The month of July is going poorly for the Orioles up to this point.
Hello, friends.
The Orioles. (sigh) What’s there to say about these jokers right now? They came out of the All-Star break looking rejuvenated for all of two games and then have fired off a series of stinkers, with these last two games against the Marlins being among the losses that sting the most this season. There’s no reason for a team as good as the O’s have been to lose two to these guys, and yet, here we are.
Check out Alex Church’s recap of the game for more of the not-so-lovely totals. Chayce McDermott’s debut didn’t go very well, although it could have gone worse. The offense was pretty bad again, other than one Colton Cowser clutch hit. The bullpen, particularly Cionel Pérez, offered another reminder that improvements need to be made for this team to achieve the best that it might achieve. (I was out at a family gathering and did not watch the game, so if my box score summary is missing any context, my apologies.)
The Orioles are now 60-41, which remains a 96-win pace for the full season. That’s pretty good! They have not been good in July, though, now just 7-10 for the month. They’ve got some real work to do to avoid having this be the first losing full month since September/October 2022.
For as much as I’d like to see the pitching improve in the five days between now and the trade deadline, lately it’s the offense that needs a jolt. The team is averaging just 3.6 runs per game through this July slumber. That’s not going to cut it. This is not an area where external additions are likely. They’ll either call up a prospect or two and displace an underperforming veteran, or they won’t.
It’s not only the guys who you might like to see shipped out who are stinking. Adley Rutschman is atrocious in July. Ryan Mountcastle has struggled. So have Cedric Mullins, Austin Hays, and Jordan Westburg. That’s a long list of guys. I believe in at least three of them.
One more slumper is Jorge Mateo, who’s getting shuffled out of the picture for the unfortunate reason that in Tuesday’s game he suffered what the team announced as a left elbow transient dislocation. After last night’s game, manager Brandon Hyde said that Mateo is “going to miss some time.” Connor Norby will be joining the team as the immediate replacement for Mateo. You can wonder how long that will last because Norby could be a trade candidate himself.
Here’s some non-trivial silver lining. The Yankees lost again to the Mets last night, a colossal 12-3 crushing. If you’re eyeing the Red Sox farther out, they got wrecked too, dropping a 20-7 game to the Rockies. The Orioles still have a 1.5 game lead for the AL East.
Can the Orioles just go ahead and not get swept today, though? Please? It’s an early game today to finish off the series, a 12:10 Eastern start time for the finale in Miami. Corbin Burnes is the O’s scheduled starter, with Roddery Muñoz starting for the Marlins. Muñoz has not been good this season, which as we know does not necessarily have any bearing on how the Orioles will perform today.
Around the blogO’sphere
Should the Orioles trade top prospect Jackson Holliday? (The Athletic)
Brittany Ghiroli has seen people bringing this idea up and she says no.
Four trades we would make to improve the Orioles (The Baltimore Banner)
Jon Meoli sums up this exercise best when he writes, “Every trade you read on the internet is bad and dumb.” Did he gamely sketch out a trade anyway because his editors or bosses probably made him? Yes.
Any clubhouse impact with trade deadline talk? (Steve Melewski)
Some quotes from Ryan O’Hearn about how the players think about the trade deadline talk. Mostly, he says, they don’t.
Latest trade deadline buzz around Orioles (Orioles.com)
Another day, another round of media people unable to stop themselves from talking about hypothetical Orioles interest in Tarik Skubal. The Tigers lost last night and are 50-53.
One-on-one with David Rubenstein (Baltimore Baseball)
It’s cool of the owner to have a conversation even with less-mainstream outlets like this one.
Birthdays and Orioles anniversaries
Today in 2019, the legend of Dr. Poo Poo was born, as super-utility man Stevie Wilkerson came in to pitch in the 16th inning of a 6+ hour game and recorded a save. A 10-8 Orioles win over the Angels also included Jonathan Villar throwing out a runner at the plate in the 15th inning and then hitting the go-ahead homer in the 16th.
There are a few former Orioles who were born on this day. They are: 1998 pitcher Doug Drabek, 1972-73 pitcher Mickey Scott, and 1959 infielder Whitey Lockman.
Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you! Your birthday buddies for today include: biologist Paul Langerhans (1847), actress Estelle Getty (1923), and actor Matt LeBlanc (1967).
On this day in history…
In 1139, Prince Afonso Henriques led an army that defeated the Almoravid dynasty’s force in Ourique in modern-day Portugal. The battle is part of the legend of Portuguese independence from other kingdoms on the Iberian peninsula, though its actual role is more questionable.
In 1898, during the Spanish-American War, the American military began an invasion of Puerto Rico.
In 1965, folk artist Bob Dylan made waves by switching from an acoustic guitar to an electric one at the Newport Folk Festival.
In 1978, the first baby to ever be born by in vitro fertilization was born in England. Happy 46th to Ms. Louise Joy Brown.
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And that’s the way it is in Birdland on July 25. Have a safe Thursday. Go O’s!