A mere glance at the lineups before Wednesday afternoon's series finale between the Orioles and San Francisco Giants foreshadowed a predictable outcome for the visiting team at sun-drenched AT&T; Park.
Tim Lincecum, the two-time National League Cy Young Award winner with the floppy hair and devastating arsenal of pitches, was on the mound for the Giants, facing an Orioles lineup that included three hitters hovering near the Mendoza line and a starting pitcher with one career hit.
Yet, three hours later, after catcher Matt Wieters became the Orioles' 15th strikeout victim to end a 6-3 loss and another dropped series, the occupants of the visiting clubhouse all expressed the belief that they had just been part of a game they should have won.
Instead, they fell for the 17th time in the past 20 contests and remain winless in their past 11 series.
"I think we had some situations that we were put in that we didn't execute, including myself in that last at-bat," Orioles right fielder Nick Markakis said. It's tough, especially with the situation that we're in. When you don't execute those plays in crucial times, it's magnified times 10. It's not like we're not out there trying. We're trying and just coming up short right now."
Giants closer Brian Wilson struck out Markakis with runners on the corners and one out in a one-run game in the eighth and then retired Luke Scott to end the inning on his way to a five-out save. It was the final missed opportunity on a day and in a series full of them.
The majors-worst Orioles (18-48) went 3-for-14 with runners in scoring position and stranded 13 base runners, failing to take full advantage of a wild Lincecum, who allowed eight hits, walked four and threw three wild pitches in six innings.
In the three-game series, they went 5-for-33 (.152) with runners in scoring position and stranded 33 runners. It continued their season-long woes in clutch spots — the Orioles are hitting a major league-worst .213 with runners in scoring position. The next-worst team batting average with runners in scoring position in the American League is owned by the Seattle Mariners, who entered Wednesday night hitting .237.
"I think we had a chance to beat them," said Julio Lugo, who was a late insertion into the lineup in place of the injured Scott Moore and went 3-for-5 with two RBIs. "We had a lot of chances with men in scoring position and less than two outs. That's been one of our weaknesses. We're not putting the ball in play at the right time. Sometimes, you don't need a hit to drive some runs in. That's one of the things that cost us even though I thought we swung the bats well as a team."
Former Oriole Aubrey Huff broke a tie at 2 in the sixth inning by ripping a full-count slider from Jeremy Guthrie over the right-field wall and into McCovey Cove, the 52nd "Splash Hit" at AT&T; Park and Huff's 11th homer of the season. Juan Uribe followed Huff's blast with another homer, off another slider from Guthrie, to give the Giants a 4-2 lead.
"I'm having a blast. I like playing baseball right now," said Huff, who went 3-for-4 with two RBIs and three runs. "I've been on that side. It's not fun, believe me. [I had] nine straight years of that. It kind of wears on you. You come here every day, and I finally feel like I'm in the big leagues."
Before the two home runs, Guthrie, who had a 30-pitch, two-run first, had retired nine straight Giants and 13 of the past 15 hitters he had faced.
"I think ultimately it came down to the sixth inning. I couldn't put down a zero," said Guthrie, who allowed four runs over six innings in falling to 3-8. "You look at their bullpen. I think if we could keep it tied there, I think we go on and win this game. I don't think there's anywhere to look any further than this mound and what I wasn't able to accomplish in the sixth."
While Guthrie's taking accountability for the loss was admirable, the score should have never been tied and the margin for error shouldn't have been so slim at that stage of the game.
The Orioles had runners on second and third with two outs in the first, and Lincecum (7-2) got Adam Jones to fly out. They had the same situation in the third inning, and the Giants ace fanned Scott and Jones on his way to a 10-strikeout afternoon.
But the Orioles' biggest missed opportunity came in the fourth after Cesar Izturis' RBI single cut the Giants' lead to 2-1 and put runners on second and third with no outs. Lincecum needed only 12 pitches to strike out the side, fanning Guthrie, Corey Patterson and Miguel Tejada.
"We have not been driving in big runs, and I think guys in those situations are trying so hard instead of being relaxed and going for a pitch in the area," interim manager Juan Samuel said.
"I think we are taking too many fastballs down the middle. Sometimes you might have to expand the zone there, but we have to make contact in that situation."
The Orioles tied the score on Lugo's single in the fifth but then left two runners on base, and that didn't include Lugo, who was thrown out stealing on the back end of a double steal with Jones.
They left two more on base in the seventh when Santiago Casilla struck out Izturis, and two more in the eighth when Wilson went through Markakis on just four pitches, the last a 97 mph fastball. Giants second baseman Freddy Sanchez made a good play on Scott's hard-hit grounder to preserve a one-run lead for the home team after the top of the eighth.
"We had our chances. We just couldn't get a hit with men in scoring positing," Jones said. "If we had, it would have definitely changed the whole outlook of the game."