The end is near: O's get shut out as current slide continues

Hey, at least Trey Mancini had a hit. He did indeed, extending the longest hitting streak ever by an Orioles rookie to 17 straight games. He's playing well to the end. He just hasn't had many teammates join him.

The Orioles put up little resistance Friday night in a 7-0 loss to the Rays, as the end of their 2017 season drew closer. Just two games to go now with the team at 75-85.

The Orioles began this year playing great baseball as they went 22-10. They are ending it playing terribly. They've lost three in a row, five of six and 17 of the last 21 games.

Lefty Wade Miley very likely pitched his last game in an Orioles uniform. He nibbled around the plate, walked guys, failed to get deep in the game and ran up high pitch counts to the end. He finished the season going 8-15 with a 5.61 ERA. Over his last four starts, he went 0-4 with an ERA of 12.56.

I do believe he cared deeply but pitched lousy. The Orioles should certainly take a pass on his $12 million option. If he has a bounceback season for another team next year, so be it. The Orioles cannot take that risk.

It seems hard to believe but this is true - in early June, Miley's ERA was 2.82 and that was the fifth-best in the American League. With as poorly as he pitched for most of his O's tenure, that seems like something that was a dream. The Orioles actually went 15-17 in Miley's 32 starts. They played .469 ball in his starts. That is the same team win percentage they have through 160 games.

They should still move on and it seems there is no way they pick up his 2018 option. The Orioles are desperate for starting pitching, but Miley offered them no reasons to retain him.

The Orioles were shut out for the 11th time this season last night, held to four hits in 29 at-bats - three singles and a double by Manny Machado. They have been shut out three times in the last nine games.

The Orioles are 0-3 on this season-ending road trip and have been outscored 22-4.

Orioles pitchers have allowed 98 runs the last 14 games, an average of 7.0 per game. O's batters have scored three runs or less 16 times in the last 21 games.

It would be nice to see the Orioles win at least one of these final two games and/or do some nice things to wrap up the season. But based on the last few weeks, we certainly can't count on that.