The Sunday afternoon Orioles game thread: at White Sox, 2:10

Things kind of suck right now for the Orioles. Two runs in three games is a sad state of affairs in any situation, unless you're talking about what your pitching staff has allowed. The worst performance in a three-game series that I can find in last year's results was a pathetic four runs in three game effort against the Cubs. Maybe it's something about the city of Chicago?

Of course, one key difference between that series and this one. They played the Cubs in August last year and they were eight games up in the division when that series started. This year, the Orioles started this series against the White Sox tied for first in the division, and the Yankees, dark pact with Satan ever refreshed by the blood of the innocent, are hauling past them with walkoff after walkoff. You can't just point to last year as proof that everything will be OK.

One thing that could change for the better starting today is that Jonathan Schoop is finally back in the lineup. The Orioles probably could have activated him some time ago but they were dragging their feet to avoid DFAing another player. That was probably not a wise decision. Schoop was hot way back in April, but we'll see how he does when thrown from the minor league pitching he's been facing in his rehab to the heat of Carlos Rodon today.

Rodon was the #3 overall pick in last year's draft. What do you think it's like to have a team draft a pitcher towards the top of the first round who is good enough to be in the rotation the next year, and the team actually puts him in the rotation? I suspect we'll never know.