Saturday night baseball: O's at Boston

Game Preview Orioles (41-54) at Boston (56-39) For the Orioles lately it's been a story of close but no cigar or wins. They have a similar story riding vs. Boston. The O's have lost their last four games on their current road trip by 7 total runs. Of the O's seven losses vs. Boston this year, five have come by two runs or less. The O's latest frustration came during Friday's 3-1 loss at Boston. They loaded the bases with one out in the 9th vs. Jonathan Papelbon, but he fanned Luke Scott and Melvin Mora to end the game and Boston's five-game losing skid. After scoring 21 runs on 37 hits in a three-game series at Chicago to start this road trip, the O's have scored just 10 runs over the last four games of the trip. The team average is .235 during those games and the Orioles have just 31 hits, only seven for extra bases, during the four games. The Birds are now a season-worst 13 games below the .500 mark. They are only 1-6 on this road trip, 1-15 on the road vs. the AL East and 15-33 on the road on the year. Overall, the Orioles have lost four in a row, six of seven, 12 of 18 and 17 of 26 games. The O's have lost ten in a row at Boston, their longest losing skid ever at Fenway Park. They are 1-7 on the year vs. the Red Sox and have lost 14 of the last 16 between the teams. Boston ended its losing streak with Friday's win. But in the seven games since the All-Star break, Boston has scored just 16 runs with a team average of .205. The Sox are batting just .224 in July and are 9-9 this month. Tonight is the second game of a seven-game homestand for Boston which is 32-14 at home this year, the best home record in the Majors. O's hot hitters: Jones: Is 10-29/2/5 on the road trip Markakis: Is 7 for 16 during four-game hit streak and on the road trip is 11-29/3/6 Roberts: Is 10 for 31 with 3 doubles and six runs on road trip Zaun: Has 16 hits his last 32 at bats O's not so hot hitters: Huff: Over his last 14 games is .138/0/2 Reimold: Had 3 hits Friday, but is 12 for 57 over 15 games Scott: Is 2 for 23 on the road trip