Hello, friends.
This article is being written before the result of Saturday’s game against the Dodgers is settled, though of course you’ll know what happened by the time you read these words. They were winning and Trevor Rogers was looking great at the time I set this to publish. I sure hope that continued!
As is unfortunately typical for the Orioles this season, there was some bad news even before the game began on Saturday. The team has placed catcher Adley Rutschman on the concussion injured list,
following his being hit in the head by an errant throw while running to first base in Thursday’s loss to the Mariners.
It is rotten luck to lose one of the better hitters on the team so far this season to a freak injury like that. Hopefully he is able to bounce back from the concussion symptoms quickly. The team certainly needs him. Though I also hope the Orioles don’t rush him back in desperation. That won’t help anyone in the short term or the long term.
Since the Orioles already had third catcher Sam Huff on the roster, the corresponding move to the Rutschman injury was to add an outfielder, Michael Siani. If you are not an Orioles 40-man roster sicko, you have not had much occasion to note him since his arrival by waivers about a month ago. Siani was OPSing .659 for the Dodgers Triple-A team when he was claimed and has put up a .109/.208/.217 batting line for Norfolk. Maybe he will be a better late-inning defensive replacement than Tyler O’Neill. If he ends up being more, things have probably gotten weird, and probably not the fun kind of weird.
Without the benefit of knowing what happens on Saturday, I am thinking about some glum math. Winning on Saturday only would do so much to change the math. One of the things about this season up to this point is the general weakness of the AL Wild Card field. That combined with Rob Manfred’s ongoing quest to reward mediocrity with more playoff teams has had below-.500 teams in wild card spots up to this point. I still think that will change eventually, though maybe something like 83 wins will let a team slip in.
The Orioles brought a 35-42 record into Saturday. Getting to 83 wins would mean they need to go 48-37 from that point onward. Do they have that kind of stretch in them? For almost two full years now, they haven’t! This year, they have yet to win more than three games in a row. It’s hard to stack up wins without a big streak.
Something is going to change for them to make this thing happen. We have all in our own ways spent the last two months, two years, or whatever, trying to bargain this into existence. It continues to not happen. The Orioles are not good enough, no matter how much I want them to be!
Orioles stuff you might have missed
Some pregame notes ahead of Saturday’s game (School of Roch)
Roch ran down who all was on the taxi squad before yesterday’s game, because it was more than just Siani.
Two years since peak, Orioles approaching a pivotal crossroads (The Baltimore Sun)
I might even say the peak was clinching the AL East in 2023, even farther back, but they’re definitely at a crossroads here.
The Frederick Keys are the first half division champions (Steve on Baseball)
Steve Melewski with some recent coverage of the one Orioles affiliate that’s been playing well so far this season. They’ve been playing very well, in fact!
Trey Mancini’s MLB comeback was all about who was in the stands to see it (The Baltimore Banner)
Diligent Bird Droppings readers will note that you saw this one already yesterday. I’m including it again because Trey is my wife’s favorite recent Oriole.
Birthdays and Orioles anniversaries
The most recent Orioles victory on June 21 happened over a decade ago. The 2015 team beat the Blue Jays, 13-9, to improve to 36-33 on the season. Chris Tillman was staked a 7-0 lead after the top of the second inning and gave up six runs while failing to finish the bottom of the second. Jimmy Paredes and Ryan Flaherty each drove in three runs on the way to a victory. The only player in the organization now who was in the organization that day was Ryan Mountcastle, who signed his pro contract five days prior.
There are a few former Orioles who were born on this day. They are: 2006 pitcher Sendy Rleal, 2000 pitcher Luis Rivera, 1992-93 pitcher Rick Sutcliffe, and 1955 pitcher Eddie Lopat.
Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you! Your birthday buddies for today include: author Ian McEwen (1948), author Andrzej Sapkowski (1948), actor Chris Pratt (1979), golfer Scottie Scheffler (1996), and singer-songwriter Rebecca Black (1997).
On this day in history…
In 217 BC, Carthaginian general Hannibal won one of his great victories, pulling off an army-level ambush of a Roman force in the Battle of Lake Trasimene, which led to Carthage controlling much of modern-day Southern Italy for some time afterwards.
In 1582 AD, one of Japan’s historic legendary daimyo, Oda Nobunaga, was forced to commit suicide by a rebelling general.
In 1791, French king Louis XVI attempted to flee the captivity of revolutionaries along with his family. The royal family was captured during the flight, and the king and queen were eventually sent to the guillotine.
In 1898, the United States captured Guam from Spain during the opening of the Spanish-American War, with the Spanish defenders not yet knowing about the war having begun.
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And that’s the way it is in Birdland on June 21. Have a safe Sunday. Go O’s!
