Hanser? I don't even know her! So say the 2020 BALTIMORE ORIOLES

also they have a catcher named CHANCE SISCO

Orioles strangely deep at backstop with Rutschman on his way, Severino, picked up off the scrap heap, a perfectly serviceable starter, and Sisco maybe finding his stroke now that he's finally getting a .... well, you know

Great, gritty pair of games against the floundering Red Sox. I like this nutso team!

16-20. This team is not exactly good but what a pleasure, after the last few years, to feel we're competing to win every game. I wonder what's wrong with John Means. I wonder if Anthony Santander is actually good. I wonder who the Players To Be Named Later are.

MLB has about 10 pieces up this morning commemorating the 25th anniversary of Ripken's streak. (A pursuit I wasn't particularly excited about at the time.) Found this interesting:

https://www.mlb.com/video/sakata-on-ripken-entering-lineup?t=cal-ripken

So Lenn Sakata was involved in history twice--he was also the emergency catcher when Tippy Martinez picked off three consecutive Blue Jays in 1983, a game I remember well, which I think is the only time that's ever been done. We were a little anxious to steal second on Sakata...he also hit the game-winning HR in the bottom of the 10th.

Team WAR leader Anthony Santander out for the season. On the other hand, Keegan Akin pitched a great game and we'll get a look at Dean Kremer today. 39 games in and we're down to two of the original pitchers in the starting rotation, and that's if you call what John Means is doing right now "pitching."

Always loved Sakata, the definition of "scrappy" for 80s O's fans

Clem: why didn’t you care all that much about Ripken’s streak?! It was a huge feat!

Dean Kremer didn't look half bad today!

(xpost) I guess because he didn't seem to be the same player he had been, and he was forcing the issue a bit? I had to check back: he was in decline in '92/3/5 (after a phenomenal season in '91; he was good in the strike year). It wasn't drastic or anything--not a Pujols situation--but between that and all the hype, it felt somewhat manufactured. Clearly, it's an impressive record.

The punchline is that I used to jokingly call myself the Cal Ripken of grade-school teachers. I didn't take a sick day in 20 years, and there were a number of days I had no business coming in and wasn't much use to anybody.

The backdrop, of course, was the '94 strike. Not Ripken's doing, but MLB seemed to be desperately using the record to magically erase fan anger over 1994.

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