Well, that was awful. Did anybody else get the feeling that the 2014 Kansas City Royals showed up to OPACY this weekend wearing Minnesota Twins uniforms? As if you hadn’t had enough of stupid bloop hits, broken bat singles, and other infuriating ways to lose games, now our Birds head on the road to face the team that patented that kind of crap, the actual Kansas City Royals.
Here are some links, if you can stomach reading about the O’s today.
O’s Swept by Twins; So, Now What?
Matt Kremnitzer of Camden Depot makes the point that, “by making a couple of extra plays, the Orioles could have taken three of four.” Now if that doesn’t sound like the ’14 ALCS, I don’t know what does. Matt also runs down the Orioles’ remaining schedule, which is quite daunting, but also includes many of the teams they have to overtake/hold off if they want to see October.
Manny Machado Boils Over in Locker Room After Latest Orioles Heartbreaker
You know who’s mad about the way this series went? Manny Machado. And he said as much, which is, personally, music to my ears:
“I missed on it. I whiffed on it. It’s just plain and simple,” said Machado, his emotions resuming their journey. “I know you guys want to write all this stat [stuff] and velocity of the ball and all that. Man, this s—; it’s baseball. It’s f—ing baseball. We gotta go out there and make plays and catch the goddamn ball, and that’s it. There’s nothing really to it.”
Eddie Matz of ESPN has some more quotes from Manny at the link, and they’re well worth your time to click over and read.
Ripken’s Return to Dugout Could be Awkward for O’s Fans
I wish I had more good news for you today, O’s fans. Instead, here’s another depressing piece, this one by our own Andrew Stetka over on his weekly guest column at MASN. Cal Ripken, Jr. (Happy Birthday!) could be returning to a major league dugout as a manager here in the not-too-distant future, and one of his most likely destinations will be tough for Birdland to stomach.
Last week, we piled on Matt Wieters a bit in Friday’s links. Joshua Sadlock (who was one of those linked in Friday’s Matt Bash-Fest) took the other side and offered up some defense of Wieters. If the team can’t hit, it doesn’t matter much who’s catching (or pitching) lately, unfortunately.
Bird’s Eye View Episode 136 – Spirit Quest
Jake & Scott are back with Episode 136. On Sunday, they were kind enough to buy me a couple birthday beers at the Yard, and while we were out in the concourse, the Orioles took their only lead of the day. Of course, once we went back to our respective seats, they sent all of us home sad once again. Those two decided to get right to the podcasting after the bitter defeat, so Episode 136 features a good bit of bitterness. They also run through the “spirit animals” of some Orioles. They told me about this segment and gave a few examples, and I was cracking up. I just pressed play on the episode, so I’m looking forward to hearing the rest.
