A stinker, injury updates, and at least Holliday is improving.
Good morning Birdland,
With every loss, the Orioles’ margin for error shrinks further, their hopes of a playoff run dim, and the theory that this group can ever win a World Series at all fades. Last night’s 9-1 loss to the Twins did little to dispel those worries.
This team stinks. They had only three hits and struck out 17 times. Coby Mayo made two errors at third base. Cade Povich had one really bad inning. And both Cionel Pérez and Matt Bowman look like it’s time to move on from them.
Injuries have piled up on this club, and those will start to resolve soon. Zach Eflin’s rehab might be done. Tyler O’Neill and Jordan Westburg are about to get their rehabs going in Norfolk. Getting Colton Cowser back in the next month or so will be huge.
But lacking some of these bigger names doesn’t explain all of the struggles. When is Gunnar Henderson gonna get going? Why aren’t Adley Rutschman’s outcomes matching some of his promising peripherals? Why does it look like Heston Kjerstad and Coby Mayo don’t belong in a major league batters’ box? There are far too many important players struggling at the same time. It’s an organizational failure that stretches back almost a full year now.
This is not how this season was supposed to go. Maybe the Orioles wouldn’t win 90 games. Maybe they would miss the playoffs. But a 100-loss pace? That never felt like a potential outcome for this crew, regardless of injuries or the lack of an ace. What a disappointment.
Links
Orioles’ Chirinos, Britton providing support in clubhouse they know well | The Baltimore Sun
Getting added to your first major league coaching staff ahead of this season is some tough timing. If the clock does run out on Brandon Hyde, you would imagine his whole staff gets the axe too. For their sake, I hope the team turns things around.
Holliday seeing improvement after taking dad’s advice | Orioles.com
Jackson Holliday is one of the bright spots of the season. He is making slow, consistent improvements every week and feels like he will be the team’s leadoff hitter before the all-star break.
Snyder’s Soapbox: Mike Elias wanted to turn the Orioles into the Astros, but he can’t get out of the rebuild | CBS Sports
This feels right on the pitching side of things. The team needed to take bigger swings to improve the rotation. But on the hitting side, it’s all simply falling apart. The two go together, of course. Elias needed to make some decisions on the hitting side, so that he could trade prospects for the pitching. It never really happened. And now the team is in no position to even make these sorts of deals.
Eflin nearing weekend return to Orioles’ roster, O’Neill in Norfolk lineup, plus other updates | Roch Kubatko
Some good news? Doesn’t feel right.
What to learn from Kyle Stowers’ hot start | The Baltimore Banner
It’s cool that Stowers is playing well in Miami. He deserved a chance to play every day, and it’s working well for him. That doesn’t necessarily mean that he will sustain it, or that the Orioles did make the wrong choice in the end. But right now, things are panning out for Stowers.
Orioles birthdays
Is it your birthday? Happy birthday!
- Keon Broxton turns 35 today. The outfielder played in 37 games for the Orioles in 2019.
- Brook Fordyce celebrates his 55th birthday. He was a catcher in the league for a decade, including a four-season stint in Baltimore from 2000 through ‘03.
- Mark Smith is 55 years old. From 1994-96, he was a reserve corner outfielder for the Orioles.
- The late Dick Williams (b. 1929, d. 2011) was born on this day. Better known for his managerial career, which earned him a spot in the Hall of Fame, Williams played 13 seasons in MLB as well. He was an Oriole for four seasons, split between two stints (1956-57, ‘61-62)
This day in O’s history
2010 – The game between the Orioles and Twins is rained out. It is the first Minnesota rainout since 1980 due to the team’s move from the indoors Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome to the outdoors Target Field coming into this season.