ioles equipment is already on the way down to Sarasota."WhiteFanposts Fanshots Sections Commentary & AnalysisOrioles ProspectsOrioles Game RecapsOrioles News and RumorsCamdencastBird DroppingsThursday Bird Droppings: Where the trucks are headed for spring trainingNew Lance Lynn Jersey ,749commentsThe start of spring training is twelve days away. The Orioles equipment is already on the way down to Sarasota.ESTShareTweetShareShareThursday Bird Droppings: Where the trucks are headed for spring trainingJonathan Dyer-USA TODAY SportsHello, friends.There are 56 days remaining until the next Orioles game. Calendar math being what it is, that means that Opening Day is exactly eight weeks from today. Pitchers and catchers report to spring training in a mere twelve days. The trucks left from Camden Yards yesterday, bound for Sarasota.It has now been nine days since Mike Mussina was elected to the Hall of Fame and the Orioles have not made an announcement about retiring his jersey or putting up his statue.Barring a surprise over the next month or so, it seems like the team is going to be built from competitions among the players who have already been assembled. Most of those are holdovers from last season’s 47-115 season, which, as I really can’t stress enough, means that things are going to suck a lot this year even if they might start to point towards a more exciting eventual future.One way this challenge may be visible is the fact that it’s the last day of January and the O’s still haven’t announced the promotions and giveaways schedule for the year. Who is even left for them to promote? There are few candidates for bobbleheads or even t-shirts. Any veteran with value might be gone by August. Any veteran without value might be dumped from the roster even sooner.Manager Brandon Hyde is new. He’s probably not in garden gnome territory yet, although if we’re lucky, maybe he’ll get one in a few more years. Right now they don’t even know which young prospects are going to make their way up to MLB, or when. Maybe the giveaways will just be a lot of different Oriole Bird-themed things. They could do worse.Around the blogO’sphereStruggling slugger Chris Davis goes back to his Rangers past for help (Dallas News)His Rangers past led Texas to think they were better off trading him than keeping him, but there’s no doubt he has to try something different than last season.A reunion between Adam Jones and the Orioles is looking like a long shot (Baltimore Sun)Doesn’t take much parsing of the quotes from FanFest to realize that Mike Elias isn’t going to be re-signing Adam Jones. Hopefully he gets an MLB deal somewhere.Stewart and Hays working to get into outfield competition (School of Roch)DJ Stewart was honeymooning in Grenada and cut short the plans to get started on his baseball work.Brocail’s history made him a good fit for O’s (Orioles.com)Apparently, Andrew Cashner is a big fan of pitching coach Doug Brocail.Trumbo hoping for injury-free 2019 (Baltimore Baseball)In an ideal world, the only thing he’ll be hurting in 2019 will be baseballs thrown by opposing pitchers.After strong Double-A year, Ryan Mountcastle is closer to the majors (Steve Melewski)Now, they just have to figure out what position he’s going to be able to play.Birthdays and anniversariesOne lone former Oriole has a birthday today: 1998 two-game reliever Joel Bennett.Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you! Your birthday buddies for today include: shogunate founder Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543), preamble to the Constitution writer Gouverneur Morris (1752) Mark McGwire Jersey , composer Franz Schubert (1797), baseball Hall of Famer Ernie Banks (1931), actress Minnie Driver (1970), actress Kerry Washington (1977), and pop star Justin Timberlake (1981).On this day in history...In 1606, Gunpowder Plot ringleader Guy Fawkes was executed for his plot against Parliament and King James.In 1801, John Marshall was appointed as the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.In 1865, Congress passed the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which, once ratified, abolished slavery in the United States.In 1915, during World War I, Germany became the first to use poison gas in a large scale, deploying the weapon against the Russians in the Battle of Bolimow. However, due to prevailing winds, the gas blew back on German lines, though lucky for the Germans in the trenches http://www.stlouiscardinalsteamshop.com/authentic-marcell-ozuna-jersey , the cold weather made the gas ineffective.In 1943, the German Field Marshal Paulus surrendered to the Red Army at the Battle of Stalingrad, effectively (though not yet officially) ending the five month battle.**And that’s the way it is in Birdland on January 31 - or at least, unless something happens later, which you never know, it might. Have a safe Thursday. New York Mets (20-24, third in the NL East) vs. Miami Marlins (12-31, fifth in the NL East)Miami; Sunday, 1 p.m. EDTPITCHING PROBABLES: Mets: Noah Syndergaard (3-3, 4.74 ERA, 1.23 WHIP, 60 strikeouts) Marlins: Sandy Alcantara (3-4, 5.11 ERA, 1.59 WHIP, 28 strikeouts)Article continues below ...LINE: Mets favored by 1 1/2 runs; over/under is 7 runsBOTTOM LINE: The Marlins are 7-16 against NL East opponents. Miami’s team on-base percentage of .280 is last in the league. Neil Walker leads the club with an OBP of .367.The Mets have gone 14-12 against division opponents. New York hitters have posted a team on-base percentage of .322 this season, led by Jeff McNeil with a mark of .434. The Marlins won the last meeting 2-0. Pablo Lopez earned his third victory and Jon Berti went 1-for-3 with a home run and an RBI for Miami. Steven Matz took his third loss for New York.TOP PERFORMERS: Curtis Granderson leads the Marlins with 11 extra base hits and is batting .177. Walker has 11 hits and is batting .000 over the last 10 games for Miami.Pete Alonso leads the Mets with 14 home runs and is batting .261. Tomas Nido is 3-for-11 with a home run and an RBI over the last 10 games for New York.LAST 10 GAMES: Marlins: 3-7, .213 batting average http://www.stlouiscardinalsteamshop.com/authentic-marcell-ozuna-jersey , 4.31 ERA, outscored by 19 runsMets: 4-6, .250 batting average, 4.07 ERA, outscored opponents by three runsMarlins Injuries: Drew Steckenrider: 60-day IL (elbow), Riley Ferrell: 60-day IL (bicep), Julian Fernandez: 60-day IL (elbow), Peter O’Brien: 10-day IL (ribcage), Jorge Alfaro: day-to-day (knee).Mets Injuries: Justin Wilson: 10-day IL (elbow), Jason Vargas: 10-day IL (hamstring), Drew Smith: 60-day IL (elbow), Luis Avilan: 10-day IL (elbow), Michael Conforto: 7-day IL (concussion), Yoenis Cespedes: 60-day IL (heels), Jed Lowrie: 10-day IL (knee).