A few thoughts on Lough, Webb and the offense

Some thoughts and observations after the Orioles' 9-4 win over the Astros on Sunday, which allowed the O's to win the last two games in Houston and split the four-game series. The Orioles are still looking for their first series win since taking two of three from Houston in Baltimore May 9-11. Since then the Birds have lost three series and tied three others. * Some readers had posted in recent days wondering if David Lough should keep his roster spot and wondering what the Orioles see in Lough. Track record is what they see. Some fans don't like that term for whatever reason, but Lough has a track record of hitting for a solid average. A long track record. He is a career .297 minor league hitter in 677 games and 2,593 at-bats. Last season he batted .286 in 315 at-bats with Kansas City and finished eighth in the American League Rookie of the Year voting and was first in Wins Above Replacement among all AL rookies. Lough hit .338 at Triple-A last year, giving him a .303 average between the majors and minors last season. You read that right, Lough with a .303 batting average last year. So with 2,800 at-bats of a nearly .300 average, I didn't expect to see the O's brass bail on Lough after just 88 at-bats this year. He came up with a big two-run homer and three RBI game Sunday. Lough brings needed speed and defense as well. He can play small ball, something this team lacks. He is batting just .176/.242/.253 this year and needs to do better. Maybe Sunday was a start. Lough is now 28 and manager Buck Showalter has said many times he believes some players start to get it and really come into their own around that age. So what do the O's see? They see nearly 3,000 at-bats and a decent hitter. * Ryan Webb is pitching really well for the Orioles, but it seems to be flying under the radar. Signed to a two-year free agent contract in December, Webb is 2-1 with a 2.96 ERA. Left-handed batters are hitting .200 off him, right-handers just .232 and he yields only a .174 average while pitching with runners in scoring position. A big groundball pitch through his career, Webb has an impressive 3.08 ground-to-air out ratio this season. He's also given up just one run in his last 12 games over 13 innings. When Webb gave up four runs in his first two O's appearances, some might have wondered about this new pitcher. Since then Webb has been really good out of the O's bullpen - even if he doesn't get much publicity for that. * Will the real Orioles offense stand up? After scoring 55 runs over a nine-game stretch, the Orioles scored just nine runs total in the four games before Sunday's game when they matched that total in one day. Yep, this offense is inconsistent. I still believe it's not so much about whether, say, Jonathan Schoop should be sent to the minors or how the catchers are hitting, but the core players. That group has to carry the offensive load and most have been under performing over the course of the season. OPS stats for this year and career: * Chris Davis - .767 & .840 * J.J. Hardy - .702 & .740 * Adam Jones - .725 & .781 * Nick Markakis - .748 & .801 * Manny Machado - .612 & .744 That group has to get the job done over the long haul. Maybe Machado's bat is heating up after his grand slam on Sunday. Davis still looks out of synch up there. Hardy is still looking for his first homer. The Orioles scored fewer runs in May than April. We know they won't walk a lot or have a high on-base percentage as a team, but they can still score enough runs to win. That is if the core group of players begins to pick up the pace at bat. Congrats to the Terps: Twitter was buzzing late last night with the news that the Maryland Terrapins beat South Carolina to win their NCAA baseball regional. The Terps had one all time NCAA win before Friday and went 3-0 in the regional and beat host South Carolina team twice. That is a South Carolina squad that entered the regional with a 28-game home NCAA win streak. This is pretty amazing stuff for the Maryland baseball program and now the Terps play the University of Virginia next weekend in the Super Regional for a spot in the College World Series. Congrats to the Terps!