The less said about the game the Orioles played yesterday, the better.
Hello, friends.
We are now six games (3.7%) into the 2025 Orioles season. Through those six games, the O’s are quite regrettably performing at the same level that they were in the second half of the 2024 season, which is to say a .500 record, meaning at this point, 3-3. That included a dismal game being dominated by Red Sox starter Garrett Crochet yesterday. Check out Alex Church’s recap for more of the not-so-lovely totals.
No one game can tell the whole story of a season, but the way that the Orioles lost on Wednesday certainly tells a story that a lot of people in Birdland were ready to start telling after the season began. The Red Sox traded for an ace-potential pitcher which the Orioles did not. The Red Sox within just the last couple of days opened up the figurative checkbook and paid that guy a lot of money in a way that the O’s have not yet done with any of their own players.
Then, with that done, the newly-paid starting pitcher Garrett Crochet plowed through an Orioles lineup that was built to try to do something against a lefty like Crochet and just had absolutely no answers. To make matters worse, there was some uninspiring defense along the way, and although they didn’t end up allowing any further runs, rocky outings by bullpen lefties Gregory Soto and Cionel Pérez added to the malaise. If the 2025 Orioles regular season does not go how people hope, this will feel a lot like a representative loss.
The good news is that Gunnar Henderson is expected to be back either today or tomorrow. As of last night, the team had not revealed a decision. Norfolk playing an evening game last night followed by the Orioles having a 1:05 finale against the Red Sox today makes things a bit more complicated. Manager Brandon Hyde said that Henderson would join the Orioles in Kansas City tomorrow at the latest. That ought to help improve both the floor and ceiling of the offense on a daily basis.
As dumb as yesterday’s game was, the Orioles only need to come out and win today to come away with a series win and a 93-win pace for the season. That would, rather obviously, feel a lot better than a series loss and a 93-loss pace for the season. The Orioles starting pitcher for the afternoon game is Charlie Morton, who will hopefully start doing things to make it look like Mike Elias signing the guy wasn’t one of his worst ideas. Pitching for Boston is Tanner Houck, who was pretty good a year ago but pretty bad in his first start of the year.
Around the blogO’sphere
Tyler O’Neill’s success is no shock to the Red Sox: ‘He’s a freak of nature’ (The Baltimore Sun)
Some of the guys who played with O’Neill a year ago seem to have expected nothing less from him than something amazing.
Four takeaways from the Orioles minor league rosters (The Baltimore Banner)
Jon Meoli is excited about an IronBirds pitching staff that will have Michael Forret and Nestor German.
Bobby Grich made the most of his Orioles career after waiting his turn (Baltimore Baseball)
Another entry in longtime Baltimore sports scribe’s Bird TApes series, an archive of old chats with all kinds of Orioles from older times.
Birthdays and Orioles anniversaries
There is one lone former Oriole with a birthday today. Happy 50th to Koji Uehara (really), who was only here for 98 games from 2009 to 2011 but will always be in our hearts. And the fruit of his trade tree will be on the Orioles payroll until 2037.
Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you! Your birthday buddies for today include: writer Washington Irving (1783), singer Doris Day (1922), actor Marlon Brando (1924), astronaut Gus Grissom (1926), comedian/actor Eddie Murphy (1961), and actress Rachel Bloom (1987).
On this day in history…
In 1721, British MP Robert Walpole was designated by King George I as First Lord of the Treasury, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Leader of the House of Commons. Walpole is recognized today as the first Prime Minister while serving in these offices for 21 years, though he denied the term in his time as it was viewed as derogatory.
In 1882, one Wild West outlaw, Robert Ford, shot and killed another, Jesse James.
In 1888, in London, Jack the Ripper committed the first of his murders. This never-identified killer took as few as five and as many as 11 lives over the next three years.
In 1996, the Unabomber was apprehended at his cabin in Montana.
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And that’s the way it is in Birdland on April 3. Have a safe Thursday. Go O’s!