Zach Wilt: Still early in the marathon that is 162 games

The Orioles have dropped three straight and fallen below .500 at 7-8 after Wednesday night's 4-2 loss in Toronto. They're 1-3 against the Blue Jays this season and 2-4 on their current road trip with Chris Tillman going tonight in the finale.

The Birds have been outscored 24-9 during their current three-game skid and have committed eight errors over their last five contests. O's starters have gone 5 1/3 innings or less in their last six games.

Are you panicked yet? Have I gotten you all worked up about the 2015 season? Let me calm you down a bit.

The O's were 8-7 after 15 games in 2014, the year they went on to win 96 games and run away with the American League East. In fact, they hovered around the .500 mark through mid-June and started to put some separation between themselves and the rest of the division after the All-Star Game. The baseball season really is a marathon, and the Orioles are just nine percent of the way through it. They're not even at Mile 3 of 26.2.

Offensively, the O's rank fifth in the big leagues with a .276 team average and are tied for second in home runs with 19. Their .458 team slugging percentage ranks fourth among all 30 clubs.

Oh, and keep in mind that they're putting up those numbers without Matt Wieters, J.J. Hardy and Jonathan Schoop.

With that said, there are a few concerns about this club that have popped up during this road trip and, in particular, over the last three games. So far, 44.12 percent of the O's runs this season have been scored via the home run. Last night, they went 2-for-10 with runners in scoring position and went 0-for-9 the night before. Their dependence on the home run is clear, but when they don't get it, the offense seems to struggle overall.

I touched on the starting rotation earlier, and it's perhaps the most concerning of the Orioles' struggles through the first 15 games of the season. Back in spring training, we heard all about the plethora of pitching depth that the O's had stockpiled entering this season. They were so deep that Kevin Gausman was forced to begin the year in the bullpen.

So far, Buck Showalter has been forced to overwork his relievers because the starting staff hasn't been able to pitch deep enough games. Orioles starters have totaled the third-fewest innings pitched in baseball and have a combined 5.16 ERA (25th in the majors). Following a career year in 2014, Bud Norris hasn't been able to find that groove through his first three starts of the season. He's thrown just 10 2/3 innings and surrendered 20 earned runs with a 2.32 WHIP.

Adam Jones has been on an absolute tear, slashing .418/.468/.764, while newcomer Travis Snider has looked good in his first 13 games with a .310 average and Jimmy Paredes has continued to find gaps with seven hits in his first 16 at-bats. While the offense as a whole has performed well, some of the Birds' regulars have started off cold. Steve Pearce has played in 12 games and has just seven hits in his first 46 at-bats (.152 average) with four walks and 13 strikeouts. Manny Machado has struggled to get in a groove at the plate as well, with just 10 hits in 51 ABs, six walks and 12 strikeouts.

Of course, all of these observations are being made with a two-week sample size. They're all subject to change by the time I file my next guest blog a week from today. Just remember how much baseball is left to be played over the next five months: 147 games.

Zach Wilt blogs about the Orioles at Baltimore Sports Report. Follow him on Twitter: @zamwi. His views appear here as part of MASNsports.com's season-long initiative of welcoming guest bloggers to our pages. All opinions expressed are those of the guest bloggers, who are not employed by MASNsports.com but are just as passionate about their baseball as our roster of writers.