Can the Orioles win three in a row within the same series? They haven’t done it yet in 2025.
Hello, friends.
The Orioles have finally escaped from the month of May. It was a bad month! After winning the month’s two final games against the worst-in-AL White Sox, the O’s wrapped May at 9-18 – a .333 winning percentage for the month. Ouch. At least they have beaten the White Sox on Friday and Saturday. Check out Tyler Young’s recap of yesterday’s 4-2 win for more of the lovely totals. You’ll have to read if you want to find out how Coby Mayo sparked a benches-clearing incident.
By winning the first two in the series, the Orioles have the opportunity to take down their first sweep of the season. All they have to do is win today. Their previous three-game winning streak (only just the one all year, how sad) was straddled across two series. Beat the White Sox today and they’ll finally do it.
Even these Orioles, as bad as they have played, are capable of managing that. Just because they are capable does not mean that they will actually do it. Charlie Morton is set to start the 1:35 finale for the O’s. The last game he pitched was the first game all year where the O’s won as he pitched. Morton did well in that game. If he can do it again, maybe they’ll win again. O’s batters will start out facing Adrian Houser, a 32-year-old righty who’s tossed 12 scoreless innings across two starts this year.
Perhaps the realest goal for the Orioles should be to get through the day without having to place anyone on the injured list, or designate anyone for assignment. It’s been a chaotic week of roster moves, mostly forced by injuries or maybe-injuries that the team needed to prepare for, just in case. This has shuffled in jabronis you’ve probably never thought about: Cooper Hummel, Chadwick Tromp, Jordyn Adams. Hummel was DFA’d once and then came back, almost the very next day, like the cat in the song.
As the week comes along, there will be roster movement for better reasons, as players start to make their way back from injuries. Colton Cowser and Jordan Westburg have each been rehabbing with Norfolk. Neither played on Saturday, perhaps a sign they’ll be heading out west to rejoin the team this week, maybe as soon as Tuesday. Mike Elias will have to decide which of his squad of castoffs should be cast off yet again.
Orioles stuff you might have missed
Notes on some injured Orioles and their recent replacements (School of Roch)
Included here are updates on Tyler O’Neill and Albert Suárez. Suárez in particular feels like he has not been seen in action since a different era of the Orioles, because on March 28, we had no idea what kind of crap was coming out way this year.
Orioles fire sale? Not so fast. MLB rules could be convincing. (The Baltimore Sun)
The Sun makes the case that the Orioles might not want to trade away any veteran who they believe they could cash in on a “decline the qualifying offer and get a compensation pick” situation. A pick in the 30s next year might have more value than whatever prospects they’d get for rentals.
Britton brings value to Orioles amid coaching staff shuffle (Orioles.com)
I picture Buck Britton sitting down with the two Bobs from Office Space, having to answer, “What would you say… ya do here?” (I’m quite sure that wasn’t really what beat writer Jake Rill asked.)
Birthdays and Orioles anniversaries
There are two former Orioles who were born on this day. They are: 2019 pitcher Tayler Scott, and Maryland native 1955-57 pitcher Ray Moore.
Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you! Your birthday buddies for today include: Supreme Court Justice John Marshall Harlan (1833), actor Andy Griffith (1926), actress Marilyn Monroe (1926), actor Morgan Freeman (1937), singer-songwriter Alanis Morissette (1974), actress Amy Schumer (1981), and actor Tom Holland (1996).
On this day in history…
In 1812, President James Madison asked that the Congress declare war on Great Britain. The declaration, which was delivered on June 18, started the War of 1812.
In 1918, during World War I, US marines moved into position to engage the Germans in the Battle of Belleau Wood. Fought through June 26, the battle is one of the legendary ones in Marine Corps history.
In 1974, Emergency Medicine first published about the Heimlich maneuver, a now more commonly understood technique to try to rescue choking victims.
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And that’s the way it is in Birdland on June 1. Have a safe Sunday. Go O’s!