Week in Review: Nightmare on Eutaw Street

Well, that escalated quickly.

And not in a good way. In fact, only the late Wes Craven could have scripted something as brutal and savagely gutting as the past week of Orioles baseball.

Let’s do a quick timeline of events to demonstrate how quickly things have gone south for the Birds. On May 9th, the Orioles reclaimed first place and the best record in baseball (22-10) with a 5-4 comeback win over the Nationals.

Just eight days ago on May 20th, the Orioles again retook sole possession of first place after topping Detroit 7-5 on a late Welington Castillo home run.

And now, the Orioles are entering the final week of May on a dismal seven-game losing streak, their record is barely above .500 at 25-23, and they have dropped thirteen of their last sixteen ballgames.

Instead of nipping at the Yankees’ heels for first place, they are playing catch-up with the Red Sox for second place and are now currently trying to fend off the surging fourth-place Tampa Bay Rays to avoid slipping further down the table. The last place Blue Jays are just three games off the pace of the Orioles, and they just saw a five-game win streak come to a halt on Sunday.

If we’re talking NASDAQ slang here…the Orioles have gone bearish at the worst possible time. Everyone else in the division is as bullish as it gets at the moment.

It’s only fitting that their next seven games are against New York and Boston. While I still think it is far too early to abandon ship, make no mistake about it; this Orioles squad needs to recover from their week in hell and rebound in a hurry, or their season might be singing a different tune down the stretch.

I think that song might be titled ”Golfing In October”.

Let’s go to the notes:

– After getting double-swept versus the Twins and the Astros, the Orioles’ current seven-game losing streak is their longest since July 2011. I was eighteen years old and had just graduated high school.

– After getting swept out of Houston, the Orioles now own a dreadful 2-11 record away from Camden Yards in May and are now 4-13 over their last seventeen games away from OPACY.

– The Orioles bats have evaporated right in front of our eyes over the past six games. They hit a dismal .202 combined against Minnesota and Houston, scored just sixteen runs (2.6 per game) and hit just .205 (8-for-39) with runners in scoring position.

– I guess it’s true when they say hitting is contagious. But in this case, it’s a bad thing. The entire Orioles line-up has gone cold it seems. Over the past week (5/22-5/28), Manny Machado has gone 4-for-23, Chris Davis has gone just 2-for-22, Mark Trumbo is just 4-for-21, Seth Smith is a woeful 2-for-20, Castillo isn’t much better at 3-for-20 and Trey Mancini is 2-for-13. And to top it off, Captain Adam Jones is banged up. Lovely.

– What happened to the starters? After a promising month of April, Orioles starters have been absolutely dreadful this month. After getting lit up all week, the Orioles starters have recorded a 7.28 ERA over the past six losses and own a disheartening 6.20 ERA over the last fifteen games.

– There’s a silver lining! If you’re feeling the need for a positive, it’s that the Orioles bullpen has been in stellar form as of late. They’ve posted a very impressive 2.80 ERA as a unit over the last eleven games under very negative circumstances.

– Houston, you are our problem. Since the beginning of last season, the Astros have owned the Orioles to the tune of a 9-1 record. Here’s to hoping that we don’t meet in the postseason. Ever.

Let’s go to the stars of the week…

None! For the first time this season, we aren’t giving out any “Star of the Week” awards here at ESR. Sure, J.J. Hardy has gone 7-for-17 with a homer and two RBI over his last six, and Jonathan Schoop is hitting .333 (7-for-21) with two homers and four RBI during that same span, but when you drop every single game of the week it goes for naught.

Here’s to hoping we can give out some stars at the end of next week!

And here’s to hoping that the good vibes will return to Birdland before too much time passes, or it’s going to be a long summer…