Some Orioles news and notes before the season's final road game

Some notes to ponder as the Orioles play their last road game of the year today at Detroit. The Orioles are 67-91. If they can go 3-1 or better in the remaining games, they will have their first 70-win season since 2006, when they were 70-92. * The Orioles have been playing a lot of close games lately. Of their past 19 games, 13 have been decided by two runs or less and the Orioles are 9-4 in those games. Eight of the club's last 13 games have been decided by one run and they are 5-3 in those games. * The Orioles are now 13-11 in September. That is their most wins of any month this year and they have not had a winning month this season. They will have a winning September if they go 2-2 or better in the remaining games. * The Orioles have now had six consecutive games of 10 hits or more. The season-best mark is seven in a row from May 14-21. In the past six games, the Orioles are batting .306 as a team with 37 runs scored and a batting average of .395 (15-for-38) in that time with runners in scoring position. * The bullpen ERA over the past five games is 1.02 with two earned runs allowed over 17 2/3 innings. * Over the past 11 games, the Orioles have hit 17 homers and scored 65 runs. * Over his past six games, Nick Markakis is 12-for-23 for an average of .522. This, after he went 2-for-24 in the seven previous games. * The Orioles are 5-2 on this current road trip that ends today. They have a team ERA of 6.40 in the seven games, but are scoring 6.1 runs per game during the trip. Their five wins have come by seven total runs.