O's notes on Ubaldo Jimenez, Jonathan Schoop and Manny Machado

ANAHEIM, Calif. - The Orioles have seen this before. Right-hander Ubaldo Jimenez is struggling again. He is 2-5 with an ERA of 6.04 through nine starts after his latest poor outing Sunday against the Los Angeles Angels.

The Orioles have allowed 10 runs in a game twice this year and that has happened in Jimenez's last two starts. They lost 10-0 Tuesday to Seattle and 10-2 yesterday to the Angels. In those outings, Jimenez allowed 12 runs in 10 innings.

Over his last five starts, he has given up six runs three times for an ERA of 7.81. Last year, he gave up six runs or more four times in 32 starts all season. Now he has done that three times in his last five starts.

Orioles manager Buck Showalter said yesterday, "We are not at that point yet" when asked if he soon must consider removing Jimenez from his rotation. Showalter said Jimenez is strong mentally and will get it going.

Jimenez also expressed confidence he can turn it around.

"It's always a test, any time you're not good for the team," he said. "But the thing about me, I never lose my confidence. I have it in my mind that things are going to change. I'm going to find a way to get back on track."

O's fans are waiting for that. Giving up 10 runs a game is not part of the plan.

Johnny Baseball dials it up: This happened kind of quietly, but second baseman Jonathan Schoop is on a nice run at the plate. He went 5-for-11 in the series over the weekend. Over his past 23 games, starting in late April, Schoop is batting .325 with five homers and 17 RBIs.

"Jon, when he gets to the point where he doesn't let them get him out and you can keep him in the strike zone and not get too big, he's a real challenge for pitchers," Showalter said Sunday. "He hasn't let things snowball for a long period of time this year and hopefully that's a sign of maturity when he has a couple of bad games."

After hitting just .218 in April, Schoop is batting .329 with an OPS of .914 in May. For the season, he is now batting .270 with eight homers, 25 RBIs, a .493 slugging percentage and an OPS of .790.

Don't look now, but Schoop is on a pace for 31 homers and 96 RBIs.

Meanwhile, Machado's bat has cooled: Yes, Manny Machado could not continue raking all year. He did hit a big homer on Friday night, but he went 0-for-8 the last two games in Anaheim with six strikeouts. Over the past nine games, Machado is 4-for-36 (.111), dropping his average for the year from .360 to .308.

Probably no one expects Machado's bat to stay cool for long, including Schoop, his good friend and current double-play partner.

"Manny's good. Manny's good," Schoop said. "Manny doesn't let one game move him. (Monday) off-day, and then the next day, we come in, same player. We don't let one at-bat ruin the whole day, and we don't let one day ruin the whole season. Every day is a different day."

Friday was good, but then ...: The Orioles had 14 hits Friday and hit four homers in a 9-4 win in Anaheim. But they scored just five runs on 10 total hits in the last two games of that series. Matt Wieters' dramatic ninth-inning homer Saturday night saved the day.

Over the last six games, the Orioles have scored three runs or less four times. They have hit just .203, scoring 21 runs in that stretch, with nine of the runs coming in one game.

Road trippin': The Orioles take today off and their three-city road trip spanning three different time zones continues tomorrow night in the Central Time Zone when they play the first of three games at Houston at Minute Maid Park. The Astros have dropped four in a row to fall to 17-28. The first three of those losses were all by 2-1 scores. Houston has played seven one-run games in its last nine contests, going 2-5 in those games.