In a way, it’s remarkable that the Orioles have won even half of its games over the last few months.
Hello, friends.
The Orioles. (sigh) Even winning two games in a row has been hard enough for them for the last month-plus. We got another demonstration of why last night, with the team managing to score just two runs over nine innings against the Red Sox. This was still enough to send the game into extras, and the Orioles did get their Manfred Man across, only to see Keegan Akin serve up a three-run walkoff homer in the bottom half of the inning. Yuck. Check out Paul Folkemer’s recap of the game for more of the not-so-lovely totals.
It’s an off day today, with the Orioles traveling to Detroit, where they’ll open a series on Friday. I’d say that maybe the off day will help the team regroup, except no off day for the last three months has done this, so why would I believe this one will do the trick? Whatever this thing is that they are, that’s what they are. The offense is prone to going dormant for whole series on end. No reliever is to be trusted, nor are most of the players on defense.
A remarkable circumstance of the 2024 MLB season is that this is what the Orioles are and have been since June 8 – they’ve been playing .500 baseball since then, and below-.500 since July 25 – and they’re still right in the race. At this point, it’s more the wild card race than the AL East.
The Yankees walked off the Royals, also in extra innings, on Wednesday night to pull 1.5 games ahead. That half-game will be settled today, with the Red Sox and Yankees starting a four-game set. Can we count on the Red Sox to beat the Yankees? Of course we can’t. But whatever will happen, that starts at 7:15 tonight. If the Red Sox win, the Orioles are a game back. If the Yankees win, it’s two games back.
There are 15 games left to be played. The wild card math is still pretty good for the Orioles. The Royals loss means that the Orioles remain three games ahead (plus the tiebreaker) for hosting a wild card series. The magic number to clinch that is 12. For any postseason spot at all, that’s a magic number of 9. That’s to the Tigers, who are in action against the Rockies this afternoon.
The Orioles could rip the “clinch anything” number down two at a time over the weekend. They just have to actually win games, which involves consistently doing stuff they’re not consistently doing.
Around the blogO’sphere
More Orioles injury updates from before last night’s game (School of Roch)
After watching the Orioles lately, including last night, one can be forgiven for feeling like it’s only the return of injured players that might improve the recent state of the roster. Yesterday brought some good news about Jordan Westburg, Danny Coulombe, and Grayson Rodriguez.
Santander elated to join ‘pretty special’ club of switch-hitting titans (Orioles.com)
Do you find it harder to enjoy the individual successes of players like Anthony Santander when the offense is overall underwhelming of late? Three years ago, Santander’s storyline would have been the most exciting thing going. We have higher hopes for the team now that haven’t been met often enough lately.
As fans express anxiety, owner David Rubenstein says club in ‘reasonably good shape’ despite injuries and ‘slumps’ (The Baltimore Sun)
Rubenstein isn’t wrong about the Orioles and their place among the best teams in the league up to this point. The team just hasn’t done much in multiple months now to feel like they’re heading anywhere as good as or better than what they did last year.
You may not believe in the Orioles, but here’s why the players do (The Baltimore Banner)
With this story directly quoting Westburg saying “Morale’s down” and also saying “other players admit that morale has taken a hit,” I might have chosen a different headline.
Domínguez earns Hyde’s trust as closer (Baltimore Baseball)
It might be more about lack of trust in anyone else as much as it is about actual trust in Domínguez. Which, I don’t have, but I don’t trust any reliever, so that doesn’t say much. Domínguez did his job last night and the night before. It’s better than Akin can say.
Birthdays and Orioles anniversaries
Today in 2009, Brian Roberts hit a grand slam as the Orioles beat the Yankees, 7-3. In the same game, Roberts hit his 51st double of the season, tying the franchise record he’d set the previous season. B-Rob eventually closed out that season with 56 doubles, still a record. Manny Machado hit 51 in 2013.
There is one current Oriole who has a birthday today. Happy 28th to Kyle Bradish! Get well soon.
Former Orioles born on this day: 1988 outfielder Keith Hughes, 1988-90 pitcher Mark Thurmond, and 1959-60 outfielder Albie Pearson.
Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you! Your birthday buddies for today include: Baltimore-born journalist H.L. Mencken (1880), gold medal track and field athlete Jesse Owens (1913), actor Ian Holm (1931), singer-songwriter Barry White (1944), Rush drummer Neil Peart (1952), composer Hans Zimmer (1957), rapper 2 Chainz (1977), and BTS rapper RM (1994).
On this day in history…
In 490 BC, according to tradition, the Athenian Greeks and Persians fought the Battle of Marathon. Outnumbered more than 2-1, the Athenians inflicted casualties at a ratio of at least 20-1 as they drove the Persians from the field.
In 1814 AD, the Maryland militia halted a British land force marching on Baltimore with the Battle of North Point. This failure set up the more-famous bombardment of Fort McHenry soon after.
In 1910, Gustav Mahler premiered his Eighth Symphony in Munich. With 171 members in the orchestra plus a chorus with 852 singers, this came to be dubbed the “Symphony of a Thousand” – though Mahler did not care for the name.
In 1959, Bonanza first aired in the US. The Western was the first regularly-scheduled TV program that was in color.
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And that’s the way it is in Birdland on September 12. Have a safe Thursday.