Road trip off to bumpy start

Those that were expecting the Orioles to have a tough 10-game road trip are probably not surprised at the losses the last two nights in Atlanta. The Orioles got shut out on one hit in losing Friday. They got three homers and 13 hits and still lost last night. They have that look and feel again. That look of a team heading south and the feeling when watching them that something will go wrong at some point to make them lose again. How you get out of such a rut I am not sure, as Orioles teams have done this for years now. Here are some notes as they try to salvage the series finale today at Atlanta: * It has been nearly six weeks since the Orioles won back-to-back series. They did it then, in late May, versus Washington and Kansas City. Since, they have lost six of their last seven series and nine of the last 11 series. * They have now lost five games in a row, eight of 10 and 14 of their last 19 games. They are 13-23 in road games and have lost 14 of their last 18 away from Camden Yards. * Since the beginning of June, the Orioles' pitchers have produced just eight quality starts in the last 27 games. Over the last 16 games, Orioles' starters have just two quality starts and an ERA of 6.49. * Orioles batters are just 3-for-27 (.111) hitting with runners in scoring position the last five games and are 11-for-73 (.151) the last 10 games. * Over his last 21 games, Nick Markakis is batting .406 (39-for-96) with six doubles, three homers and 13 RBIs. * Over his past 22 games, Mark Reynolds is hitting .338 (23-for-68) with eight homers and 14 RBIs. He has three homers the last three games, five over the last 12 and 10 homers in the past 25 contests. Today brings another chance for the Orioles to play well and win. But will they take advantage of the opportunity?