The Birds got off to a rough start immediately following the All-Star break, losing on Friday night in Detroit to have much of the fan base ready to jump off a cliff and move into “sell” mode. However, they bounced back nicely to take two of three in Motown, and now head to the Bronx for a three-game set as they find themselves just 4.0 games out of first place.
As much of the sporting world watches the final round of the British Open today, let’s hit the other kind of links…
Can Bud Norris be Successful in the Bullpen?
This post is a few days old, but still worth your time to read, if you haven’t already. Scott Magness of Bird’s Eye View wonders if Bud can become just a bit studly this year out of the bullpen. So far, the results have been quite mixed, but if Norris indeed cuts down on his change-up usage, there is potential that the meltdown he had in Minnesota will be the exception, not the norm. Here’s hopin’.
The Orioles Made the Right Move with Nick Markakis
Last week, the Sun’s Dan Connolly explored the way in which the Orioles’ outfield situation hasn’t unfolded as they’d hoped, with Alejandro De Aza and Delmon Young being DFA’d, and Travis Snider, Nolan Reimold, Steve Pearce, and David Lough all be mediocre at best. He mentions Nick Markakis’ current numbers in the piece, so Camden Depot’s Matt Kremnitzer does a nice job to remind us that the Birds were, in fact, correct to let Nick walk, regardless of how things have played out here in Baltimore since.
O’s Have Interest in Acquiring Help, but Few Pieces to Trade
FOXSports’ Ken Rosenthal notes in his weekly column that the Orioles may have interest in guys like Johnny Cueto, Jay Bruce, Justin Upton, and Carlos Gomez. Unfortunately for Dan Duquette, he doesn’t have many pieces of his own to trade to make such a splash.
Trade Winds May Not Fill O’s Sails
Speaking of the Trading Deadline, our own Andrew Stetka says in his weekly guest piece at MASN that he doesn’t expect much to happen for our O’s. Between his logic here and Rosenthal’s above, it’s really hard to disagree. Hopefully the current players can get it together enough for a good second half.
Several Cars Caught Fire Outside Stadium During O’s-Tigers
Did you see the smoke on MASN during the game yesterday? Gary & Mike didn’t know at the time what was going on, but The Big Lead has some images from Twitter users showing that it was cars that were on fire in the parking lot. Yikes.
★ Cars catch fire outside Comerica Park http://t.co/uaWm9R3TIq | @ClickOnDetroit pic.twitter.com/Rog4Iq1rYQ
— 24/7 Detroit (@247_Detroit) July 19, 2015
