This would normally be a time of excitement and anticipation at Camden Yards, where the Orioles and Washington Nationals will open their two-here, two-there interleague series tonight.
The O's have always enjoyed their Mid-Atlantic regional rivalry against the Nats, who have won a series here just twice since they arrived from Montreal in 2006. The Nationals have also been pretty accommodating at home, losing nine of their past 11 games against the Orioles at Nationals Park.
But, as they say on all those investment fund commercials, past performance does not guarantee future results, and Orioles fans have learned that the hard way over the past week. The O's came into this homestand with the best home record in the major leagues, but were swept in a two-game series by the Red Sox and trounced by the Astros in three of four games.
Now, the thought of four straight games against the runaway first-place team in the National League East cannot seem very appetizing.
If only the past was guaranteed to be prologue. The Orioles have a 17-11 overall record against the Nats here and a 16-12 record in Washington. But it seems more relevant that the Nationals enter the series with an 81/2-game lead over the second-place Miami Marlins and a 12-6 record this month.
Meanwhile, the Orioles came off their first losing month in July and have continued to play sub-.500 baseball in August.
Of course, it's not really the numbers that make this narrative. The Orioles have been unusually streaky all season, so what they did last week is not necessarily relatable to what they might do over the next four nights.
What's impossible to ignore, however, is the way the Orioles stumbled and the possible ramifications of the pitching issues that developed during the first two series of the current Oriole Park homestand.
It's easy to disregard Dylan Bundy's rocky performance Wednesday night, because he's a young pitcher who has pitched well and ran into a hot-hitting Boston Red Sox team. Stuff happens.
The poor starts by left-hander Wade Miley and Chris Tillman might not be so easy to ignore, though for very different reasons.
Miley, who was acquired at the midseason non-waiver trade deadline, pitched passably in his first two Orioles starts, but has given up 12 earned runs over six innings in his past two and let a big lead slip away in a five-run second inning Friday night. He needs to figure out something in time for Wednesday night's start at Nationals Park or there may soon be rumblings about his place in the rotation.
Tillman was coming back after an extended rest. He had experienced shoulder soreness, so manager Buck Showalter pulled him from last Wednesday's scheduled start against Boston. But the three extra days between starts did not have the desired results. Tillman struggled badly with his command and allowed seven runs in two innings, spawning increased concern about his balky shoulder.
He said Saturday night that he felt fine during the game and felt "better than normal" when he woke up on Sunday morning, but the proof will be in his performance in Thursday's interleague finale in Washington.
Throw in the fact that the club's long-relief situation has become so critical that the "Norfolk Shuttle" has been running continuously all weekend and the level of concern about the Orioles' organizational pitching depth is at a season high.
The Orioles will get no quarter from the streaking Nats, who have averaged more than eight runs per game over their past six games and will send 15-game winner Stephen Strasburg to the mound to face Bundy in the series opener tonight.
Three of the four scheduled starters for the Nats have won at least 13 games and the going will get particularly tough at Nationals Park with Tanner Roark (4-0, 2.14 ERA in his past five starts) facing Miley on Wednesday and Max Scherzer (5-2, 2.24 ERA in his past 10 starts) taking on Tillman on Thursday.
With the New York Yankees and the American League East-leading Toronto Blue Jays lined up right behind the Nats, we could know a lot more about the Orioles' true playoff potential very soon.
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Read more from columnist Peter Schmuck on his blog, "The Schmuck Stops Here," at baltimoresun.com/schmuckblog.