A few things to track over the remaining 29 games (plus farm notes)

Despite the avalanche of negativity on the blog and social media yesterday, I notice the Orioles have a game scheduled with the Yankees tonight. I assume they will show up. I plan to go cover it, so I hope both teams are there.

Yes, of course, the Orioles' poor play has given fans plenty of reasons to doubt them. Some of you have pointed each one of them out about 1,000 times now. So yeah, we kind of get it. But they also have 29 games left, are tied for the second wild card and are four games out of first in the American League East. I see no problem with them playing out the schedule, trying to turn things around and put their best foot forward and see where it takes them.

I think for most clear thinkers this should seem reasonable.

Here are a few things to focus on over the remaining games:

* Can the O's start winning again versus the AL East?: The Orioles began the second half by winning two of three games against the Rays. At that point, they were 9-2-1 in 12 series against division opponents with a record of 24-14 in AL East games.

Since then, they are 0-5 in five series, going 4-11 versus New York, Toronto, Boston, New York and Toronto.

Can they beat the Yankees this weekend? Last Friday and Saturday, the Yankees crushed the Orioles, scoring 27 runs in two nights in the Bronx. The Yankees just completed a 17-11 August and are 7-4 in their last 11 division games. They certainly enter this series as the hotter team.

* Can the starting rotation finish strong?: The three outings versus Toronto by Wade Miley, Ubaldo Jimenez and Yovani Gallardo were solid enough to produce wins. In the game before that, Kevin Gausman threw seven scoreless in New York. That is a 3.04 rotation ERA over four games. Yep, pretty small sample. This unit may need to surprise over these 29 games for the Orioles to have any chance. They need Chris Tillman back, but his return is not imminent.

* Is the offense good or bad?: Well, it has certainly been both. We've seen the offense average 6.6 runs per game in June but also score three or fewer runs in 24 of 46 games in the second half. The Orioles have gone 3-21 in those games. Wow, that is bad.

The offense has not been consistent all year. If it can be somewhat consistent for most of the 29 games, it would be huge down the stretch. The Orioles went 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position in the Blue Jays series and O's batters are 3-for-30 with RISP over the last seven games.

Where the O's offense ranks in the AL on the year. Some stats may surprise you:

* Runs per game - 4.69 (fifth)
* Batting average - .260 (seventh)
* On-base percentage - .320 (seventh, league average is .321)
* OPS - .769 (second)
* Pitches per plate appearance - 3.85 (seventh, league average is 3.86)

Farm notes: Catcher Chance Sisco moved up from Double-A Bowie to Triple-A Norfolk yesterday and then hit a grand slam in his first game as Norfolk beat Charlotte 13-9. Sisco went 2-for-5 with a grand slam in the eighth inning and had a five-RBI day. Sisco had gone 9-for-16 in his last four Bowie games and hit .319 with 28 doubles, four homers, 44 RBIs and a .827 OPS with the Baysox.

Norfolk's Corban Joseph had three more hits for the Tides. Over his last 10 games, the brother of Caleb Joseph is batting .500 (17-for-34) with three homers and nine RBIs. Joseph hit .352 in August. Yesterday's losing pitcher for Charlotte was former Oriole Miguel Gonzalez. Pitching on a rehab assignment (he's on the major league disabled list with a groin strain), Gonzalez allowed 11 hits and seven runs over 4 1/3 innings.

Harrisburg beat Bowie 8-6 in the final home game for the Baysox. Third baseman Drew Dosch continued his strong second half with a triple, homer and three RBIs. In 164 at-bats since the break, Dosch has hit .305/.371/.500.

Single-A Delmarva has a season-high eight-game win streak after beating Greensboro 3-1 on Thursday night. Left-hander Reid Love gave up just one hit and one run over seven innings to improve to 9-10 with a 3.29 ERA for the Shorebirds. In six starts since Aug. 1, Love is 3-2 with an ERA of 1.89. Over 38 innings, he has walked three and fanned 18.

Short-season Single-A Aberdeen beat Brooklyn 5-4. Outfielder Austin Hays went 3-for-4 with a double. Over his last three games, he is 8-for-13 with two homers. Left-handed pitcher Keegan Akin, one of two Orioles second-round draft picks in June, pitched three scoreless innings with four strikeouts. Akin has now put together six consecutive scoreless outings of three innings each. The numbers during that run: 18 innings, six hits, no runs, six walks, 22 strikeouts. His ERA for the year is down to 1.04 in nine games. I recently wrote this profile on Akin.

Gold medal winner pitches to Gold Glove winner: In honor of her recent success at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janiero, Olympic gold medalist Helen Maroulis threw out the ceremonial first pitch last night to Orioles Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr. prior to the IronBirds' game at Leidos Field at Ripken Stadium.

A Maryland native, Maroulis defeated Japan's Saori Yoshida, a 13-time world champion and three-time reigning Olympic champion, to give the United States its first gold medal in women's wrestling.

Tonight, Maroulis will throw out the first pitch at Camden Yards before the Orioles meet the Yankees.