Can it be a September to remember for the O's offense?

The Orioles just went through a four-game stretch against Tampa Bay and Oakland where they scored 10 total runs. But they broke out of that by scoring nine Sunday in Oakland. In the nine games before, all that they scored 60 runs. The point is the Orioles' offense has picked up and so far, they are putting up better numbers in September than they have in any previous month. The Orioles are scoring 5.46 runs per game this month and the next best is the 4.79 they produced in May. The team average this month of .270 tops the next best of .251 in August. The team slugging mark of .474 betters the .441 of May. The September OPS of .823 is way ahead of the previous best mark of August at .742. The Orioles have hit 25 homers in 15 games this month and, at that pace, will hit 51 for September/October, topping the 45 the Orioles hit in May. The Orioles have several players hitting with some pop in those bats this month. Here are the O's September OPS leaders among the club's starting players: 1.132 - Matt Wieters 1.099 - Mark Reynolds .982 - Chris Davis .853 - Adam Jones .808 - J.J. Hardy .775 - Nate McLouth The Orioles have now played seven games this month without Nick Markakis, going 4-3 after they went 5-3 this month with him in the lineup. They scored many more runs with Markakis (51 in eight games) than without him (31 in seven games). Also, despite the solid overall offensive numbers this month, the Orioles have scored three or fewer runs in five of the seven games sans Markakis. But I think we also need to consider that those games with Markakis were against Toronto and New York and those without were versus Tampa Bay and Oakland, which rank first and second in the AL in team ERA - and the Orioles went 4-2 against the Rays and A's. What does this all mean? I think it means the O's offense has a chance to hold its own without Markakis. They have a chance to put up some decent numbers moving forward against lesser pitching staffs than Tampa and Oakland, although Seattle does rank third in the league in team ERA.