Now that the Orioles are on their 2nd win streak of the season, my outlook is decidedly more optimistic.  The O’s have clearly got the ship headed in the right direction.  They were just hitting into some bad luck and the offense is ready to go on a tear and bail the pitching out some.  The bullpen is finally straightened out and injuries are no longer a problem as it is clear that the team’s superior depth will prevent them from skipping a beat.  Now that the O’s will get back in the divisional race, the media will not have time to dig up stories that make Peter Angelos look even more bumbling.  Bring on Ichiro and the Mariners.

Admit it…I had you fooled for a second.  You were actually buying what I was selling.  I had you at “win streak.”   You were breaking out the “Why Not” song, no?  OK, so maybe I need to work on my motivational writing techniques, but at least I do not have to write about the team trying to stop a 10 game losing streak this early in the season.  We can instead turn our attention to how the Orioles can win a series.

So what can we expect in Seattle?  Well probably not a lot of scoring.  This series features 2 of the most inept offenses in MLB, thus far.  Both the Orioles and the Mariner’s starters have limited opposing offenses, as well.  Especially, Seattle at home, where they have allowed only 15 runs in 6 games in 2010.  Both clubs struggle to hit in the clutch and the Mariners has as many homeruns as Orioles homerun leader Ty Wigginton.

The bad news for the Orioles is that Seattle is throwing 3 starters that were very strong in their most recent outings in Doug Fister, Jason Vargas and Felix Hernandez.  When you consider that the Orioles will be throwing Brad Bergesen and David Hernandez, who were both hit pretty hard the last time they took the mound, in the first two games of the series, it looks even worse.  Despite poor pitching match-ups, I expect these games to be close.  The Orioles will need to learn to make plays that win games in the late innings.  Time and again they come up small in the big moments, which makes you realize how far this club is from being a winner.

All three games will air on MASN2 in HD and have start times of 10:10pm.  Here are the probably pitchers:

Brad Bergesen (0-1, 11.74) vs. Doug Fister (1-1, 1.50)
David Hernandez (0-2, 4.91) vs. Jason Vargas (1-1, 5.56)
Kevin Millwood (0-2, 2.89) vs. Felix Hernandez (1-0, 3.10)