Good morning, Camden Chatters.
The sun always shines a little brighter the morning after an Orioles win, doesn’t it? Yesterday, the O’s picked up a much-needed win, building on Albert Suárez’s recent stellar start to defeat the Red Sox 4-2. Adley Rutschman and Gunnar Henderson also hit home runs. Aside from the usual bullpen shenanigans that kept things exciting in the eighth inning, it was a fun day overall. Check out my game recap for all the good details.
To make the day even better, the Yankees suffered a crushing loss to the Tigers on Sunday Night Baseball. They blew a 1-0 lead with two outs in the ninth inning, then blew another one-run lead and were sent off in the tenth. With New York’s loss, the Orioles are back in first place in the AL East after spending the last two days in second place.
The day’s events helped restore order, at least temporarily, to Birdland after two tough losses to the Red Sox had some fans worried the O’s were on the verge of collapse. One thing to note about this team, even when they’re not playing their best: They haven’t experienced a prolonged losing streak. They haven’t lost more than two games in a row since July 22-24.
On the other hand, they do not have won more than two in a row since before, when they beat the Yankees in a walkoff aided by a defensive error on July 14 (the last game before the All-Star break) and then won early in the second half on July 19 and 20. The Orioles reached 21 games over .500 for the first time on June 10 after a four-game sweep of Tampa Bay and have played .500 in the two-plus months since then.
It still feels like this team has the talent and ability to step it up a gear and go on a winning streak, but for some reason that hasn’t happened in a long time. The Orioles’ upcoming schedule isn’t going to make things any easier. After a quick three-day road trip to Queens where they’ll play the Mets, the Birds will face two first-place teams, the Astros and Dodgers, in their next seven games. If the O’s can maintain their .500 rate during this stretch, that wouldn’t be a bad result. But if they want to do a little better, sure, they can.
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Albert Suárez’s late success came at just the right time for the Orioles – The Baltimore Banner
Albert Suárez seems to have not only good stuff, but also ice-cold water in his veins. No situation can unsettle him. Where would the Orioles be without him this year?
What’s the Orioles’ secret to developing great hitters? Rival teams have theories – The Athletic
It’s no secret that the Orioles have had a pretty good track record of developing hitters lately, and opposing teams think the secret is VBA. Oh, I agree! And as a smart baseball fan, I know exactly what VBA is. Yep, good old VBA. …Anyway, just read the article.
Analysis: Orioles need to let Craig Kimbrel work his way out of trouble – The Baltimore Sun
As Jacob Calvin Meyer points out, the first-half version of Craig Kimbrel would be a tremendous addition to the Orioles’ bullpen right now. I’m just not sure we’ll ever see that version of Kimbrel again.
After Westburg’s injury and Mayo’s demotion, it’s O’s turn to solidify Ramón Urías in third place – Blog
Ramón Urías may have his issues and who knows what his future holds with the Orioles, but a team could do worse than use him as a backup infielder and injury-related player. The kind of vitriol he receives from some corners of the Orioles fan base seems a little over the top.
Birthdays and History of the Orioles
Is it your birthday today? Happy birthday! A total of seven former Orioles have birthdays today, and none are more beautiful (or handsome) than JJ Hardy, who turns 42. The shortstop was a fan-favorite linchpin of the O’s successful run from 2012 to 2016, winning three Gold Gloves and being voted a Silver Slugger and All-Star. In 2021, he was inducted into the Orioles Hall of Fame.
Other former Orioles players born on this day include five right-handed pitchers – Lance Cormier (44), Rocky Cherry (45), Luis DeLeón (66), Paul Mitchell (75) and the late Baltimore native Jim Lehew (b. 1937, d. 2016) – as well as the late infielder Jim Finigan (b. 1928, d. 1981).
On this day in 1980, Steve Stone of the Orioles became the first MLB player to win 20 games in a season, pitching 7.1 strong innings to beat the Angels 5-2. Stone won 25 games that year and the AL Cy Young Award, an impressive feat for an itinerant worker who had had a fairly unremarkable career up to that point and would only pitch for one more year.
And on this day in 2016, the O’s set an MLB record by hitting four home runs before getting an out. Adam Jones led off with a home run, and after a single by Hyun Soo Kim, Manny Machado, Chris Davis and Mark Trumbo hit two home runs in a row off Astros starter Collin McHugh. And yet the O’s still lost the game by a wide margin, 15-8.
Random Orioles Game of the Day
On August 19, 1975, the Orioles lost 5-2 to the Twins at the Metrodome. Starter Mike Cuellar was penalized with five runs in 3.2 innings, and although Wayne Garland pitched 4.1 innings of scoreless relief, it was too little, too late. Hall of Famer Bert Blyleven pitched a complete game for the Twins, recording eight strikeouts.
