B-Rob talks about his struggles on offense

Right now, Brian Roberts is going through perhaps one of the worst slumps of his career. He is hitless in his last 26 at-bats, dating to last Wednesday at Kansas City. He is batting just .209 in 34 games and he is a .283 career hitter. Roberts says it's as frustrating a stretch he has been through in recent years. "Yeah, probably," he said. "You go through slumps every year. There is really no escaping one at some point. This has probably been one of the more frustrating ones I've been in, in a while. Not to say that I haven't ever been in anything like this before. I still believe I can hit for a high average and I still believe I will." Roberts said he cannot blame this slump on anything physical and that he is healthy right now. "No, I'm fine," he said. "Just have to go out there and get results." Roberts spent time here earlier today during early hitting, even before regular batting practice began, but he doesn't want to say exactly what he was working on. "Just working on things that most people wouldn't understand," Roberts said. "Just trying to get back on track. Anytime you are struggling, you don't feel good and you try to get that feeling back as fast as you can." Like most players, he does not have any foolproof method for getting out a slump. "Just keep working, that's all you can do," he said. "Work, work, work until you figure it out. Early on, we were all struggling. Some guys are starting to pick it up now (on offense) and you want to join the party." Roberts has just one hit over his last 34 at-bats for an average of .029 since May 1st. Even with his recent struggles, he is still tied for the team lead with seven doubles and ranks third on the Orioles with 19 RBIs. He said he could never predict when a hot streak is coming, so he won't try. But he admits the mental anquish of dealing with your struggles on offense can wear on any players. "That is probably the hardest part of this game," Roberts said. "Physically, the game is demanding and hitting a baseball is probably the hardest thing to do in sports. But, the mental aspect makes it even harder."