Losing Streak

OK, so the Orioles have lost five straight , but it's not time to panic. Not yet. Last year's team had just one losing streak over three games, a six-game skid from May 26 to June 1.  But just four of those losses came on the road, as opposed to the five straight home losses that make up the team's current losing streak. That's not that big a deal, because we know the Orioles play well on the road. But during that six-game streak last year, Orioles manager Buck Showalter called a rare team meeting in Toronto to rally his players, to remind them that they were better than the losses showed and that staying consistent in their approach would pay off. That talk obviously worked.

OK, so the Orioles have lost five straight , but it's not time to panic. Not yet. Last year's team had just one losing streak over three games, a six-game skid from May 26 to June 1.  But just four of those losses came on the road, as opposed to the five straight home losses that make up the team's current losing streak. That's not that big a deal, because we know the Orioles play well on the road. But during that six-game streak last year, Orioles manager Buck Showalter called a rare team meeting in Toronto to rally his players, to remind them that they were better than the losses showed and that staying consistent in their approach would pay off. That talk obviously worked.

The Baltimore area's longest basketball losing streak -- 61 games -- ended yesterday when Sparrows Point High School decisively whipped Mount Carmel, 73-53.Robert Levine scored 17 points and Carnell Damon added 13 as the visiting Pointers won for the first time since the 1987-88 season.

Last season, Orioles manager Buck Showalter had the base of the right-field foul pole at Camden Yards painted black in order to help discern balls in play from home runs. Most stadiums have a yellow line on the top of the wall that serves as a marker in cases where there could be doubt. Camden Yards doesn't, and on most days here, you'll never notice. In the Orioles' 3-1 loss to Tampa Bay on Sunday afternoon, that anonymous nook of the ballpark was the point of focus in front of an announced 37,704 at Camden Yards.

When quarterback Keith Randall completed a 7-yard touchdown pass Friday to Jordan Bledsoe in the second quarter, Owings Mills was on its way to breaking a 53-game losing streak in football that dates five years. "We led 6-0 at the half, and our kids could really feel the win," Owings Mills coach Steve Lurz said. "We knew we had to keep our composure in the second half." Abe Tadros added a 6-yard touchdown run in the third quarter, and the host Eagles (1-3) went on to beat Loch Raven, 12-0.

Principal Laura Webb greeted her Annapolis High School softball team with flowers this morning. She had a carnation for each player and for coach Gloria Day to celebrate yesterday's 10-inning 8-7 victory over Southern-AA that ended the state's longest losing streak at 90."Everybody's grinning all around school," said Day, who had preached and preached all season to her players that "good things will happen, if you keep trying."With two outs in the bottom of the 10th inning, winning pitcher Jennifer Mauck ripped a line drive to rightfield, scoring Uyen Do with the winning run.Do also made a game-saving play in the eighth by throwing out Rachel Lee, who was trying to score from third.

Archbishop Spalding's varsity football team still is waiting to see if it has the metro area's longest losing streak. The Cavaliers' 6-0 overtime loss to Douglass of Baltimore City on Sept. 14 could be overturned.Because of a Maryland Scholastic Association C Conference rule, games ending in a tie are not to be decided by any tie-breaking procedures or overtime periods. However, because both coaches agreed, an overtime period was conducted at Douglass."It surprised me when the refs said that we'd play overtime," said Spalding head coach Greg Furhman.

As recently as last Sunday, the Orioles were on a pace to win 108 games. All this four-game losing streak means is that things are finally balancing out.Such downturns are inevitable during a 162-game schedule. The encouraging part is, the Orioles played nearly one-fourth of their season without losing this many in a row.They're obviously for real, and Oakland manager Tony La Russa marveled at their turnaround even as his club became the first visiting team to sweep a series at Camden Yards.

Most of the razzing is good-natured, gentle gibes, wonderin when the next victory is coming.But the Sparrows Point High football team takes its verbal lumps in stride and strives to break the state's longest losing streak, a 26-game famine that stretches back to 1989.It isn't easy for 21 players who never have celebrated after a game."This can get pretty discouraging sometimes," said junior tackle John Gilliam. "Especially when the games are real close. But you just have to try to shake it off and go on. You hear a lot of things around school, some of them sort of sarcastic.

MINNEAPOLIS -- There was no plastic covering the lockers, no corks popping, no confetti. In fact, the end of a 10-game losing streak was barely noticed by the Washington Bullets last night."

The Loyola men's lacrosse team made sure overtime was not even a possibility Saturday. No. 7 Loyola took a lead with 1:29 left in the first quarter and never relinquished it en route to an 8-4 win over No. 13 Johns Hopkins before an announced 7,905 at Homewood Field in Baltimore. It was in stark contrast to last year, when the Greyhounds opened with a nearly 19-minute scoreless stretch and surrendered five goals in a 10-9 overtime setback to the Blue Jays. The victory helped the reigning national champions snap a 13-game losing streak to Johns Hopkins, capturing their first win in the series since 1999 and their first triumph at Homewood Field since 1998.

Navy ended a disappointing 2012 campaign with an invigorating 8-2 upset of Johns Hopkins to finish with a 6-6 record. With the Midshipmen at 3-9 before Saturday's season finale against the Blue Jays, could a similar outcome be in the cards? “We did it before, and hopefully that means we can do it again,” Navy coach Rick Sowell said Wednesday afternoon. “But it's obviously a different year, and we're playing at their place. So I'm not sure how much impact it's really going to have.

Friday night's 11-8 setback to No. 4 Maryland extended Navy's losing skid to five consecutive games, which is the second such streak in the last three years for the program. The last time the team lost five straight, the academy jettisoned former coach Richie Meade and replaced him with current coach Rick Sowell. With Army (6-4) this Saturday and No. 15 Johns Hopkins (6-4) on April 20 remaining on the schedule, the Midshipmen (3-8) are in danger of setting a low with what could be the longest losing skid in the program's history.

- Towson has seen the end of many streaks during its renaissance basketball season. It finished off another one Tuesday night at George Mason. Jerrelle Benimon scored a career-high 31 points, including 22 in the first half, as the Tigers halted a 20-game losing streak to the Patriots with an 85-81 overtime triumph. Marcus Damas (23 points) made a pair of game-clinching free throws with 7.6 seconds left in the extra period for Towson (17-13, 12-5 Colonial Athletic Association)

Jim Berkman laughed when asked if he sensed any relief from his players after Salisbury defeated Widener, 7-5, on Saturday. But the Sea Gulls coach conceded that getting a victory after back-to-back losses to No. 9 Lynchburg and unranked Washington & Lee provided the reigning national champion with some much-needed confidence. “We played awful good on defense,” Berkman said Monday morning. “We held them down. We should've had more goals than seven though based on what I saw on film.

Salisbury's 7-6 double-overtime loss to Washington & Lee Wednesday might raise the panic meter surrounding the 10-time national champion, which is 1-2 for the first time and under .500 for the first time since 1989. But coach Jim Berkman said that the Sea Gulls' two-game losing streak is just a minor hiccup for the program. “There are 17 games in the lacrosse season. We just played three, and we've lost two games by a goal - one in double overtime. I don't panic,” Berkman said Thursday morning.

ANNAPOLIS -- Five years, one day, 90 losses and three extra innings since its last victory, Annapolis High School won a softball game yesterday.The Panthers' 90-game losing streak -- believed to be an all-time state record for consecutive defeats in any sport -- ended with an 8-7, 10-inning victory over Southern High of Anne Arundel. And that ending touched off a celebration."I'm so happy and so proud of everyone that I don't know what to say," shortstop Jodi Smith said, "except, 'We're going to have a party -- yeah!

Mark Turgeon is no bracketologist. The Maryland basketball coach keeps himself sheltered in a Rating Percentage Index-free zone. But while Turgeon has neither the time nor the inclination to regularly assess his team's chances of making the NCAA tournament, he knew enough about the calendar Thursday night to understand that time was growing short for the Terps to begin recording some all-important conference road wins. After losing their first four Atlantic Coast Conference road games, the Terps broke through against Virginia Tech, beating the Hokies, 60-55, in front of an announced 5,465 at Cassell Coliseum.

The Navy men's basketball team went on a 12-0 run in the first half and led basically from start to finish in topping Army, 59-50, on Sunday at Christl Arena in West Point, N.Y. The win ended losing streaks of 16 games in the Patriot League and six overall for the Midshipmen, who improved their record to 7-12 overall and 1-2 in conference. Army, which entered the game 6-1 at home, fell to 8-10 overall and 1-2 in league play. The Navy win prevented the Black Knights from winning three straight games in the series for the first time since the mid-late 1970s.