Sunday afternoon Orioles game thread: vs. Cubs, 1:35

The All-Star break was a nice four day respite from the Orioles being a bad baseball team. It was a long enough break that you could actually start to convince yourself, “Hey, maybe if they go on a hot streak...” Well, here we are two games into the second half of the season and they have neatly eviscerated that hope.

What has done them in is the same thing that has done them in all season. Their starting pitching is just horrible. I mean, even if you might have thought this would be the team’s weakness, you surely didn’t expect that they would be sitting here in mid-July with a worst in the majors starting rotation ERA of 5.95. I mean, geez.

Is that going to get any better with Ubaldo Jimenez pitching today? I think we probably all have the same answer to that question, though of course, Jimenez is always capable of surprising.

The Orioles are once again tied for last place in the AL East. Time is running out before the trade deadline and the only place the Orioles are headed is towards disaster. I don’t want the Orioles to lose games, but if they are in fact not a very good baseball team, it is important for that to be known before July 31 so that they can make the correct decision.