Bird Droppings: Looking for more Orioles offense and a series win

Hello, friends.

The Orioles are back at .500 with a 4-4 record after a limp offensive effort in last night’s chilly weather. New-for-this-year Oriole Cole Irvin was not very good for his second straight start to begin his O’s tenure. The offense only got four hits. That’s a hard way to win a game. Check out Andrea’s recap of the game for the not-so-lovely totals.

The not-so-great thing about the Orioles already having a pathetic performance on offense under their belt in this series is it’s not getting any better today. 2022’s surprise sub-1.00 WHIP sensation Nestor Cortes is going to be pitching for the Yankees in the series finale. Short of actually just getting no-hit, they can’t do much worse (on offense) today. Though the pitching was not very good yesterday, we are all well aware that can still get worse.

Tyler Wells finally gets to make a start in the 1:35 finale. Wells, as you probably recall, was pressed into emergency relief duty a day earlier than his expected start in Texas. That resulted from Kyle Bradish being injured by a comebacker. Now he’s putting his 0.00 season ERA on the line against the Yankees, who do seem to still be quite Yankee-like to start off the 2023 season.

It would be nice for the team to find a way to win today. The Orioles came up just shy of a winning record against three of their four divisional opponents last year. They’re already one in the hole against Boston this year. One fun way to start to reverse that would be to come away with an early series win against the AL East. I don’t have high hopes, but then, I never do.

Around the blogO’sphere

Finally, there’s reason to believe in the Orioles again (Baltimore Magazine)
It’s nice, isn’t it, Baltimore Magazine?

Orioles already putting their improved pitching depth to the test (Baltimore Baseball)
The injury to Kyle Bradish threw some early chaos into the pitching picture.

Updates on McCann, Mateo, and Rodriguez (School of Roch)
Backup catcher James McCann could be activated off of the injured list as soon as today, although this is not guaranteed.

An Orioles playlist: Each walk-up song for Baltimore’s hitters, and why they chose it (The Baltimore Banner)
This is Good Journalism. There should have been an article like this at the start of every season for years, but this is the first time I recall one.

How much will the food cost at Camden Yards in Baltimore this season? (The Baltimore Sun)
The short answer is “More than it should,” but we all knew that already. It’s a bit more practical of a guide than that.

Birthdays and Orioles anniversaries

Today in 1959, the Orioles turned a triple play during a 9-2 Opening Day loss to the then-Washington Senators. (The franchise is now the Minnesota Twins.) This was the first time in league history that a team turned an Opening Day triple play.

There are a few former Orioles who were born on this day. They are: 2021 five-game pitcher Mac Sceroler, 2006-08 pitcher Adam Loewen, and 2008-09 pitcher Dennis Sarfate.

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you! Your birthday buddies for today include: “Hidden Figures” engineer Mary Jackson (1921), Playboy founder Hugh Hefner (1926), actress Kristen Stewart (1990), and actress Elle Fanning (1998).

On this day in history...

In 1784, the Revolutionary War formally ended with the approval of the Treaty of Paris by George III of Great Britain. The Congress had previously ratified the treaty.

In 1865, the Army of Northern Virginia surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House. This marked the effective end of the Civil War.

In 1959, the first seven American astronauts were announced by NASA. All of the Mercury Seven, as they were quickly dubbed eventually made their way into space at least once.

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And that’s the way it is in Birdland on April 9. Have a safe Sunday. Go O’s!