After spending the spring listening to Dave Trembley pound away at the notion that everything begins and ends with the starting pitching, I'm not sure what to think about the Orioles' strange -- and potentially disastrous -- 1-6 start.
The starting rotation has been just fine, pitching to a sub-4.00 ERA and falling down hard just once. Even then, it wasn't that bad. Brad Bergesen lasted into the fifth inning and the Orioles took a lead into the ninth.
Frankly, I never would have imagined the offensive performance would be this toothless, even over such a relatively short period. I know there's no Mark Teixeira in the lineup, but there are enough good young hitters to score more than 2.9 runs per game and rank 28th among the 30 major league clubs in that department.
It is, of course, just seven games, so drawing any sweeping conclusions would be a bit silly, but something better change in a hurry or it'll be hard to find a reason to show up at the ballpark. Obviously, a lot of people are having trouble already, considering that last night's crowd was the smallest in the history of Oriole Park at Camden Yards.