O's offense just can't seem to get on a roll right now

The Orioles offense can't seem to get on a roll at the moment, and the Orioles can't seem to get on a roll, either. It has now been almost a month since the Orioles had a three-game win streak. Last night's loss at Cleveland stopped that from happening for the first time since Aug. 6-9 - and that was 23 games ago. The Orioles were shut out at New York on Saturday, but then scored 14 runs over the next two games. They were shut out last night until Nate McLouth's homer in the ninth. The O's had just one extra-base hit in the game and went 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position. While the O's overall average with RISP is respectable, they just have too many games like last night where they fail to cash in on several chances. A look at some of the hitters recently: * Chris Davis is 1-for-14 over his last four games and 7-for-39 (.179) over his last 11 games. * Adam Jones is 7-for-38 (.184) over his past 10 games. * Nick Markakis is 2-for-16 over the last four games and batting just .200 (10-for-50) over his last 13 games. Markakis has just one home run in his last 60 games. * Matt Wieters is 6-for-34 over the last 10 games and that was with Monday's four-hit game. He is batting just .179 (20-for-112) over his last 33 games. Couple all this with a starting pitchers' ERA of 5.31 over the last 11 games and it is not hard to understand why the Orioles are just 3-5 on this road trip and 8-12 in the last 20 games. Given yet another opportunity to get on a roll last night and keep some momentum going, the Orioles couldn't do it. This team has more ups and downs than a high-rise elevator on a busy day. The latest downturn came about with more missed chances on offense leading to more frustration for the fans as another game went by the boards. The Orioles have just 25 chances left.