Checking in on Aberdeen's poor start and other minor league notes

The short-season Single-A Aberdeen IronBirds have gotten their new season off to a terrible start. Since beating Hudson Valley at home on opening night, Aberdeen has lost nine in a row. If Aberdeen loses at home tonight versus Brooklyn, the 10-game losing streak would tie a team record. It took two seasons to do that before, as the 2004 squad lost its last four and the 2005 team began 0-6. Aberdeen has struggled to score with just 29 runs and a .221 team average. Six of the IronBirds nine straight losses have come by two runs or less, but yesterday's game was not among them. They fell 6-1 to Brooklyn and Aberdeen made five errors in the game and issued nine walks. It is not all bad there right now. Shortstop Mychal Givens is 8-for-17 the last four games and is now 10th in the league batting at .324 and pitcher David Baker is fourth in the league in opponent average at .133. Right-hander Parker Bridwell (1-1, 3.38) will try to pitch the IronBirds to a win tonight as he did back on opening night. Since returning from the disabled list at Double-A Bowie, Joe Mahoney's bat has heated up. The Orioles 2010 minor league Player of the Year went 3-for-4 with three doubles on Sunday. In nine games since his return, Mahoney is batting .382 with one homer, nine RBIs and a 1.024 OPS. He is hitting .309 on the year in 19 Baysox games with seven doubles, two homers and 10 RBIs. Right-handed pitcher Brandon Cooney is headed back to Bowie after pitching on an injury-rehab assignment with Aberdeen. Cooney is 1-1 with an ERA of 2.70 for Bowie on the season and last pitched for them on May 5. Triple-A Norfolk (29-47) plays at Buffalo tonight with Rick VandenHurk on the mound. He is 3-0 with a 2.50 ERA over his last three starts. Following him in the rotation right now for the Tides is Chris Tillman, Steve Johnson, Mitch Atkins and Chris George. Ryan Adams is just 2-for-22 in five games since returning to the Tides from Baltimore, dropping his average from .303 to .276. In other transactions today, outfielder Chris Clinton is moving from Delmarva to Aberdeen. Right-hander Aaron Swenson has been released. The 24-year-old Swenson was singed by the O's as a non-drafted player after the 2010 draft.