Dillon Atkinson: When it rains, it pours

After Tuesday night's 6-1 loss to the White Sox, the Orioles are now 31-32 and in fourth place in the American League East, 7 1/2 games back of the division-leading Yankees. Sure, the Orioles' record makes it look like they're just a near perfectly average Major League Baseball club. But the maddening part of it all is that they started off the season 22-10, looking like they were going to prove all the major analysts' predictions wrong yet again. But now we're in mid-June, and it seems like the Orioles' 2017 season is crumbling. How in the world did we get to this point?

Unexpected bad performances: It starts with Manny Machado. The third baseman is currently slashing .218/.294/.428 over 58 games. The defense and power is still there, which keeps Machado in the lineup every night and still makes him a very productive overall player, but he's not at the superstar level that he has been at the past two seasons.

Next is right-handed starter Kevin Gausman. After posting a 3.61 ERA over 30 starts in 2016, Gausman earned the opening day nod this year and has been expected to take over as the ace of the staff. He has been the quite opposite, however, as he has a 6.49 ERA over his first 14 starts this season, with alarming changes in his strikeout and walk totals. From last year to this year, his strikeouts/nine innings rate has dropped from 8.72 to 6.10 and his walks/nine innings rate has spiked from 2.35 to 4.41.

The third I'll touch on is shortstop J.J. Hardy. Sure, we all came to reality last season that Hardy has been on a steady decline with age, but not too many people - if any - expected this drop-off. The shortstop is currently batting an abysmal .209/.241/.298 and has even lost a step in the field. Per wRC+, Hardy is the second-worst hitter among qualified shortstops in the majors this year. Also, for Hardy's defensive abilities, this is the first season where he has posted a negative Ultimate Zone Rating. He has been part of the core of the club since 2011, but this year he has been brutal.

Can't stay away from the disabled list: Including the announcement today that Chris Davis will be placed on the 10-day disabled list with an injured right oblique, the Orioles have used the disabled list 12 times for the major league team this season. The list of players who have/will hit the disabled list are Davis, Chris Tillman, Anthony Santander, Wade Miley, Joey Rickard, Zach Britton, Welington Castillo, Gabriel Ynoa, Ryan Flaherty and Darren O'Day. Castillo served two stints on the DL, while Britton is still on the shelf for his second time this season. Also worth mentioning is that Machado, Adam Jones and Seth Smith have avoided the disabled list this season, but have had day-to-day injuries that have sidelined each of them at some point this year.

This many injuries will take a toll on any club, but it will make the biggest impact on a team that doesn't have the depth provide useful Band-Aids, especially on the pitching staff. The Orioles haven't shown enough depth in the rotation or bullpen to keep the team winning, as they're currently on a streak of 10-straight games having allowed their opponent to score five or more runs. Opponents have also scored five or more runs in 14 of the Orioles' last 17 contests. Tillman's performance is raising eyebrows about whether his right shoulder is fully healthy, as he has posted an 8.01 ERA in seven starts since returning to the club in early May. The pitching has been very, very bad, and the injuries to Tillman, Britton and O'Day haven't helped those problems one bit.

The curse of Wieters: If I can believe in the curse of the Andino against the Red Sox back in 2011, I can absolutely believe in the curse of Matt Wieters to the Orioles in 2017. On May 10, Wieters hit a walk-off single off Orioles closer Brad Brach to cap off a Nationals comeback. Heading into that night, the Birds were 22-10 on the season, trying to extend their winning streak to seven games. Including the loss handed to the Orioles from Wieters that night, the O's are 9-22 since then.

It's been a very bad showing for the Orioles in the past 31 games. It seems like every night there's bad news, whether from a blowout loss, a key player hitting the disabled list or both. There still is time to turn it around, given that the race for the second wild card spot should be pretty tight. But with how ugly the Birds have been playing lately, I'm not going to show too much optimism until they show it on the field.

Dillon Atkinson blogs about the Orioles for Orioles Uncensored. Follow him on Twitter: @DAtkinsonOU. His thoughts on the O's appear here as part of MASNsports.com's continuing commitment to welcome guest bloggers to our little corner of cyberspace. All opinions expressed are those of the guest bloggers, who are not employed by MASNsports.com but are just as passionate about their baseball as our roster of writers.