Good morning, Camden Chatters.
How are you spending your four days off from Orioles baseball (assuming you hadn’t already bailed on Orioles baseball by, like, May)? Me, I’m going to take care of important things around the house, by which I mean catching up on TV. I’m still working my way through the Fallout season that ended in February, so there’s a hefty backlog.
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Of course, there’s still baseball to enjoy if you’d like to do so. The MLB All-Star Game is tonight at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, airing on Fox at 8:00. It’ll be the usual fun showcase featuring the majors’ biggest stars, but unfortunately precious few Orioles. The Birds’ lone representative, Adley Rutschman, will be among the American League reserves, so we should see him come in midway through the game.
Rutschman is a deserving All-Star, but the fact that he’s the Orioles’ only one is kind of a bummer. I know this season hasn’t gone particularly well for the Birds, but it’s not as if they just have one good player. There are worse AL teams with more representatives. Fellow sub-.500 teams like the Red Sox, Blue Jays, Twins, and Tigers all have multiple All-Stars. Even the lowly Royals and Athletics have two apiece.
I’m a little surprised that Pete Alonso didn’t get selected to the team, especially after a fellow first baseman, the Athletics’ Nick Kurtz, bowed out with injury. The Polar Bear is already a five-time All-Star and is putting up another strong year in his Orioles debut. But I suppose the AL is stacked with first basemen even without Kurtz (and the fan-voted starter, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who also won’t be playing), as Boston’s Willson Contreras, the Yankees’ Ben Rice, and White Sox rookie Munetaka Murakami are already on the roster. At the very least, I would’ve liked to see Alonso participate in the Home Run Derby, which he has won twice in his career (including a defeat of the Orioles’ Trey Mancini in 2021, which was annoying at the time).
Still, the 2026 Orioles’ fate won’t be decided by how many guys they’ve got playing in the All-Star Game. They’ve got 65 more games of baseball to play when the season resumes on Friday. And with a little momentum on their side after heading into the break on a four-game winning streak, they’re going to need to stay hot for pretty much the entire second half to stay in contention. So let’s hope that Adley enjoys his time at the Midsummer Classic, and that the rest of the team gets a nice breather and comes back ready to win a lot of games.
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Links
Elite defense proving 3-time All-Star Rutschman is ‘still that guy’ – MLB.com
There aren’t normally a lot of stolen base attempts in the All-Star Game anyway, but I don’t think the National League will dare try it when Adley is behind the dish.
Orioles trade for Sanders, move Akin to 60-day IL (Raquet optioned) – School of Roch
The O’s acquired Cam Sanders, and before you ask, no, he’s not a third baseman, and he’s not even joining the major league roster. We’ll have to wait another couple days to find out who Blaze Alexander’s replacement will be.
Will O’s top pick Eric Booth Jr. need to make swing adjustments in pro ball? – Steve Melewski
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Most likely, yes. Is the Orioles’ development staff capable of making it happen? To be determined.
Why didn’t Orioles pick left-handed pitcher Gio Rojas in draft? | MAILBAG – BaltimoreBaseball.com
Because you don’t draft for need. And even if you did, a high school pitcher wouldn’t exactly help the Orioles anytime soon.
Orioles’ Blaze Alexander responds to Royals regarding quick-pitch tactic that broke his hand – The Baltimore Banner
Alexander called out Lucas Erceg for quick-pitching him on the fateful HBP, and got in a dig on Vinnie Pasquantino for good measure. Blaze’s troll game is on point.
Orioles birthdays and history
Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! And there’s a good chance that you used to play for the Orioles, because a whopping nine players in O’s history were born on July 14. I would venture a guess that that’s more O’s birthdays than any other date on the calendar, but I’m not going to do the legwork of looking it up.
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That lengthy birthday list includes three players currently active in the majors or minors: infielders Joey Ortiz (28) and Andrew Velazquez (32) and right-hander Isaac Mattson (31). It also includes the Orioles’ most recent Cy Young Award winner, right-hander Steve Stone (79). Other ex-Orioles born on July 14 include infielders Bernie Castro (47), Victor Rodríguez (65), and Billy Smith (73); outfielder Derrick May (58); and the late catcher Earl Williams (b. 1948, d. 2013).
On this date in 2012, the Orioles pulled off a wild win in a season full of them with an 8-6 walkoff against the Tigers at Camden Yards. After closer Jim Johnson blew a 4-1 lead in the ninth to allow Detroit to tie, the Tigers took a 5-4 lead in the top of the 11th, only for Adam Jones to deliver a two-out RBI single to tie it in the bottom half. The Orioles fell behind again in the 13th, but J.J Hardy promptly tied the score with a solo homer, and light-hitting backup catcher Taylor Teagarden — making his team debut — played the hero with a walkoff two-run blast. It was the Birds’ 10th consecutive extra-innings win, a streak that would eventually reach 16.
And on this day in 2019, the Orioles nearly became the victims of the first combined perfect game in MLB history, as two Rays pitchers — Ryne Stanek and Ryan Yarbrough — combined to retire the first 24 batters of the game. Hanser Alberto finally broke up the perfecto in the ninth with a leadoff single. The O’s lost, 4-1.
Random Orioles game of the day
On July 14, 1973, the Orioles beat the White Sox, 5-4, in Chicago. The O’s pounded out 12 hits, including three from DH Tommy Davis and a homer by Paul Blair. Earl Williams, on his 25th birthday, contributed two RBIs. Hall of Famer Jim Palmer worked eight strong innings for the win, but gave up three runs in the ninth before reliever Bob Reynolds escaped a bases-loaded jam on a game-ending double play.
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