O's woes continue

A glance at the box scores lately tells you all you need to know about the Orioles offensive attack. The O's drew one walk last night in Houston. They hit safely five times. They scored one run. They got beat again. They have lost four in a row.

If Miguel Gonzales was a spouse he could sue successfully for non-support. He took a no-hitter into the sixth and surrendered just two runs on the night. Darren O' Day pitched a scoreless 8th. The Astros, winners of seven in a row for the first time in four years, did not need their final at bat. It was that easy.

The loss caused the O's to dip below .500 baseball for the first time since early in the season. At first glance there appears to be no end to the run scoring drought in sight.

A shuffled lineup that put Manny Machado in the seven spot did not help. Right hand hitting catcher Caleb Joseph, who was curiously retained over left hand hitting catcher Steve Clevenger, continued to flounder at the plate going 0-2. His batting average dipped to an almost impossible .040. Steve Clevenger must be wondering what he said to piss Buck off.

Teams lining up to play the O's in the near future are not getting complicated advance scouting reports. Pitch around Nelson Cruz, don't throw Adam Jones a strike, keep the ball away from J.J. Hardy and Chris Davis and you can hold the O's under three runs. That just about sums it up.

Cruz carrying O's on his back

Nelson Cruz looks like the free agent signing of the year. He homered again last night in Houston. Unfortunately, the rest of the lineup bats were silent as the O's lost to the lowly Astros on the road.

O's starter Ubaldo Jimenez pitched well enough to win, but the O's big guns (minus Cruz) continue to fail in critical RBI situations.

Nelson Cruz

The biggest struggle of the season for O's fans is watching Chris Davis try to hit. Somewhere along the way Davis slipped into the mindset of thinking he is a supposed to be a "power hitter" instead of simply being an excellent hitter with extraordinary power. As a result, one can only wince and shrug as the big guy continues to take pitches he was hitting off or over the left center field wall last year. When he does make contact (when pitched away) he is top hand happy. Accordingly, he beats the ball into the dirt on the shift protected right side of the diamond. Routine ground ball outs to one of several defenders on the right side have become a way of life.

O's hitting coach Jim Presley would do well to put Davis in the batting cage for an hour a day hitting line drives to left center field off a tee. Once Davis realizes he was successful last year because his approach was to be a professional hitter with power....instead of a "yank pull"everything power hitter he will be unleashed again. My kingdom for a few well struck balls to left center coming off the Davis bat.

The best at bats the O's get these days come from Nick Markakis, Steve Pearce and Nelson Cruz. All three have a very patient, disciplined, and professional approach to their craft. Thankfully J.J. Hardy has also come around in recent weeks.

Perhaps the most amazing thing about the O's opposition is they still occasionally throw Adam Jones a strike. One can only imagine how good this man could be if he actually waited for his pitch and risked taking a few more called strikes.