Tweets on the cover of Sgt. Pepper’s Loney Hearts Club Band

See the tweet thread below

The album cover team

https://twitter.com/ThatEricAlper/status/1848544806483456136

I saw the Orioles win on Opening Day 3/28/24

The Orioles crushed the Angels 11-3. Starting pitcher Corbin Burnes was great and the offense was outstanding, too.

It was cold and crowded. There were lots of young people which is encouraging since pundits say baseball is largely followed by us old folks. I am very optimistic about the season.

The pictures are:

1 The crowd outside Pickle’s Pub an hour and a half before the game

2 The view from my seat

3 The enormous line for the men’s room

4 The crowd outside Pickle’s after I left in the 6th inning

Will the players the Orioles sent down to Norfolk get much of a chance in the majors in 2024?

I don’t think so (other than Holliday). I hope I’m wrong because Mayo, Stowers, Kjerstad and Norby are ready for major league playing time.

I looked at last year’s stats on the great Baseball Reference. The Orioles will carry 13 position players;. Last year, the player with the 14th most plate appearances (McKenna) only had 139. That’s not many.

Dom Flemons on Black Country Music

I would also add these:

Ace Records has three albums of soul covers of country music:

Behind Closed Doors – Where Country Meets Soul

Sweet Dreams – Where Country Meets Soul Vol 2

Cold Cold Heart: Where Country Meets Soul Vol 3

The great Swamp Dogg:

Swamp Dogg On Reinvention, Country Music And Getting Another Rolls-Royce

Tweets on threats to election workers by the right wing

I disagree with how the Orioles have handled Jackson Holliday

The Orioles sent Jackson Holliday to AAA Norfolk even though he had a great spring. I disagree for many reasons.

  1. Service time – the Orioles will gain an extra year of him on the roster before he can be a free agent since he’s not up now. That’s good for 2030 but very short-sighted. It will piss him, his family, and his agent off and reduce the chance that he signs a long-term deal with the Orioles.
  2. He’s clearly better than the people who will play second instead of him such as Tony Kemp or Ramon Urias.
  3. Mike Elias is a great general manager but he misled Holliday and the fans. When Holliday was sent down, the Orioles said he needed more time at second base. They could have given this to him in the minors. They also wanted him to get more at bats vs. lefthanders. They could also have done this. The best way to learn how to hit major league pitching is to face it.
  4. It’s time for the Orioles to win now. The window won’t be open forever. They should have the best 26 guys on the roster and they don’t.

Many of these thoughts are not only mine but have also been said by the media and other fans.

I predict Orioles will win 98 games in 2024

I will post more later but I wanted to get this in before Opening Day (which I am going to tomorrow). I think the Orioles will go 98-64 and win the AL East again.

The Orioles had a great record in one-run games which could be hard to repeat, especially with Bautista out. However, the roster is full of players who could do better and they should get a boost at some point from Holliday. I think O’Hearn will have a tough time repeating but I am expecting a big improvement from Westburg. Burnes was a great addition.

Here are some professional takes:

Sporting News: 83 wins, second in the AL East

They predict the Orioles to finish with 86 wins and second place in the AL East

ESPN predicts the Orioles will win the AL East. They also picked them to be AL champions but lose in the World Series.

The betting sites all seem to have the Orioles around 89.5-90.5 wins. They’re either second behind the Yankees or co-favorites in the AL East.