The CompO’St Declaration

On June 22, I made the following post on Twitter:

At the time, it seemed absurd, but as we enter Wednesday, the Baltimore Orioles are now at .500 and are just two games back of a wild card spot. While still considered quite unlikely, it is now not out of the realm of possibility that they will, indeed, make the playoffs.

When I made the declaration above, I did not believe the Orioles would even come remotely close at any point in the season. This is not because I dislike the Orioles. In fact, I quite like the Orioles. I have family in Maryland, watched their minor leaguers when they were the Red Wings’ parent club, and Cal Ripken Jr. was my favorite player growing up. In fact, I even attended one of their playoff games against the Yankees in 2012 and have the “BUCKle Up” rally towel to prove it.

However, I didn’t think they’d possibly be this good. I wouldn’t have been surprised if they continued to do a lot better than myself and many others thought they would, but I didn’t think they’d get to .500, much less be in the conversation for a wild card at any point. That’s especially true since I figured they’d trade away every player not on a long-term contract, which now looks unlikely save for perhaps Trey Mancini (since his contract ends after this season and they’ll want something for him). So, when I wrote that I’d get into composting if they made the playoffs, I meant it.

So, since I’m a man of my word, I’m going to stick with it: If the 2022 Baltimore Orioles make the postseason, I will get into composting. I will buy a compost bin, I will put biodegradable waste like dead leaves, rotten fruits/vegetables, and cut grass into it. I will turn it every week or two to ensure it gets all mixed up. Maybe I’ll even put some worms in it. Eventually, assuming it actually works, I’ll probably give the resulting compost to family to use for gardening, or something.

Now, you’re probably wondering: why composting? It stems from a stupid inside joke where somebody said I must have been a farmer since I was helping with something outside. I quipped that I was doing composting, and it ran far too long from there. For another, composting doesn’t hurt anything and is good environmentally, so it’s not like I’m going to do some dangerous stunt

So, yeah, if the Orioles make the playoffs, I’m going to do composting.

Seriously.

Well, that was weird.

Okay, so yesterday:

  • The Texas Rangers lost to Seattle 21-8. Normally weird stuff like that happens when the Rangers play the Orioles.
  • Matt Kemp is hurt again. I blame the SI Cover Jinx.
  • Hawk Harrelson lost his mind.
  • The Orioles and Rays have done their best to make the AL East even more insane, going 2-8 and 4-6 respectively in the last 10 games. The AL East now has first and last separated by 2.5 games, with all teams above .500. Oh, and the Blue Jays are being accused of stealing signs. Again. I could have sworn this has happened before.
  • All the teams in the NL East are above .500 as well.
  • Pittsburgh’s win brought them back to .500. Which is always notable because, well, they are the Pirates.
  • The Marlins have now won 21 games in May. Well, I’d say April showers bring May flowers, but they have a retractable roof now, so…
  • Carlos Gonzalez had three home runs. Josh Hamilton is unimpressed, I’m sure.
  • Oh, and Justin Verlander hit a home run in batting practice.

Texas + Baltimore= Wackiness

On May 10, 1972, the Texas Rangers (formerly the Washington Senators) faced the Baltimore Orioles for the first time. The game was a tight pitching duel between Dave McNally and Pete Broberg, who both went the distance. In a strange circumstance, the Orioles would win when, in the bottom of the ninth, Merv Rettenmund would score on a error by Rangers’ catcher Ken Suarez. In other words, not a single earned run was scored in the 1-0 Orioles victory.

This set the tone for the future of the two most bizarrely matched teams in baseball. When the Red Sox and Yankees face off, the games go forever. When the Orioles and Rangers face each other, games go to the Twilight Zone. So after that first game, where no earned runs were scored, here are some notable occurrences since then:

Interestingly enough, the weirdness magnet that is Texas-Baltimore did not start when the Rangers moved their from DC. On Sept. 12, 1962, Senators pitcher Tom Cheney went 16 innings and had a record 21 strikeouts.

Know of any other weird Texas-Baltimore games? Let me know.