Hitting the skids: O's go from 6-1 to 8-18

Well, when the Orioles began the year with a record of 6-1 and quickly got to five games over .500, none of us probably figured that just 26 games later they would be five games under .500. It is just not a pretty picture right now for the Orioles. They were thoroughly outplayed in every facet of the game in losing the weekend series to Tampa Bay. I'll detail some numbers here and most of them are not good. The O's need to turn around this run which has seen them go 8-18 since starting the year at 6-1. The Orioles have scored three runs or less in six of the last seven games and 18 times in 33 games this season, going 2-16 in those contests. Since going 5-1 versus Boston and in the first three games at Chicago, the Orioles are 1-6. They have lost four in a row and been outscored 28-8 during the four games. During that losing streak, the team ERA is 7.20 and the ERA of the starting pitchers is 11.09. They have allowed 23 earned runs over 18 2/3 innings in the four contests. Checking out how some hitters have done recently, Robert Andino is 2-for-19 the past seven games and his average has fallen from .348 to .277. Vlad Guerrero has gone seven games without an RBI. Derrek Lee has homered twice in the last three games. After producing just two RBIs his first 22 games, Lee has seven RBIs his past 11 games. Adam Jones had a six-game hitting streak snapped Sunday, but has just two RBIs his last 10 games. While Nick Markakis has seven RBIs in his last eight games, he has just two extra-base hits over his past 22 contests. Mark Reynolds drew five walks in the Tampa series, but also went 0-for-6 in the three games. He has just 11 hits over 74 at bats since April 13 for an average of .149 in that time. Brian Roberts is just 1-for-24 his past six games while Matt Wieters ended a 1-for-18 stretch going 2-for-4 yesterday with a two-run double. Luke Scott has homered four times in his last 11 games and is batting .306 with four homers and 10 RBIs over his past 13 games. Now it's time to hear from you. How can the Orioles get their offense going? How much excitement has been sapped from this season now that the Orioles are 14-19? How well or poorly do you expect the team to play over the next few weeks? Reminder: I hope the readers here have had a chance to hear me host "Baltimore Baseball Tonight" each weeknight from 10 p.m to midnight on 105.7 FM, the Fan in Baltimore. Each night we take calls right after the game and I'll be there tonight to talk about the Orioles for two hours. Hope you tune in and call in tonight on the Fan.