The O's offense is struggling

Sometimes baseball is not that complicated. There are two reasons the O's have lost some games lately: Their starting pitching has not been as good as it was when they went 8-1 in Buck Showalter's first nine games and their offense is producing less. Oh - So, that's why they are 5-9 over the last 14 games. Happy to spell it out for you. Actually, the offense - overall and for some individuals - has slowed. Edwin Jackson blew through the O's lineup with ten strikeouts last night as the Orioles were shutout for the third time over the last nine games. In those nine games, the Orioles are batting just .217 as a team with 21 extra-base hits and 30 runs scored. They scored nine runs in the series in Chicago. Several players are slumping right now: Bell: 1 for 14 with 7 strikeouts over his last four games since his two-homer game. Izturis: 5 for 45 with 0 RBI over his past 13 games. Jones: 0 for 16 over his past five games. Markakis: Over his last 17 games, has just two extra-base hits and 4 RBI. Patterson: Is 1 for 15 at bat. Wieters: Is 9 for 43 (.209) over his last 13 games. Wigginton: Has just 3 RBI over his last 16 games. Everyone is not slumping, however. Luke Scott, despite going hitless the past two games, has had a hot August. Felix Pie has 11 hits his past 24 at bats. Brian Roberts - while not hitting much for average yet - has produced six extra-base hits among his past eight hits with five doubles and a homer. We'll see if the O's can pick it up this weekend versus an Angels team they swept at Camden Yards in Showalter's first series as manager. The Angels are 63-65 and perhaps headed for their first losing season since 2003. They are 10-12 this month and 19-29 since July 1.