masn-baseballs-orioles.jpgWill the real Orioles offense please stand up? Over the first five games, it looked like a juggernaut and over the last five games, it has looked feeble at times.

The real offense certainly lies somewhere in the middle, not as good as the group that got out of the gates so fast or the one we’ve seen in recent days.

The Orioles scored twice as much in those first five games and had exactly twice as many extra-base hits. After scoring five runs or more in each of those opening five contests,…Will the real Orioles offense please stand up? Over the first five games, it looked like a juggernaut and over the last five games, it has looked feeble at times.

The real offense certainly lies somewhere in the middle, not as good as the group that got out of the gates so fast or the one we’ve seen in recent days.

The Orioles scored twice as much in those first five games and had exactly twice as many extra-base hits. After scoring five runs or more in each of those opening five contests, the Orioles have scored three or less in four of the past five games.

Here is the breakdown:

* First five: .315 average, 34 runs, 14 doubles, six homers, 10 or more hits four times.

* Last five: .220 avg, 17 runs, five doubles, five homers, 10 or more hits zero times.

The Orioles had 58 hits over the first five and have just 36 hits over the last five games.

While Adam Jones and Chris Davis have been carrying this offense most of the time so far, Manny Machado had two more hits last night. He is 5-for-8 over his past two games and 7-for-17 over his last four. Matt Wieters has just one hit over his last 19 at-bats.

By now, you have probably heard multiple times the DH stat. O’s designated hitters are just 1-for-33 with 13 strikeouts so far. Pretty sure that is not, as they say, sustainable. It of course will start to get better, hopefully by around 4 or 5 p.m. today.

This afternoon’s Yankees starter, Phil Hughes, has a career 5.10 ERA against Baltimore and yields a career batting average of .292 with a .783 OPS to the Birds.

Here are the current AL East standings:
5-4 – Boston and New York
5-5 – Baltimore
4-5 – Tampa Bay
4-6 – Toronto