Every bad start and bullpen meltdown makes finding improvements feel more important – to us, if not Mike Elias.
Hello, friends.
Ah, the Orioles. It’s like one of their unique gifts is the ability to bring the good vibes screeching to a halt with an especially demoralizing game or series of games. Just a single game that really wiped the positive feelings off the board yesterday, but what a nasty one it was! There is not much good to say about a game where the O’s give up 19 runs. When you give up that many, scoring eight runs in garbage time only goes so far to make you feel better.
Cade Povich was unable to record an out in the second inning, giving up a total of eight runs, and Dillon Tate was not up to the task of limiting the damage to even that already-bad level. Tate was asked to chew up a couple of the early innings. The innings chewed up him instead. The same could be said of Cole Irvin, whose first relief outing since May 22 saw him give up five runs in four innings. Check out Tyler Young’s recap of the game for more of the not-so-lovely totals.
After a string of improved starts, that was a tough setback for Povich. The tone was set for his outing on the very first batter, who he walked on four pitches, none of which were close to the strike zone. He gave up a three-run home run before even recording an out in the game, and all of this was against a horrible Oakland lineup!
It’s a brutal enough outing where you have to wonder if the team might re-evaluate who it wants to be in the rotation. No one’s existing anxiety about a need for a trade has been calmed. That goes double if you look up Chayce McDermott’s outing from yesterday.
Oh yeah, and the Yankees had thumped the Red Sox before the Orioles game even began, so the O’s lead dropped back down to two games.
What’s great about baseball is a thing that wasn’t much fun for us Orioles fans three, four, or five years ago: There’s almost always another game the very next day. So it is for the Orioles today. They start anew, 0-0. Better things might happen this time. They will have Grayson Rodriguez on the mound and all they have to do is win to pick up the series and seal a solid 4-2 west coast road trip record.
Is that so much to ask? Maybe. The team is 3-2 so far in July and until yesterday the bats were quiet this month. On one hand, it’s good that they could win games where they scored two, three, and four runs. On the other hand, it’s probably not going to be good over the long haul if they don’t regularly put up more runs. They’ll try to close out the trip with a win starting at 4:07 Eastern today. Oakland’s starter, Mitch Spence, brings a 4.15 ERA into the game.
Around the blogO’sphere
Orioles obviously need relief help, but who and at what cost? (Baltimore Baseball)
You’ll have to bring your own preferred reliever into this article, because not a single external reliever is suggested as a quality option.
Trade deadline’s rotation market has major Garrett Crochet question (New York Post)
On the other end of the trade rumor spectrum, Jon Heyman tosses out 17 names of starters who could be traded, of whom he links two to the Orioles: Crochet and Toronto’s Chris Bassitt. Who do you hope the Orioles can get for a reasonable prospect cost? Or, if you’re really jonesing, who would you think is worth giving up a big-name prospect to get?
Buck Britton gets the call to throw to Gunnar Henderson in Home Run Derby (The Baltimore Banner)
Another great thing about Henderson is how he’s remembering his Triple-A manager for his Home Run Derby showing. Hoping Britton can do as well as Adley Rutschman’s dad did for him.
Jim Callis on Jackson Holliday: “He is still the same guy to me” (Steve Melewski)
I hope that Holliday gets another chance to prove himself at the MLB level this season. That might depend on when he’s able to get back into full game action after his elbow inflammation hopefully resolves.
Three-pitch mix helps Michael Forret stand out (Baseball America)
Subscription required for this one. Jon Meoli, who regularly covers the O’s for the Banner, joins BA here to talk about last year’s 14th round pick. Forret earned his way up to Aberdeen after starting with Delmarva this season. If he can conquer this level too, he’ll be an interesting guy for those who have a lot of room in their O’s fan hearts for prospects. Forret was in action last night and I’ll just give you the good news only: He struck out nine guys and only walked one.
One week out mock draft: Orioles projected for swings at college hitters (MLB Pipeline)
When the Orioles pick at #22, it’s hard to guess who will even be on the board for them to choose from, let alone who they might prefer out of the available players. In this latest mock, Pipeline’s Jonathan Mayo lists University of California catcher Caleb Lomavita at the #22 spot and University of Tennessee third baseman Billy Amick with the #32 pick.
Birthdays and Orioles anniversaries
Today in 1995, the Orioles acquired Scott Erickson from the Twins in exchange for pitching prospect Scott Klingenbeck and outfield prospect Kimera Bartee (named later). Erickson went on to do enough interesting things for the O’s to check in at #50 on Camden Chat’s Top 50 Greatest Orioles list from four years ago.
Of all of the players to ever play for the Orioles, only a single one has a birthday today. Happy 75th to Baltimore-born and Baltimore-educated infielder Tim Nordbrook, who played in 74 games for his hometown team across the 1974, 1975, and 1976 seasons.
Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you! Your birthday buddies for today include: composer Gustav Mahler (1860), baseball Hall of Famer Satchel Paige (1906), The Beatles drummer Ringo Starr (1940), and basketball Hall of Famer Lisa Leslie (1972).
On this day in history…
In 1456, Joan of Arc was retroactively acquitted of the heresy charge that led to her death 25 years prior.
In 1928, bread sliced by a machine invented by Otto Rohwedder was sold for the first time. The Chillicothe Baking Company of Chillicothe, Missouri made that first sale on what was Rohwedder’s 48th birthday.
In 1981, Sandra Day O’Connor became the first woman to ever be nominated to a seat on the US Supreme Court.
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And that’s the way it is in Birdland on July 7. Have a safe Sunday. Go O’s!