Hello, friends.
Here’s a hot take: It’s a lot more fun when the Orioles win than when they lose. We thankfully got another reminder of the fun of winning last night as the team kept piling on runs against the Marlins, eventually winning 7-4 to guarantee a win in the three-game set. Check out Alex Church’s recap of the game for more of the lovely totals. The team has a chance to sweep as the series concludes at 6:40 tonight. No getaway day afternoon game? Weird.
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The Orioles wins against the Marlins in these first two games is a reminder of the occasionally-invoked baseball saying that you’re never as good as you look when you’re winning and you’re never as bad as you look when you’re losing. In fairness to anyone who was primed to believe that the O’s are as bad as they looked against the Yankees, we experienced several consecutive years of Orioles baseball from 2018-2021 where the team was, in fact, as bad as they looked.
We may still hope these Orioles were not as bad as they have recently looked. There’s no question that there’s stuff that’s going to need to go better. A lot of ifs are involved in the story of durable 2026 Orioles improvement. If Rogers, Bradish, and Baz can be the 1-2-3 that Mike Elias apparently thought they were going to be. If the defense can stabilize at merely mediocre rather than outright bad. If Coby Mayo and/or Colton Cowser start playing better or are sent to the minors to give someone else a chance.
None of these lingering uncertainties are things that can be answered in a day or a week. They are just going to have to start going better until one day you wake up and something that “everyone” was complaining about and you were worrying about is going better. Some players have already managed this. Samuel Basallo had a rough first three weeks. His batting numbers look fine now. Pete Alonso is on the path towards being the guy the Orioles wanted him to be when they signed him. Yennier Cano, who probably no one was counting on for good things this year, has re-emerged as a possible back-end bullpen stalwart.
Can the Orioles pull off a sweep and keep people feeling good? Sure, maybe. They have the potential to be good enough to do it. It’s just that a lot of the time so far this season, they haven’t met that potential, so here we are. Cade Povich and Max Meyer are the scheduled starting pitchers for this series finale.
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Orioles stuff you might have missed
Orioles’ plan for limiting self-inflicted mistakes: “Go play reckless” (The Baltimore Sun)
I can’t help but note that playing reckless seems like a recipe for more, rather than fewer, self-inflicted mistakes.
Orioles path to success is possible, but it won’t be easy (Baltimore Baseball)
The season isn’t over! It only felt like it was on the path to being over after getting thoroughly outclassed in that Yankees series. If the Orioles can keep making good things happen as they finish with the Marlins and move on to the Athletics, that will help people feel better.
The Orioles poor start draws criticism just about everywhere you turn (Steve on Baseball)
Former Oriole Brad Brach delivers advice for players to get off social media. I would also suggest that for players.
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Five Orioles prospects who may be promoted soon (Orioles On The Verge)
Subscription required for the full article. The photo being Joseph Dzierwa is a strong clue about one of the five prospects on the list.
Birthdays and Orioles anniversaries
In their 37th game one year ago, the Orioles beat the Angels, 4-1, to raise their season record to 14-23. Tomoyuki Sugano pitched 7.1 innings with just one run allowed and Gunnar Henderson drove in two runs with a triple and a home run. This year’s Orioles have three wins more than that team.
There are a few former Orioles who were born on this day. They are: 2019 outfielder Keon Broxton, 1994-96 outfielder Mark Smith, 2000-03 catcher Brook Fordyce, and 1956-58/61-62 utility man Dick Williams. Williams, who passed away in 2011 at age 82, is in the Hall of Fame as a manager.
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Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you! Your birthday buddies for today include: philosopher David Hume (1711), poet Robert Browning (1812), composer Johannes Brahms (1833), composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840), Baltimore Colts legend Johnny Unitas (1933), and YouTuber MrBeast (1998).
On this day in history…
In 1664, the Palace of Versailles was inaugurated. The opulent royal residence constructed by France’s Louis XIV stayed in the family until the 1789 French Revolution, and has been a public museum area since 1837.
In 1718, the city of New Orleans was founded. Its founder, Montreal-born Frenchman Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, served multiple stints as the colonial governor of France’s North American claims.
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In 1824, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony had its premiere performance in Vienna. Due to Beethoven’s loss of hearing, a different conductor, Michael Umlauf, directed the orchestra, though Beethoven did supervise the process.
In 1915, the RMS Lusitania was torpedoed and sunk by a German U-boat, killing 1,199 people. Among the dead were 128 Americans. This is one of the developments credited with turning sentiment in the US against the German side of what we now call World War I.
In 1992, the state of Michigan ratified a constitutional amendment that had been in limbo for 203 years, putting the 27th amendment into effect. The amendment prevents any mid-term increases to Congressional pay. Maryland was the first state to ratify this amendment, approving it on December 19, 1789.
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And that’s the way it is in Birdland on May 7. Have a safe Thursday. Go O’s!
Read the full article here