Andrew Stetka: It's still too early to panic

Every Orioles fan is feeling a little down today. The team seems to be in a rut, a funk, some kind of a ditch that is causing wheels to spin while the car stays put. It looks grim after five losses in six games, especially since it followed five wins in six games. There is always light at the end of the tunnel, though. The especially relieving part is that the Orioles are still at the very start of the tunnel, and it isn't caving in on them in the slightest.

Last place doesn't look good on anyone, especially when you are a team with expectations like the O's have. Setting club records (like the team did yesterday for most strikeouts in a single game with 18) isn't pretty either, but it's something they have to wear right now. It'd be nice to be above the .500 mark at least, not three games under it. What's the good news? It's May. They don't determine who makes the playoffs in May. That gets decided in September. There's a lot of baseball left to play.

When you take a look at what the Orioles have had to face lately, you start to realize why they might be struggling to get their footing. None of it would be used as an excuse by manager Buck Showalter or any of his players, but there are legitimate reasons. Start off by looking at the injuries. J.J. Hardy has just returned to play his first few games of the season. He should provide a nice addition to the lineup, but even moreso defensively up the middle. The team is still without Jonathan Schoop, and will be for some time. Schoop was being relied upon to produce with the bat this season. After the departure of Nelson Cruz in the offseason, some of Schoop's home runs were going to help make up that team total. Kevin Gausman has now gone down with a shoulder injury. This creates a whole new mystery over how the right-hander will be used going forward. No one expects him to stay in the bullpen the whole year, but there may not be an obvious way to simply slide him into the rotation once he's healthy. These are all questions that plague the team right now.

There's also the simple fact that the O's haven't had a whole lot of home cooking lately. The Birds have played 13 home games and 16 on the road, and while that difference might not feel very big, it's important to remember that three of those home games were actually played at Tropicana Field. There was another home game that was played in front of a paid attendance of zero. These are all very weird things for a baseball team to deal with. Again, they aren't the type of things Showalter or any of his players would use as excuses, but baseball players are creatures of habit. If their everyday routines get messed in the slightest, the chain reaction could start. It's important to note that with all of these distractions and injuries, the O's are just three games below that .500 mark and that none of the teams in the American League East have jumped out to an enormous lead. Everyone is pretty bunched up this early in the season.

It's also important to realize that starting tonight ,with what some fans are dubbing "ReOpening Day" against the Blue Jays, the Orioles will play 17 of their next 20 games at Camden Yards to close out the month of May. There's a small little weekend trip to Miami mixed in there, but it's an opportunity to get set in a routine and win some games in the comforts of the home park for the O's. It's also a great chance for fans to get out and help provide that home atmosphere for the team. The weather is starting to get nicer, and the feeling of summer is right around the corner. It's the perfect stretch to get out on see the Birds play a variety of teams. It's a Monday in May. It's not late August, therefore it's not time to panic. The Orioles have the talent to turn things around. The other thing on their side, is an ample amount of time.

Andrew Stetka blogs about the Orioles for Eutaw Street Report. Follow him on Twitter: @AStetka. His thoughts on the O's appear here as part of MASNsports.com's continuing commitment to welcome guest bloggers to our little corner of cyberspace. All opinions expressed are those of the guest bloggers, who are not employed by MASNsports.com but are just as passionate about their baseball as our roster of writers.