Hello, friends.
The Orioles snapped their losing streak last night. Yay! An excellent Brandon Young start was backed up by a comfortable amount of offense, and even when Grant Wolfram stumbled later, there wasn’t enough going on to turn things against the O’s. Check out Stacey’s recap of the game for more of the lovely totals.
In wrapping up the win on MASN, Kevin Brown said that this is the seventh straight Young start where the Orioles have won the game. That one floored me. Not that I doubted my
honorary cousin, but I looked it up and sure enough, the O’s have won every Young start going back to May 6. Young himself has been the winning pitcher in three of these games. He’s pitched at least decently in all but one of these seven outings and pretty good in three of them. His 3.04 ERA leads the team’s starters and so does his 1.24 WHIP.
If so much wasn’t going wrong with the Orioles up to this point, Young’s development would be one of the biggest stories. This is the exact kind of thing that has not happened in Mike Elias’s tenure as GM of the Orioles. They have not developed a pitcher they signed as an amateur into a capable major league starting pitcher. They haven’t been doing too well with pitchers they traded for, either, other than Kyle Bradish putting together a brilliant 2023 campaign. Not to take anything away from Young, but it still is just ten starts for him this year. He’s got to keep it going for this to keep being interesting. Still, this is ten more good starts than I thought we’d ever get out of him.
The Orioles have a chance to pull off a split of this four-game series if they can put together a good game against the Mariners tonight. It’s a 7:05 start time and will only be televised on ESPN, so tough luck to the cord-cutters out there. That includes me. Kyle Bradish and Bryan Woo are the scheduled starting pitchers. We need to see a better version of Bradish than was there in his last start.
Before last night’s win turned in an excellent direction, the MASN broadcast spent a little time discussing the situation with Samuel Basallo not having played as a starter for a few days in a row. This is all the more notable because it coincides with Adley Rutschman dealing with some kind of hamstring issue. As the team has placed neither player on the injured list, the Orioles are without their two main catchers and seemingly short on the bench as well, though Basallo has at least been available off the bench.
Manager Craig Albernaz made some remarks that seemed to be critical of Basallo for not being willing to play through some discomfort, apparently stemming from a bony growth in Basallo’s wrist that he has dealt with before. Basallo was asked about the situation by reporters and while he did not directly beef with the manager, he refuted the substance of what Albernaz said.
Kevin Brown asked Jim Palmer for his thoughts on the back and forth during Wednesday’s game, prompting this response from the Hall of Famer:
He’s the manager. He said it’s about accountability. He’s the one responsible for wins and losses. All I know, and I said this Monday night, if you don’t play Adley Rutschman, if you don’t play Samuel Basallo … if I’m one of the Mariners pitchers, I’m elated. I’m joyful. I would send them flowers. If he’s able to play late in the ballgame, I’m surprised he’s not in there, that’s all. I don’t think this is the time, when you’ve lost four in a row, to teach a lesson. I don’t care how young you are. But that’s just my opinion.
I went through every story I could find in the local media outlets about this yesterday and there’s nothing directly attributed to Albernaz about either accountability or teaching a lesson or whatever. Here’s one from Orioles.com; those phrases aren’t in there. Steve Melewski, who also took away Albernaz saying there’s “no disconnect” as his headline about the situation, also doesn’t use those words. You can read between the lines and wonder if something is there.
Apparently, the radio broadcast, which I wasn’t listening to, made comments implying they thought that Basallo not playing was some kind of disciplinary measure and they agreed with it. That’s what was indicated by Camden Chat commenters who were listening. I might have written that off if not for Palmer also addressing the situation in a way that suggested there’s more going on than has been publicly said. The Hall of Famer had a different take as far as whether it is a good idea if Basallo is not playing for manager’s choice reasons. I’m going with Palmer on this one.
For me, this is the first real blemish against Albernaz as the manager. I’ve cut him more slack than a number of people over tactical decisions that didn’t work out because, honestly, the guy is dealing with a lot of bad situations that have no good solutions other than “players magically start playing better.” It’s not that they don’t frustrate me, it’s just that he can’t make Pete Alonso or Gunnar Henderson get the big walkoff hit with the bases loaded.
This kind of stuff, though, this is what Albernaz was supposed to be good at, handling situations with players and not having his young star catcher have to defend himself in the media against stuff the manager said to the media. Whatever is going on, I think Albernaz has failed for it to reach this point. Based on what has trickled out publicly, I think he’s bungling it, but I will concede I have no idea what has transpired behind closed doors.
We can only hope all of this amounts to little more than a bump in the road when the season is all said and done. For now, it doesn’t feel good. Hopefully Basallo gets back in there promptly and shows the manager why not playing him for any reason other than “he’s physically unable to play nine innings at a high level” is a bad idea.
Orioles stuff you might have missed
The Orioles keep getting punched in the mouth and getting back up. They should stop getting punched in the mouth. (The Baltimore Banner)
Jon Meoli hits on an excellent point: Showing some fortitude through adverse circumstances is a plus, but not getting in the adverse circumstances in the first place is even better.
Still waiting for the real Orioles to please stand up, for better or worse (Baltimore Baseball)
This is something I think about multiple times per week. Who ARE these guys? The last several days have seen more bad than good. There may be other turns to come soon.
Orioles reunite with Chadwick Tromp as Rutschman’s health remains uncertain (The Baltimore Sun)
There’s not really any good roster replacement for Rutschman. I hope we don’t have to find out what Tromp has to offer in the 2026 season.
Birthdays and Orioles anniversaries
In their 69th game last year, the Orioles beat the Angels, 6-5, improving their season record to 29-40. Home runs hit by Cedric Mullins and Gary Sánchez put the Orioles on top and they held on the rest of the way. This year’s Orioles are currently three wins better than last year’s guys, an uncomfortably small number of games. They have lost ground since their recent hot streak.
One current Oriole has a birthday today. Happy 27th to Blaze Alexander, who has been looking a whole lot better lately than he did at the start of the season. He is also our only Orioles birthday today. Before he came along, there were no June 10 O’s birthdays.
Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you! Your birthday buddies for today include: composer Richard Strauss (1864), Nobel Prize-winning novelist Yasunari Kawabata (1899), legendary football coach Vince Lombardi (1913), and actor Hugh Laurie (1959).
On this day in history…
In 1429, during the Hundred Years War, the French launched an attack on the English, beginning the two-day Battle of Jargeau. The decisive French victory, following the lifting of the siege of Orléans, paved the way for France recapturing much of the territory that England possessed at the start of that phase of the war. One notable aspect of Jargeau is it was the first battle where Joan of Arc went on the offensive.
In 1776, the Continental Congress appointed five of its members – John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Robert Livingston, and Roger Sherman – with the task of drafting a document laying out the reasons demanding American independence from Great Britain. From this committee, Jefferson himself ultimately drafted the now-quite-famous Declaration.
In 1940, Axis powers began a siege of the Mediterranean island of Malta with attacks by the Italian Air Force. Over the next nearly two and a half years, Italian and German forces tried to bomb or blockade the island, never succeeding in getting its defenders to surrender.
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And that’s the way it is in Birdland on June 11. Have a safe Thursday. Go O’s!
