Tuesday Bird Droppings: Where we have gazed into the future and seen Orioles homers

Hello, friends.

There are now 20 days remaining until Orioles Opening Day. As this is the retired number belonging to Hall of Famer Frank Robinson, perhaps it portends something glorious for all of us today, like maybe you will wake up to find that you have less snow to shovel than you expected, but still enough to get the day off from work or school.

Though it's turned into a late-season snowstorm around Baltimore, it turns out that this is also season preview season. There are many of them and they all see what you and I can easily see when we look at the team: Possibly problematic pitching and a whole lot of dingers. Groupthink is real! And in this case, maybe likely to be right.

There's no snow in Sarasota. There will be health updates down there. Hopefully Chris Davis is better. And hopefully J.J. Hardy isn't in bad shape after playing in his first Grapefruit League game yesterday. And hopefully Zach Britton is still better. And Chris Tillman... well, we can hope, but whatever's wrong with his shoulder is still going to be wrong with his shoulder. Maybe there can be a day with some good news about something.

Sorry to say that there is no TV or radio for today's Orioles spring training game against the Rays, so you won't be able to have baseball - or at least not new Orioles baseball - to help you warm up.

Around the blogO'sphere

Pedro Alvarez returns to Baltimore Orioles as an outfielder (ESPN)
Even if it is only a minor league contract, I kind of can't believe this is actually happening.

Kevin Gausman runs up pitch count in sloppy Orioles' win - Baltimore Sun
You couldn't watch yesterday's spring training game either, and even though the Orioles won the game, that was probably for the best.

MLB season preview: The Orioles need some pitching to match all those homers (Yahoo)
There is really a common theme that you are going to notice here.

Orioles 2017 preview: Can Baltimore's sluggers provide enough support for weak rotation? | MLB | Sporting News
No, we're not done yet!

The All-Power, No-Speed Orioles Are on the Brink of History (The Ringer)
Basically, by not stealing bases or hitting triples over a span of multiple years, the Orioles are doing something that has never been seen before in baseball.

Davis gives medical update, plus today's lineups (updated) - School of Roch
It's not today's lineups because this is from yesterday, but you may not have seen Kubatko's description that Davis "sounded like an elderly woman from The Bronx."

Taking another look at the Orioles' rotation depth - Steve Melewski
One thing that you may find surprising is that Steve Melewski is more optimistic about the potential for the Orioles sixth starter - that is, the Tillman replacement - than I am.

Birthdays and anniversaries

There are a few former Orioles with birthdays today. They are: 2013-14 Norfolk shuttle rider Josh Stinson, 2008 Rule 5 guy Randor Bierd, and 1995 starter Kevin Brown, no relation to yours truly.

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! Along with those former Orioles, your birthday buddies for today include: Austrian waltz composer Johann Strauss I (1804), modern physics father Albert Einstein (1879), Dennis the Menace creator Hank Ketcham (1920), actor Michael Caine (1933), the late baseball Hall of Famer Kirby Puckett (1960), and Olympic gold medal gymnast and great American Simone Biles (1997).

On this day in history...

In 1592, it was "Ultimate Pi Day" - the day with the most significant digits of Pi since the introduction of the Julian calendar.

In 1794, Eli Whitney was granted a patent for his invention, the cotton gin.

In 1900, with the passage of the Gold Standard Act, the United States currency was placed on the gold standard.

In 1964, a Dallas jury found Jack Ruby guilty of killing Lee Harvey Oswald.

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And that's the way it is in BIrdland since March 14 - or at least, unless something happens later, which it might, although like the revolution, it will not be televised. Have a safe Tuesday, especially if you're going out and shoveling. Drink water and take breaks. And don't drive if you don't have to!