At sundown tonight, our Jewish friends will begin the celebration of Passover, which is marked among other ways by not having any leavened bread. Regrettably, Orioles fans have spent the past week in the throes of the unleavened offense.
In the course of a seven-game losing streak that began with the second half of the Texas doubleheader, the Orioles have been outscored 49-17. On the season, the team is now batting a putrid .228/.280/.360, with an offense that's second-worst in runs scored and second-worst in walk rate out of every team in the major leagues. No team has a worse on-base percentage than the O's.
Fortunately for the Birds, the one team that has walked less and scored fewer runs is coming to town starting tonight: the Minnesota Twins, who are without the services of Joe Mauer due to a viral infection. Starting for the Twins tonight is Francisco Liriano, who's accumulated a 9.42 ERA through his three starts on the season, walking over five batters per nine innings. He probably won't have to worry much about giving up walks tonight.
Chris Tillman starts for the O's and he astonishingly has a lower ERA, chiefly because of his six no-hit innings in Tampa Bay (were you there, the insufferable MASN promo guy asks.) The concerns about Tillman have been hashed over ad nauseum on CC and elsewhere. What we will get tonight and in the future is the great mystery. In my attempt to sound optimistic, I will note that of the nine hits Tillman gave up against the Yankees, most were very cheap contact, including the A-Rod home run to RF that was the cheapest of cheap homers.
Shout out to my Camdencast co-host Andrew G, who's going to spend tonight ensconced in the press box at Camden Yards. He won't be able to cheer, so we will have to do that for him. Maybe we will even have something to cheer about.
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