Losing Streak

Have the Orioles coming crashing down to Earth this early? It seems the Orioles are always raising hopes early in the spring, only to crumble as the season goes on. Just last Sunday the Orioles were 11-7. 4 games over .500 and even ESPN was praising the birds on Baseball Tonight. Well 4 days later the O's are back to 11-11 and 3.5 games out of 1st. What is the lesson from all of this? Baseball is too long of a season to pay any mind to the standings until after the All Star break. Remember how the O's led the AL East into June of 2004. Palmeiro was chasing 3,000 and the O's were winning. It felt like '97 again for a few months. Than the ship sank. The Orioles started losing...Palmeiro tested positive for an illegal supplement, Roberts got injured, and the Orioles lost a whole lot more. That will be remembered as an awful year for the O's, but early on it looked great.
Remember that year when you judge the current team at this point in the season. I still check the scores every day to see if the Orioles win or lose, but their record won't matter for another couple of months.
Quick Pros and Cons from the most recent game.
Pro - Adam Loewen has a 3.20 era. Other teams have a lot of difficulty scoring off of him.
Con - Loewen is walking a ton of guys. He isn't letting those guys score, but it knocks him out of the game way too early.
Pro - Ramon Hernandez - Dude had a good debut with 2 hits and a walk. The O's finally played a game with their full contingent of players tonight.
Con - Chris Ray - Only been scored on twice this year, but both times were Grand Slams that blew a save and lost a game for the O's. To AL East rivals no less.

Wizards Note...They can't hang with the Cavs. Should be a lot of seats available at the Phone Booth.

Nats Note...Tied for the worst record in the league with KC. Atleast the stadium project seems to be coming along nicely.

Draft Note...Mel Kiper and other experts predict the 'Skins will take LaRon Landry from LSU. I think the Redskins need more help on the D-line than in the secondary. Okoye from Louisville is amazing. Just 19 years old and already graduated college. Not only is he a sick player, but he seems to be an even more incredible person. The type of person you want on your team. Not much excitement for the Skins after that first pick.
I don't know where the Ravens will go with their picks, but Ozzie Newsome never screws up the draft. Baltimore always finds impact players on draft day...no worries there.