An Orioles executive said Oriole Park at Camden Yards renovations are probably not coming next year.
Hello, friends.
The Orioles. (sigh) It was probably too much to hope for that they could go 7-0 against the White Sox in the 2024 season. Even as bad as they are, they’re winning more often than one in seven games. As we know from 2018, 2019, and 2021, bad teams find plenty of ways to occasionally win games, even against good teams.
Last night’s game was sure a stinker, though, with Albert Suárez pitching poorly, hitters not named Gunnar Henderson and Cedric Mullins hitting poorly, and the result was an 8-1 loss. Check out John Beers’s recap of the game for more of the not-so-lovely totals.
Here’s the good news: The Yankees lost last night. The Orioles are still in first place by a half-game margin! That won’t change today, because both the O’s and Yankees are off. The Yankees, by the way, also finished 6-1 against the White Sox this season, so the AL East race isn’t going to hinge on who was better against the league’s worst team. Among the wild card contenders, the Red Sox and Twins lost and the Royals won. The O’s hold leads of five games over each of the Twins and Royals – the WC2 and WC3 teams.
The Orioles have a magic number of 12 or 13 to clinch any postseason spot, a number that depends on whether the Tigers won or lost in San Diego after I went to sleep. A couple of these wild card-contending teams are in action today. The Twins play the Rays at 1:10, with the Tigers again playing the Padres out west, starting at 8:40 Eastern.
There was some Orioles news that had nothing to do with the team on the field yesterday. Orioles beat reporters had the opportunity to have an interview session with the team’s recently-hired president of baseball operations, Catie Griggs, who joined the team after holding a similar position with the Mariners. Among the questions and answers, Griggs discussed the near-term renovations to Oriole Park at Camden Yards:
I think you’re likely to see much more substantive change in 2026. Just looking out behind you right now, I think we have some opportunities with video boards. And rumor has it that there’s some audio things that we might be looking to improve as well.
I’d been imagining that the coming offseason would be enough time for the Orioles to at least enact some improvements with the audio system, but it doesn’t look like that’s the case. Griggs was only hired two months ago, filling a job that had been taken by then-principal partner John Angelos. If Angelos left no useful plans around because of his dreams of real estate grandeur, there probably really wasn’t time to decide on anything big in time to start work in November. Tough luck to all of us who sit in a section with crappy audio.
Around the blogO’sphere
Updates on a variety of Orioles injuries, including Grayson Rodriguez and Heston Kjerstad (Orioles.com)
Kjerstad has been cleared to come out of the concussion protocol and is expected to start a rehab assignment next week. That’s great! Rodriguez threw a bullpen session, which hopefully means he’s on the way to being back before season’s end too.
‘She’s a hard charger’: Orioles new baseball operations president puts her passion to work (The Baltimore Banner)
Griggs has experience with shepherding the Mariners through getting and hosting the All-Star Game. Let’s hope one will be coming to Camden Yards in like 2027!
Samuel Basallo the latest big Orioles prospect to join Triple-A Norfolk: ‘He’s a monster’ (The Baltimore Sun)
It’s exciting that Basallo is going to get some Triple-A time before season’s end. Don’t worry about the early results not being there yet.
Soccer luminaries encounter curious American ball sport (FanGraphs)
Included in this rundown of some Premier League teams who got some fellow pro treatment in baseball stadiums this summer is a manager who got a little too excited throwing a first pitch in Baltimore.
Birthdays and Orioles anniversaries
Today in 1995, Cal Ripken Jr. tied Lou Gehrig’s record for consecutive games played at 2,130. The game itself saw the Orioles beat the Angels, 8-0, with Scott Erickson going the distance in the shutout.
There are a few former Orioles who were born on this day. They are: 2000-02 pitcher Calvin Maduro, 1995-96 pitcher Jimmy Haynes, and 1957 one-game catcher Tom Patton. This was the only career MLB game for Patton, who was hitless in two at-bats. It’s his 89th birthday today, so an extra happy birthday to him.
Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you! Your birthday buddies for today include: France’s “Sun King” Louis XIV (1638), baseball Hall of Famer Nap LaJoie (1874), animator Frank Thomas (1912), actor Bob Newhart (1929), baseball Hall of Famer Bill Mazeroski (1936), musician Freddie Mercury (1946), and gold medal figure skater Yuna Kim (1990).
On this day in history…
In 1666, the Great Fire of London came to an end after five days of blazing. The number of officially recorded deaths was only in the single digits, even as more than 10% of all houses in London, plus many other buildings, were destroyed.
In 1781, the French Navy defeated the British in a battle at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, preventing an attempt to relieve the forces at Yorktown and eventually leading to the British surrender there.
In 1914, the French and British armies launched a counterattack against German forces closing in on Paris. Nearly two million men were involved in what turned out to be the First Battle of the Marne; in the span of a week, there were 500,000 killed or wounded.
In 1977, Voyager 1 was launched into space. The probe is over 15 billion miles from Earth today.
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And that’s the way it is in Birdland on September 5. Have a safe Thursday.