Well I'm gonna stick to what I've said since late April, the O's are an 85 win team. The O's have a some good hitters this offensive slump will not go on much longer. It's definately a June swoon but the O's have several hot streaks in them still.

85 wins will work for me this year, as long as the young talent continues to develop to add in the future. Realistically, how many holes do you see with this current team?? I have 3b, LF, 1B and way too many DH types that also provide bad defense.

Hopefully Machado will continue his streak in the minors and next year slide JJ to 3B to address that defense with Machado taking SS.

I think the next two series against lesser opponents and having to play the Angels again afterwards will tell alot about this team.

To say Your throwing in the towel is pathetic, the season is full of ups and downs just look at how the Angels and Redsox overcame there early struggles.
I'm not saying we have world series/playoff team, but we do have the core to atleast end our awful run of 15 consecutive losing seasons. For me anything above that's icing on the cake.

I don't think 1b is a hole, Chris Davis will be a fine 1b for us over the next few years. I think Reimold could be the DH long term so that leaves Lf and 3b.

"To say Your throwing in the towel is pathetic, the season is full of ups and downs just look at how the Angels and Redsox overcame there early struggles.
I'm not saying we have world series/playoff team, but we do have the core to atleast end our awful run of 15 consecutive losing seasons. For me anything above that's icing on the cake."

Was that to me? I said 85 wins.

No, that was directed towards the original post of CalAbrams and Travi48.

I will agree on Davis, but even he will not play 1B all that much until next year. Showalter said Davis handles DH duties better than Reynolds, so that means Reynolds at 1B until we drop him at years end.....

The loss of Reimold has been overlooked alot. I think he really provided something with his speed, hustle and power. If he can come back and stay healthy, that is a huge step on the DH. Maybe an Avery, or Hoes can step up later this year or by next year at the latest, and fill in LF.

That still leaves 3B. I am scared to death when the ball is hit there currently. First I wonder if whoever will field it, and then the throws to 1B is a whole nother adventure. Someone, mentioned Johnson from the Astros. Can't say that I have watched him at all, but you would think he's gotta be better than what we got and should not cost much.

Headley is another, but I think the Padres will plunder someone bad for him. They will not get the Latos haul, but I think they get someones #2 prospect, plus a couple B grade prospects.

I could see Flaherty at 3b or Lf next year. Of the two, I'd say LF needs a long term answer and 3b needs a stop gag. I'll admit I was excited to see Avery earlier in the year but the sobering truth is he's a speed guy who doesn't make contact and that type of prospect is a tricky proposition.

THE SKY IS FALLING!

At the close of business on May 31st the Orioles' record was 29-22.

Today their record is 41-33.

I'm no expert on "downward spirals" and "inevitable collapses," but my 3rd grade teacher taught me that if you subtract "29" from "41," you get "12." Similarly, if you subtract "22" from "33," you get "11."

Mrs. Wallace would have given me a "check-plus" in 1958 if I'd made those calculations and told her that the Orioles have won 12 games and lost 11 in June. During their "June Swoon" the Orioles have played .522 ball.

Since most every sentient creature who follows baseball thought Baltimore had no chance of playing .500 ball this year, that doesn't seem to me like such an awful, pitiful "downward spiral."

You win some and you lose some.

I will take .500 this year and lets go up and improve from that. Those that feel we will not win again this year and are doomed are dreaming, but also, so are those who want to print playoff tickets as well. We are about a middle of the pack team which is a BIG improvement over previous.

We need to address several areas this offseason (3B,LF, defense), I think DD given the time will come thru and am just thrilled that even with all the years of bad seasons we still have a very hungry, supportive fan base.

If I still lived in Harford County as I did as a kid, you would have a hard time keeping me out of the stadium this year. Alas, I watch almost every game from Florida on Directv.

Hey Mike, you know how it is, you give someone an inch and they want a mile.

Ok well I'll be happy if we're still at .500 or above it is ridiculous just because we started good everyone wants to make the playoffs. When i said this was the. Collapse I was really mad after yesterday's game.

Pretty clearly, as you said, the Orioles have some major weaknesses.

They had a left fielder (Reimold) but he's been on the DL since May 1 and is probably out for the year. They even had a right fielder (Markakis) but he's been on the DL since June 1.

Regardless of who's played third base this season for the Orioles (Reynolds, Betemit, Tolleson, etc.), he's been a defensive embarrassment and the Orioles' defense, in general, has been terrible.

Further, the Orioles' starting pitching has floundered most of the time. The team's saving grace has been its bullpen and its coaching. They have some talent but not enough. Even before their injuries they were expected to be among the three worst teams in MLB when the season started.

Somehow, they went 14-9 in April and 15-13 in May. Despite being stomped by the Angels and losing their last two games, they are still 12-11 so far in June. That's three winning months in a row. I'm excited by that and by the way the farm system is being rebuilt... from nothing.

The Orioles are 8 games over .500 and have 11 more games to play before the All-Star break. After that, Nick and Zach Britton should be playing. If they can win 6 of those 11 games they'd go into the "second half" at 47-38.

That should encourage everybody... except slick and CAL, of course. lol

It's been a pretty good year in fact hasn't it, Tom?

Last season the Orioles were 35-41 on June 28 and by July 31 they were 42-63. I just don't see that happening to this year's team. For one thing, they'd have to lose 30 of their next 31 to match their 2011 July 31st W-L record. :)

knee jerk huh?

12-15 in our last 27. It's no delusion the O's have been slumping for a month now. While the O's had no expectations coming into this year, we did have them coming into last year and the original McPhail plan was to start competing in 2012 (maybe2012 coined his board name like 3 years ago). So I'm not giving the O's a free pass this year, this group is entering it's prime and is supposed to be winning.

That said, I agree the O's will hit again and win again and there is still an outside shot at the rotation coming together enough for a legit wild card run.

"It's been a pretty good year in fact hasn't it, Tom?"

Yeah, I'm more than satisfied with what's transpired so far.

i think 500 is a real possibility, and were still at top of wc. and 7 over 500 were fine ,