Ohtani was too incredible, Adley is a winner, and more in today’s Bird Droppings
Happy Tuesday, Camden Chatters.
I’m not gonna lie, last night was a tough one. Not because the Orioles lost. Good teams lose baseball games and there is certainly no shame in losing to Shohei Ohtani. But the frustrating thing is that while they absolutely did lose to Ohtani the hitter, who had a historically good night at the plate for a pitcher, they kind of beat up on Ohtani the pitcher.
The Orioles hit three home runs and scored five runs against Ohtani. It’s tough to watch your team get destroyed after doing so well against a great pitcher. It’s just not fair, which is a childish thing to say but I feel it anyway.
The most disappointing, of course, is the reason they got destroyed was the ineffectiveness of Grayson Rodriguez. He has had his ups and downs since being promoted and last night he had his worst start since becoming a major leaguer.
I understand growing pains and adjusting to the hardest league in the world. And Grayson has shown flashes of the pitcher we expected him to be, with his high-velocity pitching and good strikeout numbers. But those things didn’t matter last night as he got shelled by the Angels. He didn’t look like he had control at any point in the game.
I didn’t expect the start of the Grayson Rodriguez era to make me sad, and yet here we are. I am not trying to overreact and I know there is still time for him to turn things around. But the Orioles, in the meantime, are trying to win baseball games. I’m glad that it’s not my job to make these decisions. I feel much more comfortable being some rando on the internet rather than the person whose job it is to figure out why the star pitching prospect can’t get his act together.
Links
Orioles reset: Adley Rutschman’s first 162 games on Baltimore’s roster show star catcher’s impact
In Adley Rutschman’s first 162 games with the Orioles, their record is 93-69. This seems good.
Being Drafted By Orioles Was ‘Surreal Moment’ For Pitching Prospect Trace Bright – PressBox
Trace Bright has been striking out a lot of guys in Aberdeen. Get to know him!
Orioles OF Cedric Mullins meets the streamer who famously shouted “I can’t escape him!” – The Baltimore Banner
A.J. Rodriguez was in Baltimore last night to meet the man he can’t escape.
Hyde on Stowers: “Just want to see him get the confidence going again” (and other notes) – Blog
Kyle Stowers has been demoted to Norfolk after looking pretty lost at the plate. I hope he can figure things out.
Birthdays and History
Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! You have three Orioles birthday buddies. Luis Sardiñas celebrates his 30th birthday today! He played in 182 major league games from 2014-18, concluding with eight games with the 2018 Orioles. I don’t remember him. I blocked out a lot of that season.
Ivanon Coffie turns 46 today. His entire major league experience is 23 games with the 2000 Orioles.
And finally, Dave Philley was born on this day in 1920. Philley had an 18-season major league career that culminated in 1962 at age 42. He played for the Orioles for part of 1955, after he was claimed off waivers from Cleveland. And he played for them in the first part of 1956, before being traded to the White Sox. He passed away in 2012 at the age of 91.
On this day in 1984, the Orioles released pitcher Jim Palmer. The Orioles asked Palmer to retire and take a job with the team, but he refused and was released. Palmer hoped to catch on with another team, but that was not in the cards.
In 1999, the Orioles defeated the Rangers, 16-5. Every starter had at least two hits, and Mike Bordick had four. The Rangers have given the Orioles a lot of historic beatdowns over the years so it’s nice to see a score going the other direction.
In 2017, Chris Davis homered twice in extra innings as the Orioles defeated the Tigers 13-11. After the Orioles blew a six-run lead to send the game into extras, Davis homered in the 12th inning and then again in the 13th.