The Orioles take aim at a sweep as another lefty pitcher looms

Hello, friends.

To all the dads of Birdland, happy Father’s Day. I will be at Oriole Park at Camden Yards today with my own dad today, our latest in my lifetime of going to games with him, including this one where we saw Randy Johnson walk seven guys, both Griffeys played, Edgar Martínez was also in Seattle’s lineup, and for the O’s, the Ripken brothers turned two double plays and they won despite getting only three hits.

I don’t think we’re going to see four Hall of Famers play today. One is essentially guaranteed: Mike Trout. To find three more, you would have to be optimistic about Gunnar Henderson, incredibly optimistic about Jackson Holliday, and delusional about Adley Rutschman. Hopefully it will be a good game even though these Orioles will be facing a pretty good lefty (Yusei Kikuchi) and the O’s own starter is not very good (Cade Povich).

The Orioles have a chance to sweep the Angels here if they can find a way to pull off a win. This would be good for a variety of reasons, some of which involve the extreme longshot dreams of getting back into the postseason situation – they’re either six or seven back, depending on a Cleveland-Seattle result after I went to bed. Another six-game winning streak sure wouldn’t hurt in reviving those hopes a little bit.

Mostly though, it will just be good if the Orioles win because winning probably means the players who matter are playing well. That’s going to be true for all of the possible trade candidates every game between now and the deadline. For everybody else, it’s true about every game between now and the end of the season.

There are a variety of things that could happen to help some people feel better about next year. Good things coming from hitters with Rutschman’s amount of service time or less is what we need to see. Henderson, Holliday, Jordan Westburg, Colton Cowser, Coby Mayo.

Later in the year, getting some game action for Kyle Bradish and Grayson Rodriguez that helps people believe they can be a part of next year’s rotation would be good. Félix Bautista continuing to improve as the season goes along would be nice as well.

Orioles stuff you might have missed

Jackson, Matt Holliday reflect on special bond ahead of Father’s Day (Orioles.com)
Pretty much every story about MLB father-son duos is amazing. The fact that younger brother Ethan, a likely top 5 draft pick this year, could join this story in another few years is remarkable.

How the Orioles’ Dominican Republic-born bullpen trio is bonding (The Baltimore Sun)
A nice story about Bautista, Domínguez, and Soto which I am obligated by my Debbie Downer nature to note is a trio that is going to be broken up this offseason at the latest, this July at the earliest.

Notes on Tyler Wells’s latest side session (School of Roch)
I’ll admit that I’m guilty of looking right past Wells, another guy who is entering the later stages of Tommy John rehab, but he might well have something to contribute to the Orioles bullpen by season’s end and then next year too.

Grayson Rodriguez, unsure what’s causing lat injuries, hopeful he can pitch for Orioles this season (The Baltimore Banner)
Rodriguez broke three months of media silence in addressing reporters over the weekend. Though he’s optimistic, I don’t feel good about there not being any kind of timetable anyone will even try to pin down.

Also in the injury department, I didn’t see anyone actually file an article about this one, but it happened:

Since Tyler O’Neill had a recurrence of his injury, his rehab assignment was ended. In practical terms, that means once he starts back up again, it’s a separate assignment and if the Orioles wish, they can have O’Neill on a new rehab assignment for up to 20 days.

Breaking stuff sets Orioles’ Trey Gibson apart (Baseball America)
A subscription is required to read this in full. Let’s just say that Gibson, who had a second excellent Double-A start yesterday, is getting noticed for his strikeout numbers.

Birthdays and Orioles anniversaries

Of all the players who have ever played for the Orioles, there is not a single one with a June 15 birthday.

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you! Your birthday buddies for today include: Mona Lisa subject Lisa del Giocondo (1479), composer Edvard Grieg (1843), musician Waylon Jennings (1937), baseball Hall of Famer Wade Boggs (1958), and rapper Ice Cube (1969).

On this day in history…

In 763 BC, a solar eclipse occurred that was recorded by the Assyrians. This was a significant event for later historians trying to figure out history in the Mesopotamian region because it helped establish a record of things that came before and after the eclipse.

In 1752 AD, according to tradition, Benjamin Franklin demonstrated that lightning is electricity.

In 1864, Arlington National Cemetery was established on 200 acres of land seized from the estate of Robert E. Lee.

In 1888, the German Empire named its third emperor of the year as Crown Prince Wilhelm ascended to become Kaiser Wilhelm II. Wilhelm’s grandfather died at age 90, his father died at age 56, and he became emperor at age 29. Wilhelm II was the last German emperor.

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And that’s the way it is in Birdland on June 15. Have a safe Father’s Day. Go O’s!