Thursday Bird Droppings: Where only Dylan Bundy can save us

Hello, friends.

Another day has dawned with the Orioles in second place in the American League East. They lost a game yesterday as the Yankees pasted the hapless Royals (yes, I know, the same ones who swept the Orioles) so the Orioles are now 1.5 games back of the division lead.

Maybe the Orioles can win today. The operation gets underway at 1710 Zulu, so synchronize your watches now and prepare for the assault. That’s another way of saying that it’s a day game with a 1:10pm start time in the Eastern time zone. I hope your boss will let you watch... although with how the Orioles are pitching in this series, you might not want to watch.

No, but it’s Dylan Bundy today. That might not suck. Bundy has yet to have a non-quality start in the 2017 season. I’m nervous even writing that sentence because it means that he is due to have a game that is not so good. Due is due. You can’t fight due. Well, you can, but what’s the fun in thinking about it all logically like that?

The Orioles will try to get a series win while facing Tigers starter Jordan Zimmermann, who has been pretty consistently bad so far this season. I think we all know what this means. The last week has made it clear how things are going for the Orioles from now on.

Around the blogO’sphere

Unpaid Water Bills Briefly Put Ravens And Orioles Stadiums In Jeopardy (Deadspin)
And you thought your dispute about city water was bad... well, it turns out that the Maryland Stadium Authority has a bit more pull than you do to stop the dispute.

Schoop on hamstring, Crichton on latest return - School of Roch
Turned out that Jonathan Schoop’s cramped hamstring was okay. And hey, Stefan Crichton has been back and forth a ton, but he pitched 1.2 scoreless innings last night so he did his job. He may get sent back to the minors for having done it.

When an injury to a key player works out (Baltimore Baseball)
Dan Connolly argues that, while it wasn’t good that Welington Castillo got hurt, it was good that his absence meant a chance for Caleb Joseph to get his bat going a little bit.

Orioles option Donnie Hart to Norfolk, add two relievers to freshen bullpen in Detroit (Baltimore Sun)
“Donnie is capable of pitching a little better,” said Buck Showalter. Which makes me feel like Hart’s banishment to the minors could potentially be a little bit longer than one of these standard Norfolk-Baltimore shuttle rides.

2017 MLB Draft Profile: Keston Hiura, OF-DH, University of California-Irvine - Minor League Ball
The Orioles could potentially end up drafting this guy next month. They probably won’t, but if they do, then you’ll be prepared!

Birthdays and anniversaries

A few former Orioles have birthdays today: 2006 outfielder Luis Terrero, 1976 slugger and later Baseball Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson, and life-long Oriole Brooks Robinson, who is turning 80 years old today. An extra special happy birthday to him.

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! Along with Brooks, your birthday buddies for today include: poet Omar Khayyam (1048), revolution-inspiring monarch Nicholas II of Russia (1868), philosopher Bertrand Russell (1872), Pope John Paul II (1920), jazz trombonist Kai Winding (1922), actor Chow Yun-fat (1955), funny lady Tina Fey (1970), and Minecraft co-designer Jens Bergensten (1979).

On this day in history...

In 1291, with the fall of Acre, the last presence of the crusaders was ended in the Holy Land.

In 1756, Great Britain declared war on France, initiating the Seven Years’ War, or, as we call it here these days, the French and Indian War.

In 1896, the Supreme Court issued a ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson which established the “separate but equal” doctrine - a doctrine that would last for nearly 50 years until overturned by the equally-famous Brown v. Board of Education.

In 1944, the fourth and final assault on German lines in Monte Cassino, Italy resulted in a German retreat, ending the Battle of Monte Cassino - which had raged for four months - in an Allied victory, though the Allies suffered 55,000 casualties in the battle.

In 1980, Mount St. Helens erupted in Washington, killing 57 people and causing over $3 million in damage.

**

And that’s the way it is in Birdland on May 18 - or at least, until something happens later, which it surely will, since they’re playing a game today. Maybe it will even be good.