Saturday Bird Droppings: Where the Orioles made the nightowls happy

Hello, friends.

There’s nothing like a win to make me feel a little better about the Orioles. Wednesday’s pitching disaster was confined to Wednesday. They went into San Francisco last night and came away with a 3-2 victory - which, since the Rays were rained out in Boston, leaves the Orioles 3.5 games back for the division lead.

Dean Kremer had some tough moments in his six innings, including allowing the 100th Giants “splash hit” into McCovey Cove on the very first pitch he threw. Even so, he was able to make it with only two runs allowed across six. That is a good way to get a win when the Orioles had an off day yesterday, meaning the preferred late-inning relievers - in Friday’s game, Danny Coulombe, Yennier Cano, and Félix Bautista - could all be lined up. They were, appearing in order after Gunnar Henderson’s home run gave the O’s a lead in the seventh inning.

The Orioles are now 36-21 on the season. That is a pace of 102 wins across 162 games. I’m still taking the under on that one, but the O’s have got a number of wins in the bank to help them deal with difficulties that might come along beyond what they’ve already experienced. It’s encouraging. The longer they can keep up something like this, the better.

It will be another late night tonight for those who want to stay up for it. The Saturday night 10:05 game is scheduled to have Kyle Bradish and Anthony DeSclafani as the starting pitchers. DeSclafani’s not much easier of a draw than last night’s starter Logan Webb, with a 3.48 ERA so far this season.

Around the blogO’sphere

Orioles attendance up 24% compared to same point last year, MLB attendance up 6% (The Baltimore Sun)
The Orioles have been playing well since the start of the season and people are noticing, with thousands more coming to Oriole Park at Camden Yards for every game so far compared to April and May of last year.

Norfolk rotation scrambled again (School of Roch)
Roch noted how Bruce Zimmermann’s joining the Orioles led to another Triple-A starter shuffle. The team’s used ten different starters in their 55 games.

Checking in on some Orioles concerns (Baltimore Baseball)
Along with concerns, Rich Dubroff offers some early thoughts on potential Most Valuable Oriole candidates. So far the only choices could be Adley Rutschman and Yennier Cano, though Dubroff discusses others anyway.

Prospect Dylan Beavers taking the long view as changes take hold in Aberdeen (The Baltimore Banner)
The Banner’s Jon Meoli’s occasional series taking a look at prospects who are working on their swings revisits Dylan Beavers. Beavers!

Mock first round picks for all 30 teams (MLB Pipeline)
Jim Callis delivered a fresh mock draft a couple of days ago, in which he had Florida pitcher Hurston Waldrep go to the Orioles at #17. I’ll believe that Mike Elias is going to draft a pitcher in the first round when I see it. In this version of the mock, Maryland shortstop Matt Shaw was available to the O’s.

Birthdays and Orioles anniversaries

Four years ago today, the Orioles selected Adley Rutschman with the #1 pick in the draft. So far, that one’s working out.

You have to go back farther than that to find the most recent Orioles victory in a game on June 3, as they last won one in 2016. This isn’t quite as grim as it sounds as it’s ended up being an off day in a number of the intervening years. The eventual wild card qualifiers beat the Yankees, 6-5, overcoming Chris Tillman giving up five runs with each of Mark Trumbo and Hyun Soo Kim getting three hits. After the victory, the O’s were 33-21 and tied for first place in the division.

We have one current Oriole with a birthday today. Happy 29th to Ramón Urías, now in his fourth season with the team. It’s also the birthday of 2021 one-gamer Brandon Waddell, 2003-04 catcher Robert Machado, 2002 one-gamer Izzy Molina, 1997 infielder Aaron Ledesma, and 1960-63 first baseman Jim Gentile.

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you! Your birthday buddies for today include: geologist James Hutton (1726), actress Josephine Baker (1906), poet Allen Ginsberg (1926), author Marion Zimmer Bradley (1930), Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Larry McMurtry (1936), First Lady Dr. Jill Biden (1951), and actress Imogen Poots (1989).

On this day in history...

In 1781, a midnight ride through Virginia by Jack Jouett warned then-governor Thomas Jefferson and members of the state’s legislature of a coming cavalry attack with the aim of capturing Jefferson. By the time the future president left Monticello, the British were literally on his front lawn, but he did manage to evade them.

In 1839, Qing dynasty official Lin Xezu, long a campaigner against the opium trade, initiated a campaign that destroyed 1.2 million kilograms of confiscated opium. The British, whose merchants held the opium before it was confiscated, used the event to launch what’s now recognized as the First Opium War.

In 1964, the Gemini 4 mission launched. This mission held the distinction of being NASA’s first multi-day spaceflight, as well as having the first American spacewalk, in which astronaut Ed White spent about 22 minutes outside the craft.

**

And that’s the way it is in Birdland on June 3. Have a safe Saturday. Go O’s!