Orioles facing big climb in AL East

By Bud L. Ellis

Twenty-three games into the 2010 season, and the Baltimore Orioles already were facing a double-digit hole in the AL East standings.

That tells you plenty about the Orioles and the way their season started. Entering the final day of April, Baltimore sported a dismal 4-22 record. It looks a little better after a 5-4 win over Boston on Friday and a 12-9 triumph on Saturday.

Still, 6-18 on the season isn’t what’s needed when you’re playing in a division with the Tampa Bay Rays, the Red Sox and the defending World Series champion New York Yankees.

Trailing Tampa Bay by 11 ½ games as the calendar changed, the Orioles have plenty of work to do to try and crawl back toward .500. Maybe May will signal better times, as the Orioles opened the month with Saturday’s victory over the Red Sox.

It won’t be easy, though. Considering the Orioles play the Rays, BoSox and Yanks 18 times each, that’s 54 games out of 162 (1/3 of the schedule) coming against the three powerhouse teams in the AL East.

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Sunday, May 2, 2010 at 8:36 am by bud

Tags: AL East, Baltimore Orioles, Boston Red Sox, Major League Baseball, New York Yankees, Tampa Bay Rays