At 13-16, is this just a slow start or glimpse into troubling future for Orioles?

On April 24, the Orioles fell to 7-10 and were three games under .500. Then they won five of six games, were 12-11 and won that series of home games that was moved on the road to St. Petersburg.

It appeared the club had handled well the disruption to its schedule which even included an impressive win over Chicago's Jeff Samardzija in the no-attendance game.

But now the Orioles are back at three games under .500 at 13-16 following a 1-5 stretch against the Mets and Yankees.

Right now the team clearly does not have the look of a contender. But the bigger question is whether trouble signs that have surfaced during a 29-game start will continue to be issues the rest of the season.

Some of you seem convinced that answer is yes. Others are not convinced of that at all.

Just when it seemed like the O's starting pitchers where getting it together, they are suddenly struggling again. After a run of seven consecutive quality starts where the rotation ERA was 2.19, the starters now have one quality start the last five games with an ERA of 6.38.

After a nine-game stretch where the Orioles averaged 6.5 runs per game, they have averaged 2.9 runs over the last nine games.

The defense has been inconsistent with throwing errors and misplays in the outfield. There have been mental errors made on the bases at times, all of which has to be getting under the skin of their manager, who is trying hard not to show it.

But all of this can be overcome. The Orioles tonight begin a stretch where they will play 17 of their next 20 games at home.

At the end of this stretch, the Orioles will be at about the 50-game mark and by then we can't truly say it's still early. A good goal would be to get their record to a couple of games over .500 and be within at least a couple of games of first place when this stretch ends on May 31.

A couple of games over and a couple of games out. Sounds reasonable, but they'll have to go at least 12-8 to get over .500 during this stretch.

The first 29 games are over. The Orioles have dealt with injuries and other issues, and they are now 5 1/2 games out. They have a losing record of 12-14 in American League East games. They are 5-10 in games decided by two runs or less.

Maybe a return to Camden Yards will be just what the doctor ordered. Only 133 games to go.

Good pitching on the farm: Triple-A Norfolk has now won two straight 1-0 games. In Sunday's win over Buffalo, Eddie Gamboa allowed just two hits over six innings. The Tides' team ERA of 2.50 leads the International League and on Sunday they won by a shutout for the sixth time - that is one more shutout than the Tides had all of last year.

Dylan Bundy pitched three scoreless innings on Sunday for Double-A Bowie in its 2-0 win at Richmond. Terry Doyle than pitched four innings and Mychal Givens the last two to complete the four-hitter.

Over his last three games - one of which was rain-shortened to one inning - Bundy has pitched seven innings, allowing three hits and no runs with three walks and nine strikeouts.

His ERA is 2.25 for the season, and over 16 innings, he has walked five and fanned 18 with a .193 batting average against.