Tuesday night baseball: O's host A's

Game Preview Oakland (50-62) at Orioles (46-66) Orioles fans have somewhat gotten used to the fact the O's struggle against teams in the tough American League East. But the O's have also struggled this year vs. the AL West and they have not won vs. the Oakland A's in over two years. The Birds are 8-18 on the season (2-8 at home) vs. AL West clubs. The Orioles are 0-4 this year vs. Oakland and have lost nine in a row vs. Oakland since last beating the A's on July 22, 2007. The A's have won those four games vs. the Orioles by scores of 9-1, 9-4, 3-0 and 9-1. That is six runs the O's have scored on the year vs. Oakland pitching. Tonight, in game two of a three-game series at 7:05 p.m. David Hernandez (3-4, 3.96) pitches for the Orioles vs. Trevor Cahill (6-11, 5.13). Mark Ellis went 5 for 5 with 4 RBI and Oakland had 16 hits in last night's 9-1 victory. The A's went 7 for 15 with runners in scoring position, while the Orioles were 0 for 12. The Birds offense has produced only six runs in the last three games combined and just one homer in the last 47 innings. The Orioles have scored three runs or less in five of the last six games and 12 times in 24 games since the All-Star break. Baltimore is 0-12 in those games. The Birds are just 6 for 35 with runners in scoring position over the past three games. Meanwhile, the O's have given up 31 runs the last five games and the team ERA is 6.59 over the last 11 games. The Orioles have lost three in a row and nine of 11 games to fall a season-high 20 games under .500. Nick Markakis was 1 for 4 last night and has now reached base in 31 consecutive games. That's the longest active streak in the Majors. Markakis is batting .323-5-21 with nine doubles since the All-Star break. While the A's are last in the AL in batting average and extra-base hits and are next to last in homers on the season, their offense has come on over the last 22 games. In that stretch, Oakland is batting .292 as a team with 55 doubles and is averaging 6.3 runs per game in the 22 games. Oakland, 3-1 on its current road trip, has won six of its last eight and nine of the last 14 games. The A's are 13-13 in the second half.