Northern Exposed: The Orioles Lose Again in Toronto, Swept by the Jays...

Folks, are we worried about the Baltimore Orioles now? Tonight, they lost their fifth game in a row, as the Toronto Blue Jays defeated them, 4-1.

Once again, the Orioles lose a series, and this time they were swept. The Jays treated the Orioles like a mule, and they once again brought the pain, as they scored all their runs off solo homers. Jason Hammel became the latest Baltimore pitcher to be victimized, and I was at a complete loss as to what I watched on MASN tonight.

Hammel served up longball after longball, and the Oriole offense once again made Jays pitcher look exceptionally good – this time around, Brandon Morrow.

Morrow only gave up a run in 6 1/3 innings and only left the game after he was struck by a Wilson Betemit line-drive up the middle. It sounds like Morrow will be fine in terms of his injury; however, Baltimore could not attack the Toronto bullpen, and once again were stymied by their arms.

The Orioles struggled offensively again, striking out ten times and only mustering four hits. To make matters worse, Adam Jones got drilled by a Morrow pitch but stayed in the game. Sadly, his consecutive hit streak ended at twenty games.

Nick Markakis ailing with a injured wrist and did not look right standing along the dugout railing; Matt Wieters is still scuffling and much of the lineup is not doing anything.

Ryan Flaherty plated in a run in the second inning with an opposite field RBI-single.

At this point, are the Orioles collapsing, or is this just a extraordinarily lousy stretch? They are still in first place in the American League East with a 29-22 record and tied with the Tampa Bay Rays; however, only by virtue of the Rays being swept by the surging Chicago White Sox.

They have gone 2-7 in the last nine games.

It has not been a delightful two weeks for the Orioles; however, they are only 51 games into the season.
Thankfully, it is a extraordinarily long campaign for Baltimore and the other 29 teams in the sport, but I can imagine the nerves of fans within Birdland are being pushed to the brink now.

We know anything can happen, but being a fan for the last fourteen years, I’m hoping for the best – but expecting the worst.

As of tonight, EVERY TEAM in the American League East is over .500 – quite an remarkable feat this far into the season. We all know that division was going to be competitive, but I do not think anyone was expecting this. I’m sure there were will be movement of the various teams in the American League East this month, and a lot will be figured out soon.

Everyone will be watching what the Orioles will be doing in the next week as they face off against the Tampa Bay Rays, Boston Red Sox and then the Philadelphia Phillies.

It is going to be a tough stretch for the next two weeks. The starting pitching that was so solid in the first month needs to return, but the offense really needs to get going. Maybe a day off will do the Birds some good.

Hopefully, it is not time to push the panic button yet with this team.

Finally, making a bet on baseball is very hard to figure out and who knows how the Orioles will end up; however, BetOnIt.org will show you the way.

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