Righty-batting Orioles are particularly excited about the adjusted Camden Yards left field dimensions.
Hello, friends.
There are now 53 days remaining until Orioles Opening Day. As far as the start of spring training, now that we’re into February, only ten days are left before pitchers and catchers report to Sarasota.
The last few days have brought some fun events across Birdland, with Orioles players and front office personnel out and about in different fan-oriented events through the area. They’ve all seemed like fun experiences for those who had the opportunity to attend and it’s not hard to get more excited about the coming season after seeing some of the quotes from the players who have joined in.
As much as it’s been neat to see some of these different events, I do still miss the old FanFest format of winter interaction between fans and the players. With this event being hosted in the convention center in Baltimore, there was plenty of room for a lot of different things to be going on, things could spill over a little bit to Camden Yards to get everyone excited to see that for the first time in months, and since this was an open event, a lot more people could attend, rather than some of these more limited pay-to-play things.
By this point in the baseball offseason, it doesn’t really matter which kind of event is happening. It’s not enough to whet my appetite. Spring training won’t do it either, although it will make the part of me that runs this website happy because there will be more to talk about beyond which guys the Orioles didn’t sign or trade for.
I’m ready for real games that matter. A month worth of games where all there really is to do is hold my breath and hope that nobody gets hurt is not fun – especially since these games are seldom broadcast on the Orioles-owned television network. Though you never know, maybe they’ll surprise me and air more games this year whenever they get around to announcing the schedule.
Around the blogO’sphere
Adley Rutschman confident in his ‘ability to bounce back’ (The Baltimore Sun)
Rutschman said there’ve been some “tough conversations” with the hitting coaches through the offseason. I don’t think we’re going to get a Chris Davis “don’t ever change anything” approach from Rutschman.
Mike Elias says he’s been ‘aggressive’ this offseason, but there’s still time to do more (The Baltimore Banner)
Elias can use the word aggressive all he wants, but it doesn’t mean very much if what he’s done is sign six guys to one-year free agent contracts.
‘Everyone’s excited’: O’s raring to go at each Birdland Caravan stop (Orioles.com)
Particularly excited are right-handed batters discussing the new left field wall dimensions.
Birthdays and Orioles anniversaries
Today in 2005, the Orioles acquired Sammy Sosa from the Cubs in exchange for three players, including infielder Jerry Hairston Jr. Sosa, who had hit 35 home runs in the 2004 season, hit just 14 for the O’s in a year where he was a -1.0 bWAR impact on the roster.
There are a number of former Orioles who were born on this day. They are: 2015 outfielder Travis Snider, 2000-09 infielder Melvin Mora, 1995-2002 pitcher Scott Erickson, 1992 pitcher Pat Clements, 1991 pitcher Paul Kilgus, and 1968-72 outfielder Don Buford. Today is Buford’s 88th birthday, so an extra happy birthday to him.
Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you! Your birthday buddies for today include: museum namesake Soloman R. Guggenheim (1861), writer James Joyce (1882), writer Khushwant Singh (1915), baseball Hall of Famer Red Schoendienst (1923), actress Farrah Fawcett (1947), and singer-songwriter Shakira (1977).
On this day in history…
In 1461, during the Wars of the Roses, the Yorkist and Lancastrian factions clashed in the Battle of Mortimer’s Cross. Prior to the battle, a parhelion – or an illusory triple sunrise – occurred. York’s army, led by recently-inherited Duke Edward, was able to proceed to London after winning the battle, where Edward was crowned as King Edward IV, deposing King Henry VI of Lancaster.
In 1848, the Mexican-American War officially concluded with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. More than half of land that Mexico claimed was ceded to the US in the treaty, including parts of eight present-day states.
In 1943, World War II’s Battle of Stalingrad came to an end after more than six months of fighting, with the Russians accepting the surrender of the last active German troops in the area. Between both armies and civilians, at least one million and up to three million people were killed over the course of this battle.
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And that’s the way it is in Birdland on February 2. Have a safe Sunday.