BLOG: Orioles Numbers Are Numbing
I was watching the Orioles game the other night while tweeting with my co-worker Ken Weinman -- and yes, it's weird to tweet somebody who you could just as easily text -- and Ken kept tweeting that the other shoe was about to drop. He was right.
After a gutsy performance by Mitch Atkins in his first Major League start, the offense just couldn't give the kid a little run support. After JJ Hardy and Matt Weiters homered in the first and fourth inning, respectively, the bats were silenced by Rangers' starter Matt Harrison and the Texas bullpen. A throwing error from Nolan Reimold in the seventh with Jim Johnson on the mound allowed the speedy Elvis Andrus to score the go-ahead run and give the Rangers the 3-2 lead. Adrian Beltre then tacked on a run with an RBI double that scored Josh Hamilton to put the Rangers up, 4-2.
Stop reading here if you're already depressed about the Orioles being a season-high number of games under .500.
As of Tuesday night, The Orioles had lost seven of their last eight games and during that time they were 4-for-50 with runners in scoring position (.080 batting average). With those numbers, it doesn't matter if Cy Young or Mitch Atkins is on the mound. You cannot win with those offensive numbers. Not in the Major Leagues. Not in the AL East.
Jeremy Guthrie (3-10, 3.93), the victim of no run support this season, takes the mound tonight against Alexi Ogando (8-3, 2,86) hoping to avoid getting swept by the Rangers who have now won four straight games against the Orioles.
How frustrated are you all with the offense, particularly the lack of production with runners in scoring position?
