masn-baseballs-orioles.jpgAt 27-36, the Los Angeles Angels are not at all where they expected to be. Where they are is third place in the American League West, but 10 ½ games out of first as they open a series at Camden Yards tonight.

The Angels are eighth in the AL in runs scored and 10th in team ERA. Los Angeles ranks 10th in starting pitcher ERA at 4.49 and the Orioles are 12th at 4.88.

Los Angeles dug an early hole with a 2-8 start. The Angels recently had an eight-game win streak that pulled them within…At 27-36, the Los Angeles Angels are not at all where they expected to be. Where they are is third place in the American League West, but 10 ½ games out of first as they open a series at Camden Yards tonight.

The Angels are eighth in the AL in runs scored and 10th in team ERA. Los Angeles ranks 10th in starting pitcher ERA at 4.49 and the Orioles are 12th at 4.88.

Los Angeles dug an early hole with a 2-8 start. The Angels recently had an eight-game win streak that pulled them within four games of the .500 mark but they begin this series with seven losses in the last nine games and nine in their past 13.

At nine games under .500, the Angels are the farthest they have been under .500 after 63 games since 1994 (26-37). They just lost two of three at Boston and gave up 27 runs in that series.

In early May, the Orioles won three of four in Anaheim, holding Los Angeles to 13 runs and a .221 average in that series.

Mike Trout went 5-for-16 with two homers and five RBIs. Albert Pujols was 2-for-12 with a solo homer and Josh Hamilton went 2-for-13 in that series.

For Trout, 25 of his last 51 hits have been extra-base hits with 12 doubles, five triples and eight homers. He ranks second in the AL with 36 extra-base hits.

Jered Weaver faces the Orioles tonight. Over his last four starts against the Orioles, he is 4-0 with an ERA of 1.82.

How do you see this three-game series going?

An Adam bomb: For the second day in a row, Adam Jones homered. His two-run shot tonight in the fourth gave the O’s a 2-1 lead. Earlier Trout homered to right in the third for a 1-0 lead, thrilling the fans that bussed down today from his hometown of Milville, New Jersey.

Through five innings, Freddy Garcia gave up just three hits and one run, throwing 65 pitches. The rain is getting heavier at the Yard now in the last of the fifth with the O’s ahead, 2-1.

The rain delay: Tonight’s game went into a rain delay at 8:46 p.m. The Orioles had scored twice in the last of the sixth to break a 2-2 tie and if the game does not resume (and it continues to pour here) the Orioles would have a rain-shortened, 4-2 win.

The bottom line to the rules is that each team would have had six at-bats and games halted by rain never revert to the previous inning any more.

Game to be resumed: The rain stopped here around 10 p.m. and the game is scheduled to be resumed at 11 p.m. The grounds crew is working feverishly with loads of drying compound to get the field back into playable shape and they are going to do it too.