Thursday Bird Droppings: Where there's still anxiety about the Orioles rotation

Hello, friends.

There are now 18 days remaining until Orioles Opening Day. This number was worn most recently by Drew Stubbs. It's also been worn by Javy Lopez, Jeff Conine, and Bob Milacki, the latter of whom was one of the participants in the most recent Orioles no-hitter. Do your best to contribute to a no-hitter today.

One Oriole who definitely won't be giving up any hits today is Chris Tillman, since he got a cortisone injection in his shoulder yesterday. Will he be back towards the mound by Saturday now that he's had this injection? That's the great mystery. I won't be holding my breath, and of course you shouldn't either, even if you're optimistic about Tillman, because it'd be hard to hold your breath until Saturday.

A different Chris will get his shot today - that would be 40-man lefty Chris Lee, who is said to be one of the candidates to replace Tillman for the balance of his absence. The Orioles do seem to like the idea of lefties in their rotation, as evidenced by their desperate decision to trade for Wade Miley last July. This is going to be Lee's first start of spring. If he does well, maybe he will get another, and if he's still in the picture in a week, he might well be the winner.

Although today's game is in Sarasota, meaning it's a home game for the Orioles, it will not be on television at all and it won't be on Baltimore radio. The Phillies are sending their radio crew to an away game - yet the Orioles won't broadcast it at home. That's the way it goes.

If you want to watch a couple of Orioles today, you will be able to watch Manny Machado and Welington Castillo as the Dominican Republic team plays Venezuela at 10pm tonight.

Around the blogO'sphere

Vidal Nuño on his return to the Orioles (updated) - School of Roch
There are still five Orioles active in the World Baseball Classic, but one of them is not Vidal Nuno, who's returning to the O's camp after Mexico was eliminated.

Orioles’ Dylan Bundy should throw more high fastballs - Beyond the Box Score
Our fellow SB Nation friends over at Beyond the Box Score have some simple advice for Dylan Bundy.

Minor league rosters and schedules, plus the word on Wasdin - Steve Melewski
There are a whole lot of minor league spring training games to be played, and in true MASN style, if you want to know the word on Wasdin - if you even know who Wasdin is - then you can find out.

Myriad Orioles Thoughts: Ubaldo's control; Pedro's bat; Pirates' pirated lineup - BaltimoreBaseball.com
Jimenez walked five batters in 4.2 innings of work yesterday, which is not the sort of thing that fills me with excitement for the start of the regular season's imminent approach.

Pitcher Zach Stewart hoping two-year stay in KBO pays off with Orioles - Baltimore Sun
Yesterday I got Zach Stewart confused with Zach Phillips and nobody bothered to correct me. So I think it's safe to say that not very many people are thinking about Stewart's chances.

Orioles GM Dan Duquette Says He’s ‘Very Impressed’ With Seth Smith " CBS Baltimore
If you haven't had enough of Dan Duquette talking in your life, here's the GM with a couple of the fellows from 105.7. Somehow he's very impressed with Seth Smith even though Smith hasn't played in a game since March 8.

Birthdays and anniversaries

There are two former Orioles with birthdays today. Hobie Landrith was a catcher in 1962 and 1963, while the late Clint Courtney was around in the inaugural Orioles season of 1954 as well as 1960 and 1961. Today is Mr. Landrith's 87th birthday - happy birthday to him!

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! Along with those former Orioles, your birthday buddies for today include: President James Madison (1751), actor Victor Garber (1949), rapper Flavor Flav (1959), comics guy Todd McFarlane (1961), and Gilmore Girls actress Lauren Graham (1967).

On this day in history...

In 1812, a British-Portuguese Army under the future Duke of Wellington began the Siege of Badajoz.

In 1926, in Auburn, Massachusetts, Robert Goddard launched the first-ever liquid-fueled rocket.

In 1945, World War II's Battle of Iwo Jima ended in an American victory, though scattered pockets of Japanese resistance remained on the island. There were 6,821 American fatalities in the battle, with nearly 20,000 wounded, against around 18,000 Japanese fatalities.

In 1968, American soldiers in Vietnam killed between 347 and 507 unarmed civilians in the village of My Lai. Although 26 soldiers were tried for this act, only one was convicted, and he served just 3.5 years under house arrest.

In 1995, the state of Mississippi formally ratified the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which abolished slavery when it was ratified by the country at large in 1865.

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And that's the way it is in Birdland on March 16 - or at least, until something happens later, which if it does, you probably won't get to see it, because much like the revolution, it will not be televised! Have a safe Thursday.