Orioles offense has come up short far too often so far

Will the real Orioles offense please stand up?

Just when it seems the team is scoring some runs and taking off on offense, they don't. The Orioles scored a combined 21 runs Wednesday and Thursday at Toronto. Then they got shut out by Kansas City on Friday night and scored six runs in three games over the weekend.

The Orioles scored 10 runs on Wednesday and 11 on Thursday at Rogers Centre. It was the first time the Orioles have scored 10 or more runs in back-to-back games since Aug. 14-15, 2008 at Cleveland and Detroit.

But after scoring 21 runs on 26 hits and going 10-for-22 with runners in scoring position in those two games, they produced just six runs on 20 hits and went 2-for-13 with RISP against the Royals.

On April 8, the Orioles played at New York against the Yankees. Heading into that game, they had scored just 22 runs in the season's first seven games. Then they beat the Yankees 14-5 with 20 hits. They had not gotten 20 or more hits in a game since May 10, 2011.

So, three times this year, the Orioles have scored 10 or more runs in a game. But 14 times this season in 24 games, they have scored three runs or less. They are 5-9 in those games.

The club's offense has been real good on the road and real bad at home.

O's at home in 2014: .220 average, .267 OBP, .306 slugging, 20 extra-base hits, 2.5 runs per game.

O's on the road in 2014: .299 average, .358 OBP, .461 slugging, 48 extra-base hits, 6.2 runs per game.

Here are some Orioles home batting averages:

.107 - David Lough
.143 - Ryan Flaherty
.179 - Jonathan Schoop
.186 - Adam Jones
.189 - Nelson Cruz

The Orioles have hit 17 homers, and only Texas and Kansas City have hit fewer in the American League. Of those 17, 11 have come from Nelson Cruz and Matt Wieters. Meanwhile, Adam Jones, J.J. Hardy and Nick Markakis have combined for one.

It's early in the season, it's cold, the team has had injuries and they've faced some real good pitching. All of this has led to an inconsistent offense.

The Orioles need to get their team back to full health, get Manny Machado and Chris Davis back and get their offense going.

Scoring three runs less in 58 percent of their games is far too many, but the bottom line for me is this offense is going to score enough runs and it will become more consistent and productive. The homers are going to start to come. The team has had some big games on offense and more are going to come.