Maybe that old baseball saying that "you are never as good as you look when you are winning and never as bad as you look when you are losing," applies to these Orioles. They sure looked good during a 6-1 start. We can only hope they are not as bad as they have looked during the 0-6 run since. They sure have looked bad. In three of the losses, they were pretty much blown out. That would be the last two days and the 13-1 loss to Texas. In the 7-4 loss in game one at Yankee Stadium, it was...

Just once, I'd like for Tim Belcher to have a mound conference with Nick Bierbrodt. I think it would be a gas. OK, sorry. Jake Fox started a seventh-inning rally with a triple into left-center field. Taking third base was a huge gamble on Fox's part, considering that the Orioles were down by four runs. If he's out, he may as well keep walking into the clubhouse. And make sure not to pass manager Buck Showalter in the dugout. Fox made it safely on a close play and scored on Brian...

Luke Scott had no homers and one RBI before today. Now he has one homer and two RBIs. Could this be the start of a hot streak? Indians starter Josh Tomlin might have fanned the flames, instead of the slugger, in the fifth inning. Scott has a hit in four straight games and six of his last seven. Scott is a former Indians farmhand, in case you forgot. The Astros acquired him in a 2004 trade. Did you know that Scott spent his first professional season on the disabled list after undergoing...

Jake Fox provided the first run today and some comic relief. Fox homered in the third inning to reduce the Indians' lead to 2-1 over the Orioles. Fox stumbled as he rounded first base and had to go back to make sure he touched the bag and avoid an embarrassing appeal and out. Players were laughing in the dugout as he came down the steps. You'll recall that Fox had 10 home runs in spring training, 11 if you count the interleague game. He was 0-for-7 before today's game. Fox is making his...

I was wondering today if Derrek Lee and Vlad Guerrero have been slow starters in their careers. They have not hit much so far and maybe they are just not good hitters in early-season games. Well, both do have some good stats hitting in April. Lee has a career .270 average and .852 OPS in the month with 51 homers. But maybe the good news is that his April OPS ranks just fifth highest among the six months of the season. So he gets better after April according to his track record. The same is...

The sun came out in Cleveland and then it disappeared again. Another bad storm moved through the area, but they're projecting a 3:05 p.m. start at Progressive Field. How are the bats supposed to heat up in these conditions? The Orioles rank 24th in the majors with a .226 average. They've scored 46 runs, more than only four teams. Manager Buck Showalter told reporters earlier today that he doesn't have any immediate plans to juggle the lineup. He believes in track records and figures that...

Hello, MASNsports.com readers. My name is Heath Bintliff and I have been writing Dempsey's Army, a Baltimore Orioles blog, since 2006. Although I grew up in Maryland, I now live in Atlanta and have been away from Maryland for 11 years. As you might imagine, there are not a lot of O's fans down here in Georgia, so I needed an outlet for my Orioles thoughts and the blog was born. Dempsey's Army offers statistical analysis, historical perspective, commentary, prospect watching and various...

There are many who will tell you that the Washington Nationals are a team in waiting. After several years of terrible misfortune on the field, they were unprecedented benefactors of great luck off of it. In back-to-back seasons, arguably the two greatest, or at least most hyped, prospects of all time would enter the Major League Baseball draft, and each year the Nationals had the first overall pick. Washington shelled out the money to sign the two, and now the Lerners, general manager Mike...

Jeremy Guthrie will take the mound today as the Orioles attempt to halt a five-game losing streak. Guthrie has got to play stopper today, and he seems the most qualified on the staff. He's allowed one run and seven hits in 14 innings, and he should have better stamina today. Here's the Orioles' lineup, which includes Jake Fox behind the plate: Brian Roberts 2B Nick Markakis RF Derrek Lee 1B Vladimir Guerrero DH Luke Scott LF Adam Jones CF Mark Reynolds 3B Jake Fox C Robert Andino...

So much for sleeping in on a Saturday morning. My daughter has her first SAT prep class today, which begins at 9 a.m. and lasts 4 1/2 hours. And honestly, what else would a teenage girl want to do on a Saturday morning? You can imagine her excitement. Bet she could barely sleep last night. Manager Buck Showalter told reporters a few days ago that there was a 90 percent chance of rain today. The Orioles could be facing a doubleheader tomorrow because they don't come back to...