The Orioles are headed to California for a trio of late-night games.
Happy Tuesday, Camden Chatters! I hope you had a lovely off-day yesterday and were able to enjoy some quality time that didn’t include stressing out over an Orioles game. And I hope you are well rested, because tonight the Orioles begin a six-game road trip out west.
The trip starts with three games against the Los Angeles Dodgers, all with start times of 10:10 EDT. If you’re like me, this means you’re about to get a break from watching Orioles games because we’re too old to be staying up all hours.
If you are a night owl and decide to stay up for tonight’s game, the pitching matchup is not ideal. Cole Irvin is starting for the Orioles with Jack Flaherty pitching for the Dodgers. Flaherty, who you remember as a bad trade deadline pick up last year, is having a fantastic 2024. I can only assume he will dominate against his former team.
After they play three in LA, they travel over one time zone to play the Rockies. The games on Friday and Saturday are at the still late but slightly more civilized time of 8:40 EDT. Sunday’s series finale is a day game so we’ll finally get to tune in at a normal time.
This could be a tough trip for the Orioles. On top of having to fly out to California after playing Sunday Night Baseball, there is the pesky fact that the Dodgers are the best team in the National League. It might seem like a break to play 48-83 Rockies after that, but the Orioles have not done well in interleague play this year. Their record against the NL is just 16-21.
The team the Orioles are chasing in the standings, the New York Yankees, defeated the Washington Nationals last night to increase their lead in the AL East to two games. They play two more games against the Nats before coming home for three games against the St. Louis Cardinals.
If you missed the injury news, the Orioles placed Ryan Mountcastle on the IL yesterday with a sore wrist. How many more Orioles are going to get hurt this year? They called up Liván Soto to replace Mountcastle on the roster and I admit I didn’t imagine the Orioles would have both him and Emmanuel Rivera on the team at the same time (or at all).
Links
Amid stop-start summer, the Orioles are trusting their process – The Baltimore Banner
Jon Meoli believes that the Orioles are, and should be, sticking to their plan.
Samuel Basallo named Eastern League Player of the Week – MiLB.com
Great job, Samuel Basallo! Last week Basallo went 8-for-19 (.421) with three doubles and a home run. He was rewarded with a promotion to the Triple-A Norfolk Tides.
Orioles’ Jordan Westburg has taken to hyping up his teammates – The Baltimore Banner
Jordan Westburg is adorable. He’s just trying to keep morale up!
Orioles’ left field wall is finally having intended results – Baltimore Sun
This is the first year that Walltimore has saved more homers for Orioles’ pitchers than it robbed from the hitters.
After Another Rough Week, Any Reason for Optimism in Birdland? – Eutaw Street Report
Eutuw Street Report looks at the numbers to predict an offensive bounce back. Kind of a dramatic headline.
Birthday and History
Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! You have two Orioles birthday buddies. Hall of Famer, tater masher, and strong handshake giver Jim Thome is celebrating his 54th birthday today. Thome had a 22-year career with six teams, most notably the Cleveland Indians. He finished his career with the Orioles, playing 28 games for the 2012 playoff team.
Also celebrating today is Spenser Watkins (32), whose major league career was a little different than Jim Thome’s. As the legend goes, Watkins was about to walk away from professional baseball to become coach of a JV baseball team when the Orioles came calling.
Watkins had spent six years pitching in the minors and lost one year to COVID before finally making his major league debut on July 2, 2021 at age 28 years, 309 days. He appeared in 39 games (30 starts) with the Orioles in 2021 and 2022. He is currently pitching in the Nationals’ farm system at Triple-A.
On this day in 1961, Milt Pappas singlehandedly beat the Twins 3-0. He pitched a complete game two-hitter with 11 strikeouts. He also hit two home runs.
In 1970, Mike Cuellar won his 20th game for the Orioles. Cuellar went on to win 24 games that season. It was one of four 20-win seasons Cuellar had in his career, all with the Orioles.
In 1973, the Orioles defeated the Rangers, 6-1. The win was their 14th in a row and gave them a 75-52 record, five games up on the Red Sox in the AL East.
One year ago today, the Orioles lost to the Rockies, 4-3. Jack Flaherty gave up three runs in 5.2 innings. Cedric Mullins and Ryan O’Hearn homered for the Orioles and the game was tied going into the ninth inning. Yennier Cano gave up a leadoff single but the runner landed on second on a throwing error by Gunnar Henderson. The runner came in to score on consecutive ground outs. Tough break.