After a day off, the Orioles are back in the area to play their southern neighbors
Hello, friends.
How did you spend your Orioles day off? Hopefully the Orioles themselves spent it productively in getting themselves ready for the next two games against the Nationals. The AL-best O’s bring a 23-11 record into this set against their southern neighbors. This series will have the quirk of both teams wearing their City Connect jerseys, which, you know, I’m not all that excited about. The Nats ones are cool with the cherry blossoms and all. The Orioles… there’s nothing new to be said about theirs.
Only one Orioles division opponent was in action yesterday. The Rays pulled themselves back up to .500 by beating the woeful White Sox on Monday. The Yankees remain a game back of the O’s, with the Red Sox 4.5 back, Tampa trailing by six, and Toronto bringing up the rear with a 7.5 game deficit. It’s a little weird that the O’s haven’t played the Rays or Jays yet. They’ll get Toronto for the first time on May 13 and have to wait until the very last day of May to see the Rays in the 2024 season.
While the Orioles are going up against the Nationals this week, the Yankees will be facing off against the Astros for three games starting tonight. That might have seemed like a marquee matchup before the season began, but the Astros have been woeful so far. Perhaps they can put up a fight. For tonight, at least, Houston will have Justin Verlander on the mound. Pitching for the Yankees is Luis Gil, who recently shut the O’s down.
After Sunday’s win over the Reds, one fact noted about the 2024 Orioles is that they now have a better 34-game start than all O’s teams other than the 1970 squad. There is no chance for the 2024 O’s to catch those guys today, because the 1970 team won its 35th game to improve its record to 25-10. Jim Palmer was the winning pitcher on that occasion, recording one of his 20 wins that year. It was the first of eight 20-win seasons of Palmer’s career.
If and only if the Orioles sweep this two-game set, they’ll be even with the ‘70 O’s through 36 games. Compared to last year’s 101-61 team, the O’s are one game better over the same number of games. That’s not too shabby.
Tonight’s Orioles game in Washington has a 6:45 scheduled start time. Corbin Burnes is set to make the start for the O’s, with Trevor Williams pitching for the Nationals.
Around the blogO’sphere
Hays beginning rehab assignment at Double-A Bowie (School of Roch)
Roch writes about the O’s announcement that Hays will be starting his rehab assignment this week. He notes that Hays isn’t going to require the full rehab period, but it’s not clear how quick the O’s might look to bring him back.
Why other teams are watching the Orioles pitchers at Bowie closely (The Baltimore Banner)
Speaking of Bowie, Jon Meoli writes that there are evaluators from other teams keeping their eyes on a number of the O’s AA pitchers: Kyle Brnovich, Brandon Young, Trey McGough, and Seth Johnson. Except for Johnson, who’s on the 40-man roster, these guys will be Rule 5 eligible after the season, so the O’s could be looking to trade one rather than trying to squeeze him on.
Gunnar Henderson was shattering backboards in basketball before becoming an MVP candidate (The Baltimore Sun)
Baseball was one of THREE sports for Henderson in high school. I’m glad that he picked baseball as his big one.
An early Orioles trade proposal (The Athletic)
Jim Bowden takes the opportunity of the Marlins opening up the market early to suggest a few trades, including one Orioles one. I’m not usually a fan of Bowden’s suggested trades and this is not an exception. He proposes that the O’s send Heston Kjerstad to the Guardians for relievers Hunter Gaddis and Cade Smith.
I do think “Guardians get an outfielder, Orioles get a reliever who isn’t Emmanuel Clase” is one of the cleaner matches out there, but I am not sure about Kjerstad for two guys with no track record of quality before this year; Gaddis and Smith are both rookies, though only Smith debuted this year. On the plus side, that means these guys can be optioned and still be available to help in a number of future seasons.
That’s good, because I’m not sure how you squeeze two new guys into the current mix, especially assuming Grayson Rodriguez is back within a couple of weeks with a starter getting pushed into the bullpen and Mike Baumann presumably getting pushed to the waiver wire. Perhaps I’m overrating Kjerstad, but if he’s going to be traded I’d like to see him be more like the headliner in a deal for a more proven pitcher who still has some team control remaining.
Birthdays and Orioles anniversaries
You have to go all the way back to 2017 to find the last time the Orioles were victorious on today’s date. There was a pandemic in there, plus a couple of off days, but still, yikes. The O’s dropped a 4-0 shutout on the White Sox, improving to 20-10. With how that season wrapped up, it’s hard to remember they were as many as 12 games over .500 on May 9.
The O’s May 7, 2017 victory saw each of Trey Mancini and Joey Rickard get three hits, with Alec Asher recording 3.1 innings of scoreless relief and Brad Brach notching his seventh save. We’ve been through some changes in Birdland since seven years ago. So has every team, of course.
There are a few former Orioles who were born on this day. They are: 2019 outfielder Keon Broxton, 2000-03 catcher Brook Fordyce, 1994-96 outfielder Mark Smith, and 1956-58/61-62 utility guy Dick Williams. Williams, who passed away in 2011, is in the Baseball Hall of Fame as a manager.
Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you! Your birthday buddies for today include: philosopher David Hume (1711), poet Robert Browning (1812), composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840), actor Gary Cooper (1901), Baltimore Colts legend Johnny Unitas (1933), wrestler Owen Hart (1965), and actress/comedian Aidy Bryant (1987).
On this day in history…
In 1664, France’s Palace of Versailles, which came to be a symbol of the regime’s out-of-touch opulence, began its inaugural festivities.
In 1824, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony had its world premiere in Vienna. The composer was not able to conduct the performance on his own, though he was present and supervised conductor Michael Umlauf.
In 1915, the passenger liner RMS Lusitania was attacked by a German submarine and sunk, leading to the deaths of 1,199 people. Among the dead were 128 Americans, and the event soured sympathy for Germany’s side of World War I in the US.
In 1992, Michigan ratified a proposed constitutional amendment after a 203-year gap, leading to the 27th Amendment taking effect. The amendment provides that any pay increase for Representatives and Senators will not take effect until the next Congress is sworn in. It’s the most recent amendment to be ratified.
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And that’s the way it is in Birdland on May 7. Have a safe Tuesday. Go O’s!