Orioles finish 1-8 road trip as Rays complete sweep, 8-3

(An homage to Ernest L. Thayer’s Casey at the Bat...)

The outlook wasn’t brilliant for the Bal’mer nine today
(But let’s be honest, that’s true almost every time they play).
Putrid pitching. Flimsy fielding. Lousy at the plate.
The O’s, in case you didn’t know, are in a sorry state.

The Birds began with just a tiny bit of fleeting hope.
Three walks to start -- would this lead to a scoring rally? Nope!
One guy was caught stealing, two others were left stranded;
Despite the many runners, the O’s went down empty-handed.

The Rays, meanwhile? They scored runs, ‘cause they’re actually good.
They jumped on poor Josh Rogers just as quickly as they could.
A walk, a single, then a double, there’s one on the board.
One more single, three-run homer -- that’s five that they’ve scored.

Five to nothing after just one inning? Nice job, guys.
The sad thing is it really doesn’t come as much surprise.
Awful teams do awful things, and teams don’t come much worse
Than the 2018 Orioles, who daily make us curse.

Could anything be more symbolic of this year so sour
Than a game that turned into a blowout in, like, half an hour?
Limping to the finish line, the Birds were fully cooked,
But there was plenty more embarrassment before the loss was booked.

Making errors on routine balls? The Orioles sure do.
Watching as a runner steals home plate? They did that, too.
Once there was a pop-up and three fielders stood around
Staring blankly at each other ‘till it hit the ground.

When all the dust had settled, the end result was less than fun.
The Rays had raked a baker’s dozen hits and scored eight runs.
The O’s? They’d scored just three after the game was well decided.
And that’s loss one-oh-two. No wonder this team’s so derided.

So there it is, the end of yet another brutal trek.
The Orioles won just one game; in eight, they played like dreck.
The season can’t end soon enough. It’s just an ugly scene.
Could this team still become the worst that baseball’s ever seen?