masn-baseballs-orioles.jpgThe Orioles have now lost all five games on this road trip by a combined 10 runs. They have lost the last four by two, two, one and one run.

It is big-time frustrating to lose close games and they are now 11-11 on the year in games decided by two runs or less. A batting average of .158 (6-for-38) on this trip with runners in scoring position has been a major factor contributing to the close losses as the Orioles have scored just 13 runs in Oakland and Seattle.

The concern level for the…The Orioles have now lost all five games on this road trip by a combined 10 runs. They have lost the last four by two, two, one and one run.

It is big-time frustrating to lose close games and they are now 11-11 on the year in games decided by two runs or less. A batting average of .158 (6-for-38) on this trip with runners in scoring position has been a major factor contributing to the close losses as the Orioles have scored just 13 runs in Oakland and Seattle.

The concern level for the Orioles’ offense has to be rising about as fast as the team’s win percentage is falling right now.

It is not a slow start this deep into the season and fans can’t say the bats will heat up when the weather does anymore. One could say the team really misses Brian Roberts and Derek Lee, and no doubt that is true, but the Orioles weren’t doing a lot when both players were in the lineup.

Here is a strange stat: The team batting average up went up to .260 in May from .236 in April, but the team scored less. The Orioles averaged 4.2 runs per game in the first month and that actually dropped to 3.9 in May.

The team’s OPS actually went up in May from .669 to .711. The team’s slugging percentage dropped in May, but just by one point from .377 to .376.

O’s homer leaders for May:
5 – Mark Reynolds
3 – Derek Lee, Nolan Reimold
2 – J.J. Hardy, Nick Markakis, Luke Scott

O’s RBI leaders for May:
15 – Adam Jones
11 – Markakis, Scott, Wieters

OPS leaders for May among regulars:
.853 – Jones
.778 – Reynolds
.755 – Vlad Guerrero

It is not impressive when you can have 11 RBIs and be second on the team in May or when you can play a few games, like Reimold did, and be second on the team in homers in the month.

The Orioles’ streaky nature during this 2011 season finds them losing again and not hitting much again. Looking at some of the individual hitters’ performances in May, it makes you wonder if the offense, which has been poor, has any hope to get better?