Saturday Bird Droppings: Where the Orioles are farther behind

Hello, friends.

Another day has dawned with the Orioles in third place in the American League East. They are now nine games behind the division-leading Red Sox after a Friday Boston win combined with the Orioles loss.

What’s worse for the Orioles is that they lost ground in the wild card race. The Twins beat the Royals on Friday night, which pushes the Orioles down to three games out of the second wild card spot. Worse for the Orioles, the Rangers beat the Yankees, so the O’s now have three teams to pass in order to get that playoff spot.

Oh, and if they’re going to try to rally back towards the top of the race, they’ll have to do it against MLB’s hottest team for the rest of the weekend. Yeah, the Indians have now won 16 games in a row after beating the O’s on Friday night. I honestly can’t even imagine a winning streak that long for the Orioles.

If the O’s are going to be on the wrong end as the Indians take that streak to 17 in a row, they’re going to get it over with early on Saturday. It’s a 1:05 contest for the O’s today, with Gabriel Ynoa set to start against Josh Tomlin in the game.

Around the blogO’sphere

O's activate J.J. Hardy, DFA Andrew Faulkner | MLB.com
Faulkner’s time with the Orioles organization isn’t over unless he’s claimed, but for now, there hasn’t been a whole lot of either sound or fury.

Orioles formally pass shortstop job to Beckham with Hardy on bench as he’s activated (Baltimore Sun)
I’ve got to say that I wasn’t sure this would actually happen until it happened.

Hardy on his return to the active roster - School of Roch
Here’s Hardy on his return.

O’s Florida contingent preparing for hurricane; Showalter on starter switch (Baltimore Sun)
Wishing the best to everyone who has been and still is in the path of Hurricane Irma.

O's minor league notebook includes notes on Hays & Mountcastle - Steve Melewski
The Orioles prospects could be done playing for the season as soon as tonight, so get in a last dose of new stuff from Melewski.

Birthdays and anniversaries

There are a few former Orioles with birthdays today. They are: short-time 2017 Oriole Edwin Jackson, 2010 first baseman Rhyne Hughes, 2003-04 pitcher Kurt Ainsworth, 1996 deadline acquisition Todd Zeile, and 1999 bullpen guy Jim Corsi.

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! Along with those former Orioles, your birthday buddies for today include: Three Musketeers antagonist Cardinal Richelieu (1585), War and Peace author Leo Tolstoy (1828), KFC founder Colonel Sanders (1890), actor Hugh Grant (1960), sometimes funny man Adam Sandler (1966), singer-songwriter Michael Buble (1975), and actress Michelle Williams (1980).

On this day in history...

In 1791, the capital of the United States was given the name Washington, D.C.

In 1839, the first glass plate photograph was taken by John Herschel, who is also noteworthy for naming some of the moons of both Saturn and Uranus.

In 1947, a moth lodged itself in a relay of a Harvard Mark II computer in Harvard University. This was the first instance of a computer bug.

In 1965, Hurricane Betsy made a second landfall near New Orleans. Betsy, a storm that left 76 dead, was history’s first hurricane to cause $1 billion in damages in its current-day money.

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And that’s the way it is in Birdland on September 9 - or at least, until something happens later, which it surely will when the Orioles play the Indians this afternoon, although nobody can promise that what happens will be good. Have a safe Saturday. Go Orioles!