O's head home after disappointing road trip

It was a disappointing road trip, Captain Obvious called and told me. He added it was a real chance for the Orioles to beat teams they are directly competing with for a wild card spot and that they went 2-4 against the Angels and Mariners, losing both series.

This is no way to start a strong late-season charge.

It ended in the most disappointing fashion with Chris Davis taking a called third strike with the bases loaded in the ninth inning of Wednesday's 7-6 loss at Seattle. Yep, frustrating.

When the road trip began, the Orioles first played an Angels team that had lost its previous two games to Oakland. The Orioles won the road trip opener on Aug. 7 behind Manny Machado's tiebreaking grand slam and Dylan Bundy's career-high 10 strikeouts. It was a great to start to the trip. The Orioles were at .500 at 56-56 and were just 1 ½ back of the second wild card. But frustration and disappointment was right around the corner. The Orioles scored three runs total the next two games and lost that series in Anaheim.

At Oakland, they won the series opener 7-2 Thursday. But a blown lead in the eighth led to Friday's one-run loss. More frustration. After they scored 12 runs in Saturday's win, they lost 9-3 Sunday. More disappointment.

After they looked good in winning the series opener Monday at Safeco Field, they lost the next two games. They had momentum several times on this trip, but could never build on it.

It was a 4-6 trip that leaves them with a record three games under .500 at 59-62.

The Orioles have played a little better since being swept three straight by the Cubs out of the All-Star break. They are 17-13 since that point. But they don't have the look of a team that is going to overtake several clubs on the way to the playoffs.

However, they do now head home for 16 of the next 19 games. Home at Oriole Park, where they are 35-23 for the year.

The starting pitching, which had been very solid for a few weeks, showed some signs of leakage late in the trip. Jeremy Hellickson gave up six runs Sunday. In the last two games at Seattle, Wade Miley and Ubaldo Jiménez pitched a combined nine innings and gave up nine runs.

The Orioles get today off. There are 41 games to play. They head home now, putting the one step forward and one step back road trip behind them.