Another mismatch (Britton tonight)

Can you believe there are people, some considered very astute in the baseball industry, that we're picking the Orioles to finish ahead of Toronto this year. It now looks like the O's are on their way to 0-11 vs. the Jays as they trail 6-0 after the fourth. It is like Ground Hog day. An O's starter gives up early runs, meanwhile the opponent starter records quick outs vs. O's hitters who nightly seem to refuse to work the count. At this point, I blame the players and coaching staff. No one should be free from criticism. Opponent starting pitchers have an ERA of 2.90 vs. the Orioles this year and have pitched into the seventh inning in 50 of 99 games. Get into the other teams' bullpen? Not this O's club. Kevin Millwood once again gave up first-inning runs. You almost have to wonder if it's a mental block and why he and the coaching staff can't fix this. He has allowed at least two runs in the first of ten of his last 11 starts. It looked like he had put some things together over the final few innings of his start last Thursday vs. Minnesota, but that has not carried over to tonight. The O's began the night with the worst starting pitching in baseball with an ERA of 5.61. Tonight, their starter allowed 5 ER or more for the 8th time over the last ten games. The O's are getting blasted by Toronto again. No way the Jays should be this much better than the O's. Britton update: Zach Britton wound up pitching 5 2/3 tonight at Scranton. He gave up six hits and two runs and now has an ERA of 2.28 over five Triple-A starts. Over his last 12 starts between Bowie and Norfolk, Britton has worked to an ERA of 1.45. Britton, who allowed two runs in the second inning, threw 100 pitches, 57 for strikes.