A few questions for O's fans

Today we throw a few questions your way. We didn't make it to 10, but that was because we're looking at a few recent blog entries and topics here and revisiting them. Then we'll ponder a few questions.

* We recently wondered if an O's streak that started in 2006 will end soon. The Orioles have made at least one Rule 5 pick in every such draft dating to 2005. The was the last year the Orioles did not select in that draft.

As noted in this entry, that was the year that the movie "Fever Pitch" debuted at the box office. It was also a year when the Chicago White Sox won the World Series for the first time since 1917.

In three of the last four years, the Orioles have made more than one Rule 5 selection. They've taken such players as Nestor Cortes Jr., Aneury Tavárez, José Mesa Jr. and Brandon Bailey.

Will this be the year the Orioles do not make a Rule 5 pick?

* In this entry, we took a look at trying to get more action into the game of baseball. The number of plate appearances ending in one of the so-called three true outcomes continues to increase. They are those that end with a strikeout, walk or a home run. Outcomes that for the most part don't involve the defense.

A plate appearance in 2010 resulted in one of the three true outcomes 29.5 percent of the time. That is now up to 36 percent. Fewer balls in play over about a 10-year period. When Babe Ruth played, it was 17 percent. When the Orioles won the 1983 World Series, it was 23 percent.

How can Major League Baseball create more action in the game and it is needed?

* The day after the Manager of the Year awards in the majors were announced, we took a closer look here at O's skipper Brandon Hyde.

The Orioles, in many respects, exceeded expectations for 2020. Some of the over-under preseason win totals for the Orioles were listed at 20 1/2 and 21 1/2, and the team won 25 games. They were headed for a few more than that before going 5-14 over the last 19 games. Before that finish, the O's were 20-21 on Sept. 8 and just a half-game out of a playoff spot in an eight-team American League playoff field.

Did Hyde do a good job this year and what do you size up as his strengths and/or weaknesses?