So now the question is: What kind of nose dive are the Orioles in this time?
Is it the same old nose dive of the past 11 years, when they managed a nifty .410 winning percentage (254-368) in August and September?
Or is this one somehow different, the sort-of-expected cratering of a team trotting out a lot of young arms and a couple of promising rookie position players while prepping for the future?
Go ahead, you decide. Flip a coin if you have to.
And do you even care if this nose dive is any different from all the others?
Or are you already totally focused on the Ravens and their preseason opener tonight against the Washington Redskins, when we mostly get to watch a bunch of anonymous fat guys who'll be looking for work after the first cuts?
Any way you look at it, the Orioles' 6-3 loss to the lowly Oakland Athletics at Camden Yards on Wednesday was another depressing blow.
Look at the big picture. The Orioles are 7-19 since the All-Star break. The pitching has been shaky. The bats have been awful: 8-for-49 with runners in scoring position over the past five games.
What is it about the dog days of summer that brings out the worst in this team?
Is it the heat and humidity? Probably not. You get away with that one only if your entire roster consists of Inuit tribesmen from Alaska.
Is it the fact that they play in baseball's toughest division? And that the grind of competing against perennial contenders like the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox eventually wears you down?
Sure, that's a factor.
Contenders play each game down the stretch as if it's life and death.
Teams in, say, fifth place and 24 games out of first place tend to play like the plane's warming up for their Club Med vacation.
Whatever the reason, there have been days recently when the Orioles have been almost unwatchable.
Monday night's lopsided 9-1 loss to the A's was a recent example. There are department store mannequins that show more life than the Orioles did that game.
This latest loss to the A's was no work of art, either, especially when you consider they failed to rough up the immortal Vin Mazzaro, Oakland's starter, who had lost eight of his previous nine decisions.
"It's tough," said Nick Markakis, who had three hits but was thrown out at second on the back end of a double steal in the seventh. "This game's not easy, especially when you're in pressure situations and you have some guys on.
