Hello, friends.
I guess we'll have to settle for the Orioles being winners of six of their last eight before embarking on a road trip to Tampa and elsewhere, won't we? Not many other outcomes you can expect when you get a starter like Mike Wright who gets completely blasted, and of course the traditional Orioles struggle against a rookie who himself has largely struggled in a brief big league career. How do they manage it? Very carefully, one supposes.
If you missed the not-so-lovely totals last night, you may be better off, but make sure to check out Tyler's recap from last night all the same. Let's hope there aren't any more games quite like that one for the remainder of the season. Ain't nobody got time for that.
Now let's get down to business - the links.
Around the blogO'sphere
Steve Melewski: Mike Wright talks about his outing against Boston
Over at MASN, Wright reacts to his start, and uh... I don't know about you, but to me he sounds a whole lot like a guy who needs to have Tyler Wilson take his next turn in the rotation turn.
Rapid Reaction: Boston Red Sox 10, Baltimore Orioles 1 - Boston Red Sox Blog - ESPN
Not nearly as fun getting to drink in the tears of ESPN Boston when there are no tears to be found. Fair is fair, however, and we must take our lumps even when the Orioles fail to beat the last place Boston Red Sox.
Orioles notebook: One year later, O's remember clinching first AL East since 1997 - Baltimore Sun
A whole lot of people were getting wrapped up in what the Orioles did one year ago. I don't get it. It was only one year ago, people! It's not like this is reminiscence from 20 years down the road. "Yeah, but last year was great!" isn't a consolation prize.
School of Roch: Showalter speaks after 10-1 loss
Roch runs down the Buck post-game presser, including a noncommittal Showalter about whether or not Wright will start again. That sounds like progress to me. Don't get me wrong, I want Wright to do well. I want every Oriole to do well. But when they are put in situations where they can't do well, that's not so fun for anybody.
Governor Hogan, Orioles team to fight pediatric cancer - WBFF Fox Baltimore - Top Stories
Maryland Governor Larry Hogan, himself battling cancer at this time, has joined up with the Orioles to launch an initiative that can get you discounted Orioles tickets while donating to the fight against pediatric cancer. Everybody wins.
Birthdays and anniversaries
45 years ago today, the 1970 Orioles clinched the American League East even though they lost to Washington. That team went on to great things, as history tells us. I was thinking about the '70 Orioles not too long ago as the Mad Men finale aired, because when a certain drunk rhetorically asked, "Who's going to win the World Series this year?", I, knowing what year it was, shouted at the TV, "The Orioles!"
This is also the day in 1999 when then-GM Frank Wren orders the team plane take off without Cal Ripken Jr.
One lone former Oriole has a birthday on this day - Wayne Krenchicki, an infielder who appeared in 58 games between 1979-81.
Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! A host of departed Earthlings were born on this day just like you, including: Pope Paul V (1550), who is still burned in effigy every November 5 in Lewes, East Sussex, England; two different Chief Justices of the United States - John Rutledge (1739) and Warren Burger (1907), David Dunbar Buick, founder of the car company of the same name (1854), the original Hank Williams (1923), and One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest author Ken Kesey (1935).
That's quite a mix. What about the still-living, you ask? Try these on for size - baseball Hall of Famer Oralndo Cepeda (1937), basketball genius Phil Jackson (1945), creator of gregarious musical movies Baz Luhrmann (1962), and actor Kyle "Coach Taylor" Chandler (1965).
On this day in history...
In 1630, the city of Boston, Massachusetts was founded. One newly-created Bostonian proclaimed that the city was "fackin wicked pissah" and then punched the nearest person in the face.
In 1787, the United States Constitution was signed in Philadelphia.
In 1859, San Francisco resident Joshua A. Norton proclaimed himself to be "Norton I, Emperor of the United States." Approximately 70 years after Norton I decreed that there be a bridge built between San Francisco and Oakland, the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge was built. Some people to this day would like for this bridge, or part of it, to be named the Emperor Norton Bridge.
In 1928, the Okechobee hurricane struck Florida, killing more than 2,500 people. You may have read about this hurricane if you have ever read Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston.
In 1944, Allied paratroopers dropped into the Netherlands, kicking off the ultimately failed Operation Market Garden, an event which you can see dramatized in part in HBO's fantastic Band of Brothers miniseries, and in whole in the film A Bridge Too Far, which stars basically everyone who was anyone in Hollywood in 1977.
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And that's the way it is in Birdland on September 17 - or at least, until something happens later.