Go, O’s!
We are the AL East Champions.
By “we,” I mean the Baltimore Orioles.
I haven’t gone to a game this year. And I haven’t watched nearly enough. But this team is just crazy and weirdly good.
I can’t wait to see them in the World Series.
Wasn’t just a few posts ago where I reminisced about “Thanks Brooks Day” and my favorite Orioles? It’s with sadness I post about the passing of Brooks Robinson, my favorite Oriole. Like I said, we’re connected just because of “Thanks Brooks Day” back in 1977 which we attended, and it was like my birthday present. It’s just this little bit of connection upon which he became my favorite player. And I had not really seen him play considering he retired just as I became cognizant of sports.
RIP Brooksie. Let’s go, O’s!
Well here we go. Orioles bouncing back Saturday night and throttle the Tampa Bay Rays to creep into first place in the AL East. Then today. Today they come back and win in extra innings extending said lead in the AL East. They are a fun bunch.
I have yet to watch a game all year.
My nephew says he’s getting tickets to the post season. With these wins, the Orioles made it to the post season. If they can eek out the pennant, it will be something amazing. We’ve got about two weeks left of the season to find out.
Let’s go, O’s!
Link of the Day [9.16.23]
Adam Jones was my favorite Oriole maybe even of all time. But really it was Brooks Robinson. You see, Robinson retired in 1977 and we went to his appreciation day on September 17. Right around my birthday. Still he’s a favorite, and Adam Jones, too.
Jonesy was there for the last good Orioles team. He was definitely the heart and soul of the team. He represented Baltimore really well. He’s the best at that. Definitely, the best.
#StayHungry
https://www.mlb.com/orioles/news/adam-jones-officially-retires-as-a-baltimore-oriole
The crack of the bat. The roar of the crowd. Baseball is back!
Opening day at Orioles Park at Camden Yards is today!
Orioles are .500 — they’ve won 3 lost 3. Hopefully, today they’ll win their fourth. Today’s is all about last week’s opening day.
Let’s get excited! Go O’s!
https://www.mlb.com/orioles/news/featured/birdland-insider-in-focus-opening-day-2023
Baltimore Orioles baseball team finished 25-35 for the abbreviated, pandemic shortened 2020 season. It’s another losing year. I don’t think I really cared at all.
Surprisingly they did well. At least it was better than last year. Still with this losing season that would make 3 years in a row that the team and the organization stink. But they stunk less because they were somewhat more competitive. Yes, there were blow outs and stinkers in those 60 games, but they were in the playoff race at the beginning of September. And like many Septembers, they utterly failed to rise for the occasion and instead played poorly like the terrible team that we all thought they were.
But that doesn’t mean the future is going to be bad. It seemed like there were a few nice performances from the younger birds. Maybe, just maybe it is something to build on.
I guess I am paid for next year, too.
I was in a rotisserie league. I haven’t yet paid the dues. I was absolutely not doing my part to make it fun even though I had Mike Trout on my team. And like his real team, I stunk it up. I guess I should pay off the league manager…
Friday night I buy Pico Iyer’s Autumn Light. Imagine my surprise to see that I already had it unread on the stack of books on my table.
Saturday I receive a message from my good buddy mentioning that the Baltimore Orioles minor league system has been ranked number 8 by baseball writers.
Sunday I exchange Autumn Light for Astroball: The New Way to Win It All by Ben Reiter.
I mentioned that the one metric to judge the Baltimore Orioles baseball organization is by how their minor league ranks amongst the baseball pundits. If they can be ranked at least 7th for 5 or 6 years, then they may be heading in the right direction. As for now, 8th is a nice one. Let’s hope it adds up.
Did I re-up for the 2019 season? Yes. Yes, I did.
Why? No idea. What other thing is there to do?
Will I use those tickets? Eh. Maybe. Last year I went to 3 games. I let most of them lie fallow. Even when I was committed to going to a game did I not go. I couldn’t bear to watch. Plus it rained a lot last year.
Will I enjoy them? Eh. Maybe. I am a sucker for the under dog, and this organization is the under doggiest of all under dogs.
I’ve got 2. Who wants to join me?
Go, Carp, Go!
The Baltimore Orioles may be in a dismal situation, but checking in on my team in the Nippon Baseball League, Hiroshima Toya Carp, I find they made it back to the Japan Series. It’s like their World Series. This is the second time in three years. They haven’t won it, yet, and it’s been since 1984 that they have won it.
I wonder if Carp fans in Japan were ever thinking if they would ever win the championship again since that time.
As an Orioles fan who hasn’t seen them win since 1983, I know how it goes.
One day. Maybe. One day.
It’s raining, and it’s cold. The boys of summer should be shutting down.
But of course I am talking the Orioles. They’ve been shut down since the start of the season. Did they even show up?
The rain kept me from catching the last game of my season ticket package. I wanted to see Adam Jones patrol the outfield one last time. Sadly, I don’t want to sit in the rain, so I cancelled before I even went. Thank the lord that the rain keeps going and the game was postponed.
This was the worst team ever. They were hard to watch. Then I didn’t want to watch. The entire city of Baltimore too didn’t want to watch. We stayed away in droves. They kept losing in droves. They also drove everyone insane with the losses.
I witnessed several seasons of bad Orioles baseball before Buck Showalter showed up. But they were still easy to watch and root for. This version you can’t want to watch. It’s awful. Now I know the difference between .333 and .400. It’s really painful.
I wish for a better season next year. Perhaps my money won’t be wasted.
