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Hello, friends.
We are now 37 games into the Orioles season and they sit with a 17-20 record. The good news is that, owing to what seems to be a lack of strength at the top of the AL East this year, the team is only three games out of the division lead. So all they have to do is start winning games and they will move on up. Of course, if they want to start winning games, they might want to start scoring runs more consistently too.
Actually, due to the peculiar situation with the Orioles having two games to make up, they are only a game back in the loss column of the division-leading Yankees and Rays.
Did you watch the last Letterman last night? I have to admit that I did not. When it comes to TV I am a creature of habit, and late night TV has never been my habit. In fact, the last thing I watched on the TV other than sports or news was... I don't even know.
Let's get to some links from around Birdland for your Thursday entertainment...
Wilson excited about big league debut | orioles.com
Tyler Wilson, the Orioles' 10th round draft pick in 2011, made his MLB debut last night - and as it turned out, in his first inning, he faced an old college teammate, Chris Taylor. It's a small world sometimes, baseball is.
Orioles notebook: Dylan Bundy could return to majors this season - Baltimore Sun
Buck Showalter told Orioles reporters before Wednesday's game that he could see Bundy skipping over Triple-A and coming straight to the big league club when he is ready to do so. When exactly he'll be ready to do so is another question.
School of Roch: Showalter speaks following 4-2 loss
Last night's game wasn't a whole lot of fun. Roch could not do like us and post a bunch of kitten pictures, so if you want to see a roundup of the game's grim stuff, here's a good place to look.
Judge delays ruling on MASN dispute involving Orioles, Nationals - Baltimore Business Journal
You might have heard that Monday was the oral arguments for the trial over MASN rights fees. Now we are awaiting the judge to issue a written ruling, which could come any day now.
This last one doesn't involve the Orioles directly, but I found it interesting and I hope you will too:
The Black Swan Theory of Drafting Pitchers | FanGraphs Baseball
This is a Kiley McDaniel article on Fangraphs, all of which tend to be worth your time to read. In it, he considers a theory that teams might want to use in drafting pitchers and how it might help them get an edge.
We have one current Oriole with a birthday today: Matt Wieters, who is now 29, and that's pretty much reason enough to not want the O's to give him a long-term contract. It's also the 30th birthday of very recent Oriole Andrew Miller. In addition, two legends from Orioles teams past also have birthdays today: Tommy Davis (five games in 1999), and Chris Widger (nine games in 2006). Let's also not forget Bob Molinaro, who played in nine games for the 1979 team.
If today is your birthday, happy birthday! You also share this birthday with Hall of Fame manager Bobby Cox, Senator Al Franken, Mr. T, the late Biggie Smalls, ace cycling sprint specialist Mark Cavendish, and also Gotye, who wrote some song that you used to know.
On this day in 1927, Charles Lindbergh landed at Le Bourget Field in Paris, marking the first nonstop solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean in history. In 1881, Clara Barton established the American Red Cross.
And that's the way it is in Birdland on May 21 - or at least, until something happens later, like when the Orioles play a 12:35 rubber game of their series against the Mariners. Have a safe Thursday.