It's getting harder and harder these days to decipher which statistics are the most embarrassing, which numbers best exhibit how awful the 2010 Orioles have been.
There are so many to choose from, but here is one that is going to be very tough to beat. With their 8-2 loss to Toronto on Tuesday night before an announced 16,862 at Rogers Centre, the Orioles are 20 1/2 games behind the Blue Jays for fourth place in the American League East. Only two other teams — the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Arizona Diamondbacks — entered Tuesday more than 20 games out of first place in their respective divisions.
"That sounds awful," Orioles center fielder Adam Jones said. "It's just how our season has been. We're playing the game hard. It's just not happening our way."
Losing for the fourth straight time, the 10th time in 12 games since the All-Star break and the 11th consecutive time to the Blue Jays, the Orioles hit the 100-game mark with a 31-69 record. They are on pace to finish with a 50-112 mark, five more losses than any other Orioles team. The 1988 squad, the much-maligned group that started 0-21, went 54-107.
It stands to reason that things will improve, however slightly, even if it is for a short period. After all, even the worst teams in the major leagues historically have one or two decent stretches. But it's hard to imagine these Orioles putting together anything positive over the last 62 games with the way the starting pitching continues to implode.
On Tuesday night, it was Kevin Millwood's turn to put his team into a huge hole as the Blue Jays had a 3-0 lead before the Orioles starter had gotten an out and a 6-0 advantage by the fourth inning in a game that looked like so many others between the two teams this season.
The Orioles have been outscored 34-13 in their four-game losing streak. During that span, Orioles pitching has allowed 48 hits, including 20 extra-base hits.
"It's unbelievable. I haven't seen anything like this," interim manager Juan Samuel said. "You hope that things will play out differently. We're trying everything possible to do, and the outcome is the same. We just have to right this. Hopefully tomorrow, things will start turning around."
In their 11 victories over the Orioles, their most over one team to start a season, the Blue Jays (52-49) have outscored the AL East cellar dwellers 63-23. They've out-hit them 112-86, including a 55-18 advantage in extra-base hits.
They've also hit 23 homers to the Orioles' four with Jose Bautista's three-run blast in the first inning the big blow Tuesday night. It was the 10th time in his past 11 starts that Millwood has given up at least two runs in the first inning, and he has given up 31 first-inning runs during that span.
"I've tried different things," Millwood said. "I don't think it has anything to do with warming up and the way I warm up. I'm just getting off to a bad start. I don't know what else to say."
Bautista, a former Oriole, then hit a two-run shot in the eighth inning off Alfredo Simon, giving him three in the past two games. Six of his major league-leading 30 homers have come against the Orioles. He finished 4-for-4 with five RBIs and a walk Tuesday, prompting Samuel to say, "You're probably better off just not giving him anything to hit."
Said Millwood: "I just didn't make many good pitches tonight, and a guy who is swinging the bat as well as he is, if you don't make a very good pitch, he's going to hit it hard."
With the Orioles needing some innings from their veteran starter, Millwood lasted just 5 1/3, becoming the eighth starter since the All-Star break to fail to get through six. Samuel, however, was satisfied with that after Millwood's pitch count had reached 65 by the third inning.
Overall, Millwood allowed six runs (five earned) on 10 hits and four walks while striking out five in falling to 2-10 with a 5.96ERA. Considered a solid trade chip at one point, Millwood has just one quality start in his past 10 outings and has surrendered five earned runs in each of his past four starts.
"My side sessions have been going well, but once again, I just didn't throw the ball where I needed to," Millwood said. "No matter what's going on, I always want to go deep into the ballgame. It's just not happening. I'm not making the right adjustments. I'm not pitching well. I don't know what else to say."
He would have had to be very good Tuesday night to match Ricky Romero (8-7), who continued his dominance over the Orioles, improving to 3-0 with a 1.14 ERA against them this season.
He took a shutout bid into the eighth inning before the Orioles strung together three straight hits, the last an RBI double by Nick Markakis. Luke Scott followed with a sacrifice fly, but at that point, it was little more than box score fodder with the Orioles well on their way to another loss in a season that has them on pace to flirt with historical ineptitude.
"It's frustrating because we're obviously not living up to expectations, but we are going out battling," Jones said.