The Orioles lost again last night. I’m ready for that to end.
Happy Tuesday, Camden Chatters. Things are a little rough these days in Birdland. The Orioles are on a four-game losing streak for the first time this season. The pitching staff, which did well overall last night, is worrisome. And the offense has been down the past few days, just long enough for me to start feeling blue about it.
Despite the blues, I’m not worried about the offense. They’ve been up more than down this year and are a talented bunch. They’re one of baseball’s best run-scoring teams, and a few down games aren’t worth getting worked up over. And they’ve just called up Heston Kjerstad who had a very nice first game back. He singled and doubled last night, and had an excellent 13-pitch at-bat late in the game that unfortunately didn’t end well. I hope he continues to get playing time.
The pitching, though. You can’t stop me from worrying about them. Cade Povich continues to show flashes in his starts and that makes me happy. But Albert Suárez and Cole Irvin worry me. Dean Kremer should be back soon but is he good enough to be a number three starter on a contending team? He started this year as the number five, behind three pitchers who are now out for the year after having surgery.
A common refrain around these parts is that the Orioles have the prospect depth to go get a pitcher and it’s true that they do. But the question is how far will Mike Elias go to improve the team this season? What prospects will he part with and how many? After he pulled off the Corbin Burnes trade in the offseason I feel a lot more confident when thinking about possible future trades, but any trade is a gamble and that alone makes me nervous.
I don’t know how to be a fan of a good team.
Links
Orioles fan makes amazing one-handed catch – MLB.com
The best part of the game, honestly.
Cade Povich delivers solid outing, but Orioles fall short against Guardians – The Baltimore Banner
They need to start scoring some more runs. Don’t you think?
Gunnar Henderson is chasing history in 2024 – MLB.com
Gunnar is amazing and here are the receipts.
Orioles likely to give Kremer another rehab start – BaltimoreBaseball.com
The good news is that Dean Kremer felt ok after his last rehab start. The bad news is that he still needs to build up his pitch count after getting knocked out in the first inning over the weekend.
Birthdays and History
Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! You have three Orioles birthday buddies. Dark times slugger Luke Scott turns 46 years old today. 2000-’01 relief pitcher Ryan Kohlmeier is 47. And the awesomely named Dick Drago was born on this day in 1945. Drago pitched for five teams in his 13-season career including the Orioles in 1977. He passed away this past November.
On this day in 1964, Steve Barber pitched a complete-game three-hitter, Brooks Robinson and Boob Powell homered to defeat the Yankees 3-1 and complete a series sweep.
In 1970, the Orioles were down 7-0 to the Red Sox after five innings but came back to tie the game and sent it to extra innings. Six runs in the top of the 14th inning to make it lopsided 13-8 win in the end.
In 2001, the Orioles claimed Tony Batista off waivers. He spent 2 1⁄2 seasons with the Orioles including the infamous 99-RBI, .270-OBP 2003.