Good morning, Camden Chatters.<\/p>\n
Well, it happened again. For the seventh time this season, the Orioles had a chance to win four games in a row. And for the seventh time this season, they failed. The Birds\u2019 bats went silent as they dropped the series finale to the Reds, 3-2, to fall back to seven games under .500. John Beers recapped the Orioles\u2019 latest futile effort.<\/a><\/p>\n It\u2019s become a running joke, except not so much the \u201cha-ha\u201d kind of joke, but more of the \u201care you kidding me?\u201d kind. The 2026 Orioles are simply incapable of winning four consecutive games, something that every other team in the majors (besides the Giants) has managed to do this season. The worst team in baseball, the Rockies? They won four in a row at one point. All the other last-place teams \u2014 the Red Sox, Royals, Angels, Mets, and, yes, the Reds \u2014 have all won four in a row. Most of them have done it twice. The Orioles are ostensibly better than all those teams, but remain stubbornly unable to put together even the most modest of winning streaks.<\/p>\n The O\u2019s had two chances in April to win a fourth straight game and squandered them both. Another opportunity at the end of May was similar wasted, as were three more in June. And now, after starting the month of July with a 3-0 record, they\u2019ve blown it again. It\u2019s as if, after three consecutive wins, the Orioles collectively decide, \u201cAll right, that\u2019s enough competent play for us,\u201d and return to the place where they\u2019re most comfortable: the loss column.<\/p>\n It\u2019s the same old story. The O\u2019s just can\u2019t get seem to fire on all cylinders for any extended period. Something always conspires to hold them back, whether it\u2019s lousy defense, sloppy fundamentals, poor pitching, or in yesterday\u2019s case, a disappearing offense. The Orioles have buried themselves in such a hole that they pretty much have to go on a lengthy hot streak at some point if they have any hopes of contention. A four-game winning streak would be a great start. Five or six or seven would be even better. I\u2019m just not sure they\u2019re capable of it.<\/p>\n With only six games remaining until the All-Star break, the O\u2019s are guaranteed to finish the first half with a losing record. Whether that record is just garden-variety bad or totally-out-of-contention bad depends on how the O\u2019s fare during their six-game homestand before the break against the Cubs and Royals. For what it\u2019s worth, the Birds have a winning record at Camden Yards this season at 24-23, so they could actually win a few.<\/p>\n Maybe they\u2019ll even win four. But almost definitely not consecutively.<\/p>\n Because You Asked \u2013 Any Which Way You Can – School of Roch<\/a><\/p>\n Roch Kubatko fields questions about Heston Kjerstad, Mike Elias\u2019 job security, and whether Han or Greedo shot first. His mailbag is, as always, a free-for-all.<\/p>\n