Good morning Birdland,

The west coast games are always a conundrum. Because I’m a sicko, I still enjoy watching these Orioles play baseball, and I’ve only got them for a few more weeks, so I had better soak it up. On the other hand, these guys stink, and sleep is a precious commodity at this point in my life. Do I exchange three hours of that sleep for a baseball game that might be lame?

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I’m pleased to report that I made a wise decision last night. I had a blissful slumber while the Orioles bumbled around San Francisco and got pounded 15-8 by the Giants.

At least the offense was good? They knocked around Robbie Ray, a really good left-handed pitcher. Coby Mayo hit a home run. Jackson Holliday had a pair of hits. Ryan Mountcastle drove in four runs as part of a 3-for-5 day. And they went 4-for-10 with runners in scoring position.

But the fielding and pitching was a disaster. Three errors and a second consecutive bad start for Dean Kremer. His ERA had dipped to 3.97 after his August 17 start, but it is back up to 4.52 after last night. The righty might be tiring. He is now at 155.1 innings on the season. Although that his 17 away from his career high, it is nearly 30 more than he threw in 2024. You can understand why Tony Mansolino is moving to a six-man rotation for the final month of the season.

These two teams will get together again tonight. This one will be earlier (7;15 ET), and will be on national TV (FOX), so it might be even worse. But I probably will watch this one. What a silly thing we have all chosen to care about.

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Links

Orioles Outright Vimael Machín | MLB Trade Rumors
Machín heads, get hype! The 31-year-old will remain with the Orioles, even though he had the option to elect free agency if he wanted it. Instead, he sticks around to see if he will get another chance this year. With rosters expanding this coming week, anything is possible.

Orioles’ Rutschman on track to play before season’s end; Updates on O’Neill, Westburg | Baltimore Baseball
It sounds like all of Adley Rutschman, Jordan Westburg, Tyler O’Neill, and Jorge Mateo will get back before the end of the season. That’s good. At the very least it will give all of them the mental boost heading into the offseason. Maybe the Orioles will even play some good baseball with all of them in tow.

Mailbag leftovers for breakfast | Roch Kubatko
Not much news in this one. Roch does report that the ornithologically correct bird will NOT become the Orioles primary logo in 2026. This is not a surprise, but after the logo (it was actually the “Traditional Bird,” but whatever!) was featured on Birdland Membership promotion, some were wondering. The ornithologically correct bird was used on the team’s batting practice hats this year though. A throwback of some kind would be cool, but Nike’s 4+1 uniform rules limit teams on the number of jerseys they can have, and the O’s are already maxed out with white, gray, black, and orange, plus the City Connect.

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Orioles birthdays

Is it your birthday? Happy birthday!

Kris Foster turns 51 today. He pitched in seven games for the 2001 Orioles, his only taste of major league action.

This day in O’s history

1958 – Orioles’ outfielder Dick Williams plays all three positions on the grass, but does not make a single putout or assist in a 7-2 win over the Red Sox.

1969 – The Orioles beat the Angels 6-3. Brooks Robinson scores the final run of the game by singling and then advancing on three passed balls by catcher Joe Azcue, tying an AL record

1996 – Eddie Murray inches closer to history with his 499th career home run, and Pete Incaviglia hits a grand slam to lift the Orioles to a 5-2 win over the Mariners.

2013 – The Orioles acquire outfielder Mike Morse from the Mariners in exchange for outfielder Xavier Avery