The Orioles bounced back from their record whiff-a-thon in Houston to swing the bat more judiciously against the Cleveland Indians, but it’s still hard to get away from the fact that they set a major league record for strikeouts in a three-game series (52). It almost defies science. Manager Buck Showalter had to do something to get his power-packed offense out of the funk, so he moved struggling Adam Jones into the leadoff role and everything changed. The O’s averaged just over five runs per game in Cleveland and ended up winning two of the three series on the nine-game road trip. Still, it’s hard to get away from the fact that they averaged nine hits per game last week and 12 strikeouts. (Tony Dejak / AP)
Every week, Orioles columnist Peter Schmuck will grade the performance of the Orioles in five categories. The letter grades are not directly tied to any particular statistic, but are representative of a cumulative evaluation of everything – tangible or intangible – that falls under that particular category.