Thursday Bird Droppings: The Orioles return to Baltimore in triumph

Hello, friends.

The Orioles, at long last, are road warriors, and it didn't come a moment too soon. Their first multi-city road trip all season happened to be an absolutely critical nine game stretch where they swung through the cities of two of their closest competitors, and they won both games. Just for good measure, the Orioles won a series in Tampa Bay too, making this the first three-city road trip where they won games in three cities since 1998, according to Tom Davis on last night's MASN post-game show.

It's not any one player's reason why something that great happens, but one big reason why it happened last night was Kevin Gausman, who absolutely shoved for eight innings against the AL's most potent offense, making a Mark Trumbo solo home run hold up in a 1-0 victory over the probable AL Cy Young winner, Rick Porcello. That's the good stuff right there.

If you haven't yet, check out my friend and fellow Camden Chatter Stacey Folkemer's recap of the excellent win, and make sure to have your voice heard in the MBP poll, although you should be aware that choices are limited, comrade.

Four games against the Rays await, and the Orioles absolutely cannot, under any circumstances, sleepwalk through or look past any one of these games! There are just 17 games remaining and every one will be important for the O's to win, no matter who it's against.

Around the blogO'sphere

Orioles notes: Steve Pearce out indefinitely after receiving PRP injection - Baltimore Sun
It doesn't look like Team Steve is going to be helping out very much over those final 17 games. Look, after what we saw of him in left field on Monday, that may be for the best, though that makes the Jonah Heim trade rather regrettable.

Why the Baltimore Orioles will earn a wild-card berth (ESPN)
Wild card berth? Forget that wild card stuff, friends! Let's take aim at the AL East! Who am I, and what have I done with Mark Brown? You will never find out!

After passing David Ortiz test, Orioles' self-made reliever Donnie Hart proving he belongs - Baltimore Sun
Among the cool stuff in this story is the anecdote that Donnie Hart called up Darren O'Day two weeks before the Double-A All-Star break to ask how to pitch to lefties, and O'Day told him.

Minor League Podcast: Spotlight on the GCL Orioles and manager Orlando Gomez - BaltimoreBaseball.com
There wasn't much to spotlight with the GCL Orioles, if we're all being honest here, but you might find this podcast with the manager - including his thoughts on "Itchy" Xu - to be interesting.

Paul Janish joins Orioles in Boston - School of Roch
There may not be a single person on Earth or in space who knows why.

Birthdays and anniversaries

On this day in 1977, the Orioles forfeited a game to the Blue Jays after Earl Weaver pulled the team off the field because of a hazardous condition that was not being fixed. The Orioles were down 4-0 in the fifth when the forfeit was called.

And in 1996, the Orioles set the MLB record for team home runs in a season during a 16-6 blowout win over the Tigers. They passed the mark of 240 set by the 1961 Yankees.

There are two former Orioles with birthdays today. They are blink-and-you-missed-him 1984 reliever John Pacella and 1976 pitcher Dave Pagan.

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! Along with those former Orioles, your birthday buddies for today include: the explorer Marco Polo (1254), President William Howard Taft (1857), author/playwright Agatha Christie (1890), baseball Hall of Famer Gaylord Perry (1938), actor Tommy Lee Jones (1946), Baltimore-born actor and Orioles fan Josh Charles (1971), and YouTube personality Jenna Marbles (1986).

On this day in history...

In 1794, Arthur Wesley, the future Duke of Wellington (Wellesley), saw his first combat in the Battle of Boxtel during the Flanders Campaign of the French Revolutionary War. The British lost, but then, Wellesley wasn't in charge yet.

In 1916, during the Battle of the Somme of World War I, tanks were deployed in battle for the first time. As the Somme went on for two more months and ended with more than a million casualties, the tanks don't seem to have proved decisive right away.

In 1944, US Marines and Army personnel hit the beaches of Peleliu, kicking off a battle that would last until the end of November and see more than 2,000 Americans killed. The Marine 1st Division commander, Maj. Gen. Rupertus, had predicted a four day battle.

In 1950, United States forces carried out an amphibious landing at Inchon in Korea, which Wikipedia tells us is thought to be "one of the most decisive military operations in modern warfare."

In 1978, Muhammad Ali defeated Leon Spinks in New Orleans to become the first boxer to win the world heavyweight title three different times.

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And that's the way it is in Birdland on September 15 - or at least, until something happens later. Have a safe Thursday. Go Orioles!