Thu Jul 17 11:52:26 2008

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Baltimore to be dogged by dog days

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(Sports Network) - Once again the Orioles find themselves in familiar territory as they begin the so-called second-half of the 2008 season on Thursday.

Heading into the Midsummer Classic, Baltimore not only dropped back-to-back games against the Boston Red Sox, it also bowed to Texas and Toronto in a collection of five straight, giving the club setbacks in seven of the last eight outings.

Needless to say, the O's are pretty much where they are supposed to be in the standings, with Tampa Bay's unusually strong play in the first half notwithstanding.

Although Baltimore is just three games under .500 at 45-48, the squad is still settled into last place in the American League East. The squad is a game behind the Blue Jays in the standings, even though is has a mark of 16-24 versus teams from the division. Nevertheless, being 10 games out of contention heading back into play actually means the AL East is one of the tightest in all of baseball.

However, history, at least from the last decade, has been against the success of the Orioles. The team has not made the postseason since 1997 when it won the division, and ever since the club has failed to finish higher than fourth place all but one time. Even then, in 2004 when Baltimore came in third in the standings, the team was still six games under .500 in the final tally (78-84). Coming out of the break last year the team took three of four from the Chicago White Sox at home, but even then the Orioles were just 41-50. From that point on Baltimore posted a mark of just 28-43, continuing a disturbing trend of poor play during the dog days of summer.

In 2006, when the O's won two straight entering the break against Cleveland, on the road no less, it ended up being more of the same in the second half. The team suffered through a stretch in which it lost nine of 11 outings, essentially dropping them out of sight once again long before the start of September. Closing the campaign with six straight on the road against the likes of the Yankees and Red Sox is something that no team should have to stomach anyway.

The start of the 2005 campaign saw the Orioles sprint out to an impressive 17-7 start, with two road wins against Boston and five victories in six tries versus the vaunted Bronx Bombers, but even then one could see that the success would not last an entire season. However, fans still held out hope that the first half might still be a success, which is barely was.

With a 9-5 victory against Toronto on the road on June 21, 2005, the Orioles were 14 games over .500 (42-28) and had the rest of the division scratching its collective heads, but that was the end of the good news for the birds.

Before they knew it, the Orioles saw their record shrink to just 47-40 at the break and by the end the team had gone from being 14 games over .500 with just about three months to play to being 14 games under in the final tally (74-88). Needless to say, the second half has been far from rewarding for the Orioles and the Baltimore faithful. Will it happen again this season? Unfortunately, it appears to be so.

BY GEORGE, HE'S AN ALL-STAR

Considering the Orioles were in the basement of the American League East standings heading into the break, it was thought that second baseman Brian Roberts would be the likely choice to make the All-Star team, seeing as how every major league club had to have at least one representative.

But a strange thing happened on the way to the ballot box. Roberts, with his .296 batting average and .489 slugging percentage, failed to make the cut and instead the call was sent out for relief pitcher George Sherrill.

With a stockpile of quality, top-shelf infielders available to choose from in the American League this season, Roberts was left at home and Sherrill was the one summoned to Yankee Stadium.

Despite recording all but two of the 30 saves for the Orioles thus far, the five-year veteran didn't figure on seeing any action for the AL on Tuesday, yet the hurler with a career record of just 12-12 was still ready to make a contribution.

Easily within reach of the club's single-season record for saves already (45), the closer had his moment in the sun (or moon as it were) on Tuesday night (Wednesday morning) when he became the 11th of the 12 pitchers to be used by the AL in the marathon 15-inning, 4-3 victory versus the National League.

Sherrill, who figured to be a backup of a backup just in case of an emergency, ended up having the longest outing of any one of the AL pitchers with 2 1/3 innings of work, giving up just one hit and striking out two in his All-Star debut.

So even if the rest of the regular season goes down the tubes for the Orioles as it generally does, at least Sherrill has some good stories to tell.

WHO'S HOT

A quick review of 2008's first half has Baltimore ranked fifth in the American League with 101 home runs, yet the team is still fifth from the bottom in the league in hitting with a collective .258. Aubrey Huff has assumed the position of power hitter for the Orioles with team highs of 18 home runs and 59 RBIs, while placing third in the squad with 53 runs scored. Nick Markakis heads the list of regulars in terms of overall hitting with his .299 average, posting 14 home runs and 50 RBIs, as well as 61 runs scored.

WHO'S NOT

Melvin Mora still has his moments for the Orioles, but they seem to be few and far between these days with 11 home runs and 48 RBIs over the course of his 87 games. While those numbers are still respectable (he's totaled just 30 home runs the last two seasons combined) his .233 batting average is considerably lower than his career mark of .276. Pitcher Radhames Liz is someone who many believe was brought up to the majors before he was due to make a serious contribution. Liz was knocked around in his most recent outing against the Red Sox, allowing eight earned runs on three home runs over the course of 2 1/3 innings. In his last six games Liz has watched a total of 10 balls leave the park, in addition to walking 18 batters.

ON DECK

The Orioles kick the second half of the season into gear on Thursday night as they begin a four-game set against the Detroit Tigers at home in Camden Yards. The opener sees Jeremy Guthrie take the hill for the O's, with Daniel Cabrera, Garrett Olson and Radhames Liz initially scheduled to make starts in the series as well. Before the Orioles head to Yankee Stadium on July 28, the team settles in for four straight against Toronto and another three games next weekend versus the Angels.