Things don’t feel as dire as when they had the five game losing streak, but they don’t feel settled yet either.
Hello, friends.
The Orioles! They’ve made it back into the win column at last, and thank goodness, because things would have been awfully glum if they followed up being swept by the Astros with another sweep at the hands of the Guardians. The fact that the Astros have played their way back to .500 and the Guardians are clearly a good team wouldn’t have made a six-game losing streak feel any better. The O’s avoided that by pulling off a 4-2 win in the finale against Cleveland last night.
It was the kind of game that the Orioles have needed over the last week, where they got a great outing from their starting pitcher combined with just enough scoring – heavily home run-influenced – by the offense. Sure, whatever, if you really want to complain that Grayson Rodriguez wasn’t “great” because he only struck out four guys and he gave up one dinger to a rookie making his debut and another to a light-hitting infielder, go for it.
I’ll take a seven inning with two runs allowed any time, against any team. Check out Stacey’s recap of the game for more of the lovely totals. Annoying things happened in the game and it could have been another dumb loss, just like the five before it, but that’s not how it went. That’s good. The Orioles have played 80 games and they’re on pace to win 101. That’s also good.
Even better is that the Yankees got their butts kicked around last night by the Mets, ending up on the wrong end of a two-game mini-sweep. That brings the Orioles to back within one game of the AL East lead, and it means that despite the Orioles going 1-5 over their last six games, they’ve actually only lost a half-game over that span – and that just because they lost on Monday when the Yankees were off.
Starting tonight, the Orioles turn their attention to the Texas Rangers, who much to our chagrin are the defending World Series champions. Up to this point, they aren’t vigorously defending the crown. They bring a 37-43 record into this series and, in contrast to the Astros, are not showing signs of life in June.
The Rangers are 10-13 this month after going 11-16 in May. Whatever the team had last October, they ain’t got in 2024. Which doesn’t mean they can’t come in and add to the disappointment in Birdland over the four game series.
They have some good things going for them, including in their starting rotation, which was already pretty good and now has Max Scherzer coming back. He’ll pitch in the series. It’s Jon Gray who’s set to start tonight’s 6:35 opener for the Rangers, with ace Corbin Burnes on tap for the Orioles. Burnes was not at his best last time out against Houston, so hopefully he can bounce back against the other Texas team.
While the Orioles are playing the Rangers, the Yankees will be spending four games playing the Blue Jays. Toronto has nearly the same record as Texas at 36-43, so both teams should really be hitting the gas against opponents who ain’t got it in 2024. The one of the O’s and Yankees who does this more successfully over the next four games is probably going to have the lead as the calendar turns to July.
Around the blogO’sphere
Jackson Holliday begins throwing program with Triple-A Norfolk (The Virginian-Pilot)
The local paper for the Tides is keeping tabs on the “slow approach” as Holliday, who’s back but only DHing in games, gets back into the throwing groove.
Will search for pitching lead the Orioles to play for Garrett Crochet? (Steve Melewski)
Crochet is kind of the starting pitching equivalent of Mason Miller in that he’s doing well this year, has a lot of service time remaining before free agency and thus a lot of presumed value, but also he’s never done this before and there’s no track record.
MLB executives predict players most likely to be traded before the deadline (The Athletic)
Sometimes MLB executives don’t actually know the market as well as they think, and sometimes they might know it but they don’t tell the truth to people like Jim Bowden. The Orioles are only mentioned by name here once, in an item about if a team decides to pony up for Detroit’s Tarik Skubal. Other targets they may want to consider are here too.
Heston Kjerstad highlights fine first half on Orioles farm (Orioles.com)
Orioles beat writer Jake Rill hands out some kudos for superlative performance on the farm over the first half of the minor league seasons. There’s a reason Kjerstad is now in Baltimore and not in the minors.
Birthdays and Orioles anniversaries
The most recent Orioles victory on today’s date came two years ago. In beating the Mariners, 9-2, the 2022 team had back-to-back home runs in consecutive innings – a feat that had never before happened in Orioles history. Adley Rutschman and Ryan Mountcastle went back-to-back in the third, with Anthony Santander and Austin Hays connecting in the fourth. Jorge Mateo also homered in the win.
There are a number of former Orioles who were born on this day. They are: 2006-13 pitcher Jim Johnson, 2008-09 reserve Óscar Salazar, 1999-2003/2006 corner infield/outfielder Jeff Conine, 1987 outfielder Nelson Simmons, 1986-87 infielder Jackie Gutiérrez, and 1954-55 pitcher Lou Kretlow.
Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you! Your birthday buddies for today include: activist Emma Goldman (1869), author and activist Helen Keller (1880), poet Lucille Clifton (1936), designer Vera Wang (1949), famous person Khloé Kardashian (1984), and singer-songwriter H.E.R. (1997).
On this day in history…
In 1743, during the War of the Austrian Succession, a British-led force beat the French in the Battle of Dettingen in what is now Bavaria within Germany. It’s a notable battle because King George II was present, making this the last time a British monarch was involved in a battle.
In 1895, the train Royal Blue, operated by the Baltimore-based B&O Railroad, held its inaugural run, traveling from Washington, DC to New York City. This was the first electric locomotive to be used for passenger service in the US.
In 1950, two days after North Korea invaded South Korea, President Harry Truman issued orders committing the American military to help resist the invasion.
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And that’s the way it is in Birdland on June 27. Have a safe Thursday. Go O’s!