Tuesday Bird Droppings: Where the Orioles are in first place even if they lost

Hello, friends.

The Orioles although they happen to have lost their game against the Rangers last night, still wake up this morning in first place in the American League East. The Rays, Blue Jays, and Yankees all lost their games on Monday, so no one of that quartet gained any ground on any of the others. That kind of coordinated losing won't happen very often. The Orioles should get back to winning to stay ahead.

Another game against the Rangers awaits tonight. You can get a Bud Norris-designed t-shirt if you head to Camden Yards. Don't mind Bud's performance in last night's game. The t-shirt looks kind of cool. And you'll get to see Miguel Gonzalez pitch, which is never a bad thing.

Now on to the links to help you get through your Tuesday...

School of Roch: Buck Showalter speaks after 8-1 loss
First and foremost we have MASN's Roch Kubatko running down Buck Showalter's reaction to Monday's loss. He doesn't seem to have been a fan of the strike zone. That makes two of us.

Orioles top prospect Dylan Bundy 'won¿t be throwing for a little while' - Baltimore Sun
If you missed hearing about it yesterday, Dylan Bundy is probably done for the year because of calcification in his throwing shoulder. Did you know you could even get calcification in your shoulder? Bundy's apparently one of a kind in that regard.

Orioles Perfectly Blending Youth, Experience En Route To AL East Lead (Video) | Red Sox First Pitch | NESN.com
Here is something happier, or at least it's happier if you like seeing the website of the official television channel of the last place Boston Red Sox (hee hee) writing about things that the Orioles are doing well.

No Orioles likely to be All-Star starters | Comcast SportsNet Baltimore
OK, there's only so much good news to go around. All-Star voting is still heavily dominated by undeserving Royals, and the rest of the league is not fighting back in equal measure. The counter-flood is limited to Tigers and Blue Jays.

What a world: Orioles are in first place and Ubaldo Jimenez has been their ace | HardballTalk
Wait a minute, there is still good news! The Orioles are in first place. Here's NBC Sports' Aaron Gleeman from yesterday on the first place O's, and particularly on the surprising performance of Ubaldo Jimenez.

NWCT Orioles give Torrington Sports Palace its first loss of the season (The Register-Citizen)
It is the policy of this blogger to acknowledge any Orioles who are winners, even if I have never thought of them before today and will probably forget about them tomorrow. In this case, the NWCT Orioles (which possibly stands for Northwest Connecticut, although I'm not certain) knocked off some team called the Torrington Sports Palace in the Northwest Connie Mack League in Connecticut. Go Orioles!

PHOTOS: Baltimore Orioles feeding on jelly | The Wichita Eagle
This is literally a slide show of actual Baltimore oriole birds feeding on jelly in some people's back yard in Kansas. If you pine for the days of the ornithologically correct bird hats, or if you're just really bored, or really like birds, you should take a look at some of these.

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On this fateful day in 2012, the Orioles traded for the man who likes to mash taters, Jim Thome. It's still weird that Thome was an Oriole, but also still awesome. We could all use a hearty handshake in our lives.

There are no former Orioles with birthdays on this date. There have been 999 Orioles players, but none of them were ever born on June 30!

This is not a particularly interesting day for famous historical birthdays, either. None of the names on the Wikipedia page who have already come and gone from their mortal lives really stand out. Among those still living, birthdays from today include former NASCAR driver Sterling Marlin (1957), actor Vincent D'Onofrio (1959), the awesomely-named Swedish guitarist/songwriter Yngwe Malmsteen (1963), Mike Tyson (1966), French cyclist Sylvain Chavanel (1979), and actress Lizzy Caplan (1982), whom you might remember from Mean Girls.

Also, if today is your day, happy birthday!

On this day in history...

In 763, Constantine V's Byzantine army defeated some Bulgarians in the Battle of Anchialus

In 1882, Charles J. Guiteau was hanged for the assassination of President James Garfield

In 1908, the Tunguska event occurred in Siberia

In 1972, the first "leap second" is added. Another one occurs just before midnight tonight!

In 1997, the United Kingdom transferred control of Hong Kong to China

And that's the way it is in Birdland on June 30 - or at least, until something happens later. Have a safe Tuesday!