Hello, friends.
There are now 172 days remaining until the next Orioles game. Between now and then, we’ve got to wait out the postseason before the O’s can do much of anything other than maybe hire a manager.
The Division Series got under way yesterday, with the Brewers, Blue Jays, and Dodgers all notching wins. The Tigers and Mariners also played, although they finished after I went to bed. Sorry!
Only the American League series will be continuing today. The NL gets the day off, even though nobody is going anywhere. It’s Yankees-Blue Jays at 4:08, and Tigers-Mariners at 8:03 Eastern time. I will be satisfied if the Yankees fall in a 2-0 hole. I’m guessing you will be too, which is not to say that either one of us has much good to say about the Jays.
The postseason remains a waiting game for Orioles fans. We may actually get some news before it’s over, as Mike Elias’s desire to hire a manager probably shouldn’t wait until after all teams have wrapped up business. Though, if the Orioles have candidates in mind that are on teams who make deep runs, maybe they will have to wait. That won’t stop other teams from snapping up other managers, including, recently, the Rangers doing what everyone thought they would do by hiring Skip Schumaker after Bruce Bochy left.
I don’t have a point where I’ll start getting anxious if they haven’t hired someone. I feel like dithering would be a bad sign for the crucial coming offseason, when the team will need to act decisively to improve upon the weaknesses that were revealed with the team this year. We don’t want the Orioles to miss out on all of the good players while Elias is pulling a Dan Duquette-esque maneuver and waiting for late deals.
In fairness, that isn’t what happened last winter. Elias didn’t wait for late deals. He got his deals fairly early. They were just cheap individually (if expensive collectively) and, crucially, largely bad. The signings that were good or at least decent – Ramón Laureano, Andrew Kittredge, Tomoyuki Sugano – weren’t enough to prevent the other problems from collapsing the ground beneath this team.
We all assume that Elias is going to have to do one or more really, truly big things this offseason to get things going in the right direction again. Today in the links roundup are a couple of Orioles fans with blogs and/or podcasts who are putting their hopes out there for the big starting pitching move(s). Camden Chat commenter Lightsabremetrics recently used The Feed to put his ideas out there, with the big signing being Michael King. The Feed is there for you, too.
Orioles stuff you might have missed
A dream Orioles offseason, version 1.0 (Orioles On The Verge)
Fellow Orioles fan writer/podcaster lays out his ideal for the Orioles offseason, including a signing of Dylan Cease and a trade for Pablo López. I… won’t be holding my breath.
Ranking the Orioles free agent starting pitching options (The Dishwasher)
The Dishwasher runs down a tier list of available starting pitchers. His lone tier 1 is Framber Valdez, currently with Houston. What do you think?
Birthdays and Orioles anniversaries
Today in 1966, the Orioles triumphed over the Dodgers in Game 1 of the World Series, a 5-2 win that saw both Frank and Brooks Robinson homer in the first inning.
In 1997, Mike Mussina led the Orioles to a Division Series victory over the Mariners, allowing just two hits in seven innings as the O’s took Game 4 by a 3-1 score to win the series, 3-1.
In 2014, the Orioles completed a Division Series sweep of the Tigers, with a strong start by Bud Norris and a two-run home run by Nelson Cruz proving decisive in a 2-1 victory in the third game.
There is one lone former Oriole who was born on this day: 1996-98 pitcher Terry Matthews. He passed away in 2012 at age 47.
Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you! Your birthday buddies for today include: philosopher Denis Diderot (1713), 21st president Chester A. Arthur (1829), rocketry pioneer Robert Goddard (1882), baseball stats guy Bill James (1949), basketball Hall of Famer and part-owner of the Orioles Grant Hill (1972), and actress Kate Winslet (1975).
On this day in history…
In 1789, women protesting bread prices in Paris marched to Versailles. This was one of the true explosive moments of the French Revolution, as the women were able to break into the palace, make their demands to the king, and, the following day, forced the king and family to return to Paris. The absolute royal authority was effectively over.
In 1947, President Truman delivered a televised address from the Oval Office of the White House, the first time a president had done this.
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And that’s the way it is in Birdland on October 5. Have a safe Sunday.
