Bob Haynie: Misery Continues For The Orioles
On Tuesday night, the Baltimore Orioles played a baseball game against the Tampa Bay Rays. Like the previous five games before Tuesday's, the Orioles lost. As a matter of fact, the Birds have lost 12 of their last 13 contests.
This horrendous skid has ended any chance the Orioles had of repeating as American League Eastern Division Champions. They are also 6.5 games back of the AL Wild Card with six teams in front of them.
The season, which held great promise a few months ago, has now spiraled out of control. Heading into Wednesday night's series finale against the Rays, the Orioles are only two games out of last place in their division.
Tuesday night, the Rays pounded out 15 hits as they dropped 11 more runs on the Birds at Camden Yards. Tampa Bay, not one of the more explosive offensive teams in baseball, has scored 17 runs against Baltimore pitching during the first two games of the series.
Rays lefty Drew Smyly looked like Sandy Koufax as he shutout the Orioles for seven innings. Smyly allowed only four hits and struck out 10 as he got the win. Over the last two games, Baltimore hitters have K'd 24 times.
Once again, the Orioles struggled with the bats. They have scored three runs or less in each of their last 12 defeats.
When you combine an anemic offense with spotty starting pitching, you lose more often than not. That is what is happening with the Orioles.
At 63-69, the Birds are in danger of finishing below .500 for the first time since 2011. With the playoffs a long shot, producing another winning season is still something to shoot for.
