HOUSTON - In baseball, you are riding high one day and not the next. Or you have plenty of momentum and you are winning series against two of baseball's best teams one day and getting swept by a team starting to play well again the next.
When the Orioles rallied from 11 runs down to get within three late in the game at Houston Friday night, we were marveling at this team's effort and fight and ability to come back even when down double digits runs.
Now two losses later - games that were not close at the end - we are left wondering if the Orioles are a tired team? If they are now suddenly having pitching issues and if the injuries finally caught up to them?
The real question to answer here - and it may take days, weeks or even longer to begin to figure out - is has this team hit a bump in the road or a real big pothole? Is this just a few losses or the beginning of a longer downward trend? Are the Orioles not as good as they looked just, what seemed like hours ago?
My guess is this too shall pass, and this club will return to winning soon. They have bounced back so many times the last couple of years, what is another?