O's lose at Minnesota as offense fires blanks again

Scott Baker had an ERA of 5.35 and Nick Blackburn 5.79. But those two pitchers shut down the O's over the last 24 hours as the Orioles lost the last two games in Minnesota, scoring a total of one run on ten hits. Today the final was Twins 6, O's 0 as Brian Matusz allowed six runs over 3 2/3. Blackburn had given up 21 hits over his last two starts and opponent hitters were batting .338 against him. But the O's couldn't get to him and the problems on offense are greatly overshadowing everything else right now. The O's have scored one run or less ten times now and scored just 17 runs during a 2-5 road trip. The O's are reportedly interested in calling Corey Patterson up before Tuesday and maybe sending Lou Montanez back to Triple-A. We'll see if that helps if the move is made. A bigger question could be this - will Patterson take some starts away from struggling center fielder Adam Jones? After playing the last 16 games vs. Boston, New York and Minnesota (and going 7-9), the Orioles begin a homestand Tuesday vs. Seattle, Cleveland and Kansas City. Beginning today Seattle was 11-19, Cleveland 10-18 and KC 11-20 for a combined mark of 32-57. Of course they will face Cliff Lee and Felix Hernandez in the Seattle series. Seattle series probable pitchers: Tues 7:05: David Hernandez (0-4, 5.74) vs. Cliff Lee (0-1, 2.40) Wed 7:05: Brad Bergesen (2-2, 7.36) vs. Ryan Rowland-Smith (0-2, 6.21) Thurs 12:35: Kevin Millwood (0-4, 3.26) vs. Felix Hernandez (2-3, 4.30) Orioles have been shutout three times this year: *4-10 - Toronto 3 at O's 0 *4-29 - NYY 4 at O's 0 *Today - at Minnesota 6 O's 0 Minnesota series: First two games: 9 runs on 19 hits Last two games: 1 run on 10 hits Coming tomorrow in this space: A feature on relief pitcher Brandon Cooney, who is off to a great start at Frederick.