Monday was a day off for the Orioles - their first in three weeks - and after playing 21 games in 20 days, it was obvious they needed a break.
But there was another game to play last night, and a losing streak to stop, so Orioles manager Mike Hargrove watched with disgust as his team delivered one of its most lackadaisical efforts of the season.
It was as if someone set an alarm clock after the short vacation, and his team decided to hit snooze.
The Tampa Bay Devil Rays, no longer looking like a team that can succumb to sleepwalking opponents, used a strong effort by starting pitcher Jeremi Gonzalez and wound up toppling the Orioles again, 9-2, before 23,861 at Camden Yards.
"We weren't real intelligent hitters tonight," Hargrove said after his team's season-worst losing streak reached eight games. "We weren't real intelligent defenders, and we weren't real intelligent pitchers. So we pretty much covered the whole ball of wax."
The Orioles grabbed a 2-1 lead in the sixth inning, but Rocco Baldelli put Tampa Bay in front to stay with a two-out, two-run single in the seventh off Orioles starter Eric DuBose.
By the ninth inning, when the Devil Rays pulled away with five runs off Jorge Julio, the Orioles' season seemed to reach a new low point, as the remnants of a small crowd showered them with boos.
Tampa Bay has won 11 of 17 against the Orioles this season, including five in a row. The Devil Rays still are last in the American League East, but they trimmed their margin behind the Orioles to six games.
Afterward, Hargrove called another meeting and scolded his players.
"I don't think it had anything to do with the Devil Rays," Hargrove said. "I think we came back from the off day and decided we'd show up a little late, mentally. The physical effort was there, honest. Everybody was trying very hard.
"But as a whole, mentally, we were not as tough and as sharp as we should have been."
It was obvious in the first inning.
Carl Crawford led off with a single and stole second base. Orioles catcher Brook Fordyce reared back to make the throw, and there was nobody covering the base.
Manning the middle infield, the Orioles had veteran shortstop Deivi Cruz and rookie second baseman Jose Morban. Brian Roberts was scratched with flu-like symptoms 20 minutes before the game, thrusting Morban into the third start of his career at second base.
