Domenic Vadala: A baseball anniversary and the Orioles' outlook

Today, June 3, is a notable date in the history of baseball, the 127th anniversary of the popular poem, "Casey at the Bat," by Ernest Lawrence Thayer. It was first published by the San Francisco Examiner on June 3, 1888.

We all know the story. "The mighty Casey" is the heavy hitter for the team from the fictional town of Mudville. And with the "Mudville Nine" down by two runs in the last of the ninth with two runners in scoring position, the epic slugger Casey struck out to end the game. At least that's the short version of the story.

However, this is a story that one could easily apply to this year's Orioles. The outlook might not be brilliant for the "Baltimore nine" right now. While for sure the division is tight and lots of season is left, questions still loom. And they will continue to loom, so far as I can tell as, we go onward into the season.

That aside, you're all reading this wondering where I'm going with it. Well, first and foremost, I wanted to mark the anniversary of a piece of art involving baseball that's right up there with Abbott & Costello's "Who's on First." (Which, in my opinion, is the greatest slapstick comedy routine of all time.) "Casey at the Bat" is very much a part of the game, and thus a part of our society.

Growing up with baseball being very much a part of my life, I knew the poem from a young age - and knew it well. But it was formally taught to me in high school, by a teacher who had literally no interest whatsoever in sports. She only taught the poem because it was a part of the curriculum, which always made me want to jump up in class and yell 'Fraud!" as the spectators did after Casey took a called strike two.

So the question at hand is whether or not the 2015 Orioles are going to end up like the mighty Casey - striking out with everything on the line. The fact is that we just don't know. While the season is two months old, there's a long way to go. However, if the bats can come to life a bit, that's going to make it a lot easier to win games. But at the end of the day, will there be no joy in Baltimore?

Again, we just can't say for sure. But the O's could very well end up like the mighty Casey - if they're lucky, that is. But hopefully it'll be a version of the mighty Casey that isn't quite as celebrated as what we see in the famous poem. I always felt that Casey got a bad rap in a sense. I mean, all he did was strike out to end the game, right?

In 1907, Grantland Rice published a companion piece called "Casey's Revenge," which seemingly takes the opposite narrative of the first poem. The ending literally paints the inverse scene; whereas in the original poem it talked about bands playing and children shouting in distant places, "Casey's Revenge" culminates with:

"O, somewhere in this favored land dark clouds may hide the sun,
And somewhere bands no longer play and children have no fun!
And somewhere over blighted lives there hangs a heavy pall,
But Mudville hearts are happy now, for Casey hit the ball."

Granted, it doesn't tell us if the mighty Casey hit the ball out of the park - although I think it's implied. Both of these poems are the stories of the human condition. "Casey at the Bat" shows us how even the strongest of us is susceptible to errors, mistakes and mishaps. And "Casey's Revenge" is a story of second chances and redemption.

The 2015 Orioles have shown us their human side, for sure. Both literally and figuratively, they've played the role in "Casey at the Bat" on numerous occasions. But so have plenty of other teams. And that, folks, is pretty natural as the season progresses.

Perhaps at some point we'll start to see them resemble the second version of the mighty Casey. Chris Davis broke out of his slump last week, and that at some point should help the Orioles to win games. Time will tell how things go in the end, but Orioles fans hope that over some other city will hang a heavy pall, and that Baltimore hearts will be happy in September, as the Birds will play good ball.

Domenic Vadala blogs about the Orioles at Birds Watcher, and his opinions appear here as part of MASNsports.com's season-long initiative of welcoming guest bloggers to our pages. Follow him on Twitter: @DomenicVadala. All opinions expressed are those of the guest bloggers, who are not employed by MASNsports.com but are just as passionate about their baseball as our roster of writers.