In addition to the multiple injured Orioles, the team also nearly got no-hit yesterday.
Hello, friends.
Before anything else, don’t forget this about the Orioles today: Their series finale against the Yankees is scheduled to begin at 11:35am Eastern, and it will only have a television broadcast through Roku. If you show up and turn on MASN at the usual 1:35pm, you will be very confused.
On the other hand, after yesterday’s Orioles game against the Yankees, maybe tuning in two hours late will be better than the alternative of watching the whole way through, because that was a bad one. It would have been nice to see the Orioles follow up on Friday’s win in the Max Fried game by building on that.
Instead, they got no-hit for seven innings by Clarke Schmidt, and only got a hit in the eighth because pitch count forced the changing of pitchers. That was the lone hit of the game for the Orioles. Zach Eflin was bad again, chewing up the bullpen and necessitating Luis Vázquez to pitch the ninth inning. Check out John Beers’s recap of the not-so-lovely totals.
Neither the miracle revival of the postseason hopes nor the payoff of an anticipated Orioles July sell-off will be so great if Eflin has no value with an ERA over 5. He sits at 5.46 after yesterday. Ryan O’Hearn is headed the wrong direction over the last two weeks. These things are not fun. The math on the low bar of getting to 52-56 by the trade deadline now requires the Orioles to go 19-13 between now and then. And I still don’t think that would convince Mike Elias not to be a seller. Certainly not to be a buyer.
Also not fun is that Orioles keep getting hurt. Shortly before yesterday’s game, Adley Rutschman was placed on the injured list for the first time of his career. Rutschman has an oblique strain, meaning it will probably be at least a month before he can even pretend to be ready to get back into game shape, and depending on how long that injury lingers, longer still before he’s full strength.
That wasn’t even the only injury yesterday. Jordan Westburg, the starting designated hitter, was pinch hit for the second time he was due up. After the game, Westburg said he jammed his left index finger sliding into second base with a stolen base. X-rays were negative for a break, but he is day-to-day due to swelling in the finger. I doubt we’ll see him in the game today.
Still, for all of that, thanks to Friday night’s win, the Orioles can come out of New York with a series win if they can manage to win this weird morning start time. Working in their favor is that Yankees starting pitcher Will Warren isn’t very good this year, with a 4.83 ERA. Given how the O’s have looked against some mediocre or worse pitchers, maybe that’s not working in their favor. I’m also scared of Dean Kremer pitching in a day game in Yankee Stadium. We won’t be waiting long to find out what we’re going to get today.
Orioles stuff you might have missed
O’Hearn ‘1,000% deserving’ of potential All-Star nod, leading DH race (Orioles.com)
Orioles players are excited for how things are going for their veteran teammate. It would be cool if he can hold on and win an AL starting lineup spot, because it’s a lot of weak competition out there with Rafael Devers traded to the NL.
…and, having addressed both of the injuries above, that’s pretty much it for the fresh-ish Orioles news today.
Birthdays and Orioles anniversaries
The most recent Orioles victory on this day was three years ago. The 2022 club improved to 31-39 with a 7-0 win over the Nationals, a game in which Austin Hays hit for the cycle. This was an even more impressive feat given that rain cut the game short to just six innings and Hays still got the four hits in. Tyler Wells was the winning pitcher with five shutout innings, and Nick Vespi got a save since he entered with the O’s having a 3-0 lead. No Oriole who played in this game will be on today’s active roster.
One current injured list Oriole has a birthday today: Happy 30th to Tyler O’Neill. There are a number of former Orioles also with birthdays today. They are: 2018 infielder Engelb Vielma, 2001 outfielder Willie Harris, 1996-97 pitcher Esteban Yan, 1996 pitcher Brian Sackinsky, and 1961-67 outfielder Russ Snyder. Today is Snyder’s 91st birthday, so an extra happy birthday to him.
Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you! Your birthday buddies for today include: author Erich Maria Remarque (1898), baseball Hall of Famer Carl Hubbell (1903), musician Kris Kristofferson (1936), author Octavia Butler (1947), actress Meryl Streep (1949), singer-songwriter Cyndi Lauper (1953), actor Bruce Campbell (1958), and TV host Carson Daly (1973).
On this day in history…
In 1812, France declared war on Russia, after which Napoleon initiated his ultimately ruinous invasion of the country.
In 1941, Germany, which had an active non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union, launched an invasion of Russian territory with Operation Barbarossa. Over six months, there were eight million casualties between the two sides, making it both the largest and costliest offensive in history.
In 1945, the American military gained complete control of the island of Okinawa after nearly three months of fighting. Close to 12,500 US military personnel were killed in the fighting for the island.
In 1969, the Cuyahoga River running through Cleveland, Ohio famously caught fire.
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And that’s the way it is in Birdland on June 22. Have a safe Sunday. Go O’s!