masn-baseballs-orioles.jpgThe Orioles are going to leave the west coast with a winning record on this road trip. They are 6-4 heading into the last game today. Of course 7-4 would look real good and they have a chance to get there this afternoon behind Jason Hammel.

It would look even better considering my entry yesterday morning pointed out the O’s have not exactly been tearing it up since last Sunday’s game where they blew a 5-0 lead in the sixth at Oakland.

But it does seem almost nothing gets this team down and…The Orioles are going to leave the west coast with a winning record on this road trip. They are 6-4 heading into the last game today. Of course 7-4 would look real good and they have a chance to get there this afternoon behind Jason Hammel.

It would look even better considering my entry yesterday morning pointed out the O’s have not exactly been tearing it up since last Sunday’s game where they blew a 5-0 lead in the sixth at Oakland.

But it does seem almost nothing gets this team down and we’ve seen similar circumstances like Saturday a few times with this team. A situation where they let a 4-0 lead slip away, but still won. They were a pitch away from losing in the last of the ninth, but they didn’t.

The Orioles went 3-1 at Oakland, a place where they had gone 3-16 the previous five years and had lost 34 of their past 45 games heading into that series. They are 2-1 this weekend against the Angels, a club they went 2-7 against last year and 5-13 the past seasons. Ironically, they lost two of three at Seattle, a club they went 8-1 against in 2012.

Hammel is 4-1 with a 3.79 ERA on the season but he is 4-0 with an ERA of 2.74 in his four road starts. The Orioles are 5-1 when he starts this season and 18-8 in his 26 career starts for Baltimore.

The Orioles are 2 ½ games back of first-place Boston and one game behind second-place New York. While the O’s have played just 12 home games, Boston has played 16 and New York 18.

The Orioles are bankrolling road games while also staying competitive in the AL East. Today ends a stretch of 20 games over the last 20 days and the team will get a real live off day on Monday. They can finish this stretch at 13-7 with victory today.