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Hello, friends.
Another day dawns with the Orioles a mere half game out of first place in the American League East. The Yankees perplexingly remain in never-lose-a-game mode and the Orioles, of course, got an unexpected replacement outing from Gabriel Ynoa and managed to beat the White Sox, 4-2, last night.
Check out Joe’s recap of the game if you missed it or just want to live it again, and don’t forget to vote in the Most Birdland Player poll.
Not all the news is great in Birdland, as you probably also heard by now that Zach Britton is still dealing with forearm soreness and had to get an MRI on Friday. Results still to come on that. Other news was better: Chris Tillman is officially set to start on Sunday and Wade Miley, despite taking a liner off the wrist, seems to expect to make his next start.
The Orioles are probably in for some more roster shuffling today. Britton could well land on the disabled list. That may spare Ynoa the insta-option after being burned for the next few days, but Dan Duquette is still Dan Duquette, so I hope Ynoa didn’t put down any roots. For tonight, look forward to the battle of the Dylans.
Lots of links for this Saturday, so let’s get to it!
Around the blogO’sphere
Showalter Stokes Red Sox-Orioles Feud | NBC Boston
Boston media is STILL WHINING about the series that the O’s concluded on Thursday night.
Chris Sale of Boston Red Sox won't be suspended for throwing behind Manny Machado
Despite blatantly throwing behind Manny Machado on Tuesday night, Chris Sale will not be suspended. So it seems if anyone should have come out of that series with a grievance, it’s the Orioles.
As MLB looks at hate-speech policies, Orioles aim to provide family-friendly home atmosphere - Baltimore Sun
Fans who attended Friday night’s game noticed new language in the Orioles pre-game video about the rules of the stadium regarding intolerant language and hate speech. They are explicitly not welcome in Oriole Park at Camden Yards.
Rising Yankees, falling Dodgers? How first month changes outlook for all 30 teams
The official FiveThirtyEight playoff odds have the Orioles with a 38% chance of making the postseason. What do you think? Not so great is this ESPN writer’s blurb which acts like the Orioles were at all involved in the escalation or propagation of “beanball wars.”
Baseball Prospectus | Let It Eat: The May 2017 Panic Index
This line is too good not to share verbatim: "The O’s have overcome pitching injuries, beanball wars, and the most premature ejection since American Pie to hang around in the tough AL East."
After rough spring training outing, Cody Sedlock got off to a good start at Frederick - Steve Melewski
Last year’s first round pick, Cody Sedlock, is not on the D.J. Stewart first round pick path. That’s a good thing for now.
Minor League Podcast: Tanner Scott trying to transition from flamethrower to pitcher - BaltimoreBaseball.com
Speaking of Orioles prospects, here’s the folks at Dan Connolly’s site with a podcast on the subject of hard-throwing Tanner Scott, who may some day throw a strike.
What Is Andrew Triggs? | FanGraphs Baseball
There is a constituency of Orioles bloggers on Twitter who can’t get over the fact that Triggs has pitched some decent games for Oakland even though they’d probably never heard of Triggs when the Orioles let him go last March.
Birthdays and anniversaries
On this day in 2012, the Orioles played what is known to history as the Chris Davis Pitching Game, beating the Boston Red Sox, 9-6, in 17 innings. Yours truly wrote the recap of the contest, including one of my more prescient concluding sentences: “We just might have a real goddamn baseball team on our hands here.” And so we did.
There are a few former Orioles with birthdays today. They are: Regrettable 2015 trade acquisition Gerardo Parra, Mike Bordick trade return Mike Kinkade, 1994 bullpen guy Tom Bolton, and Hagerstown’s own Leo Burke, who appeared in 17 games between the 1958 and 1959 Orioles. Mr. Burke turns 83 years old today.
Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! Along with those former Orioles, your birthday buddies for today include: Albanian hero Gjergj “Skanderbeg” Kastrioti (1405), psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud (1856), Citizen Kane father Orson Welles (1915), baseball Hall of Famer Willie Mays (1931), singer-songwriter Bob Seger (1945), and actor George Clooney (1961).
On this day in history...
In 1527, Rome was sacked by Spanish and German forces, an occasion that some consider to mark the end of the Renaissance.
In 1877, Oglala Lakota chief Crazy Horse surrendered to United States troops in Nebraska.
In 1915, Babe Ruth, who at that time was pitching for the Red Sox, hit his first career MLB home run.
In 1937, the zeppelin Hindenberg caught fire and was destroyed within the span of a minute while attempting to land at a dock in New Jersey. There were 36 people killed in this disaster.
In 1960, more than 20 million people tuned in to the first ever televised wedding involving a British royal, as Princess Margaret, sister to the Queen, married Anthony Armstrong-Jones, later the first Earl of Snowdon.
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And that’s the way it is in Birdland on May 6 - or at least, until something happens later, which it surely will. Hopefully, other than the injury already feared, everything turns out OK for today. Have a safe Saturday. Go Orioles!