Too soon to call this a trend? (game update)

It's probably too soon to call this a trend, but already I can sense some O's fans getting a real confident feeling when Jason Hammel or Wei-Yin Chen take the mound and a feeling much less confident when anyone else starts. Going back about three turns through the rotation, the Orioles are 6-0 in games started by Hammel and Chen and 3-5 when anyone else takes the ball. Again, probably too soon to get too worked up about it, but it is a trend worth tracking over the next few weeks. Here are some other notes about tonight's game: * A loss tonight would make this the third series this year when the Orioles were swept three straight. They got swept at home April 9-11 by the Yankees and May 28-30 in Toronto. The O's have had four sweeps this year, taking three from Minnesota, Toronto, Boston and Pittsburgh. * The Orioles have a five-game losing streak riding tonight against the Mets. This dates to June 11-13, 2010 when New York swept three from the Birds. * After averaging 7.3 runs per game on their most recent six-game homestand, the Orioles are scoring just 1.8 runs per game during this five-game road trip. They have just 22 hits in 143 at-bats in those games for an average of .154. They are 3-for-23 with runners in scoring position in that stretch. * The Orioles have now gone a season-high five consecutive games without a homer. It's their longest stretch without a longball since they went seven in a row from August 4-11, 1992. * They enter tonight's game without a run over the last 21 innings. The Orioles have only been shutout three games in a row once in club history. From July 29-31, 1957 it happened with one scoreless game against Chicago and two against Cleveland. Meanwhile, the Mets are the only team this season to have three separate scoreless streaks of 20 innings or more on the mound. Early on in New York: Through three and a half innings tonight the game is 0-0 at Citi Field. The Orioles are just 1-for-13 at bat tonight and Brian Matusz had the hit. It was the first of his career. The Orioles have now been shutout over their last 25 innings and thru the top of the fourth tonight, they are batting just .147 on this road trip that ends tonight.