The Orioles snapped their five-game losing streak behind a Daniel Cabrera (photo) masterpiece, beating the Kansas City Royals, 4-1, to open a four-game series. The O’s Jekyll-Hyde right-hander took another huge step toward a breakout 2008 season, playing the role of stopper with an overpowering complete-game three-hitter. Cabrera allowed just three hits and one walk while striking out seven in his fifth career complete game. He induced 19 ground balls, compared to only two fly balls. The towering righty simply stymied the Royals lineup, retiring 12 straight batters at one point and then, after giving up a pair of singles and a walk, setting down the last 13 batters he faced.

Nick Markakis provided all the offense for the Orioles in their 4-1 victory over the Royals Thursday night, scoring on a wild pitch after walking in the first inning, then ripping a three-run homer in the fourth.

O’s Notes: Orioles manager Dave Trembley said that Freddie Bynum is the team’s new starting shortstop. Bynum isn’t a great defensive shortstop, but incumbent Luis Hernandez hadn’t been playing very well either. Bynum is a a career .259 hitter, but he’s never gotten the chance to play regularly.

The Orioles slipped under .500 for the first time since Opening Day, taking their season-worst fourth loss in a row in a 4-2 decision against the Athletics Tuesday night. There’s really nothing to say about this loss that hasn’t already been said about the ones before it. Once again, the O’s got a solid outing from a starting pitcher; Brian Burres pitched better than his box score line, giving up three runs on a series of fluke hits. And once again, it didn’t matter because an inept Orioles offense continued its extended slumber, managing only four hits against a decidedly un-intimidating group of A’s pitchers.

The O’s and A’s are in the 1st inning of an afternoon tilt at this moment with Jeremy Guthrie on the hill.

Steve Trachsel will start Friday in Kansas City. Manager Dave Trembley had been non-committal when asked about demoting the struggling starter. “I would say that there’s not going to be any review and he will make his next start… I’ve never thought about putting him in the bullpen… I don’t see a reason to even think about doing that now,” Trembley said. Perhaps he thinks the first number in Trachsel’s ERA is just a one with a hat, and not a seven.

However, it won’t be easy to simply drop him from the rotation.The Orioles lack any experienced starters to turn to in the minors. The young guns they thought were ready (Garrett Olson, Jim Johnson, Matt Albers), are already with the team. Adding someone who is still “green” in Triple-A, such as Hayden Penn or Radhames Liz, could hinder development and likely wouldn’t solve the problem, which also taxes the bullpen, as Trachsel is averaging just over four innings per start.

The Orioles slipped down to the .500 mark with a disappointing 10-inning loss to the Oakland Athletics, 2-1. The opener of the three-game set was highlighted by the pitcher’s duel between young lefties Garrett Olson and Dana Eveland, with the scoreless battle ultimately broken in the seventh on a series of A’s fluke hits. The Orioles, after being shut out for 8 1/3 innings, plated a run in the ninth to tie the game, but Emil Brown’s two-out walk off single off Jim Johnson in the 10th won it for the A’s.

Olson wasn’t involved in the decision after allowing one run in 6 1/3 innings against the A’s but struck out seven. He didn’t improve to 2-0, but he likely did solidify his hold on a rotation spot with Adam Loewen sidelined. An examination by Dr. James Andrews revealed no structural damage in Adam Loewen’s arm. Still, Loewen could miss up to six more weeks with the soreness in his elbow. He will head to extended spring break in Florida, where he’ll spend the next two or three weeks on a throwing program.

The Orioles ran themselves out of a potential series win against the Angels, committing several costly mistakes in a frustrating 6-5 loss. Just as the offense finally got its bats working again– collecting a season-high 15 hits– the O’s still managed to sabotage themselves with baserunning errors and another bad outing by Steve Trachsel. After enjoying so many well-played, fundamentally sound games this season, the O’s went decidedly the opposite way on this one, with costly results. They’ll hope to regain their focus as they continue their West Coast trip to Oakland on Monday.

Melvin Mora went 3-for-5 with an RBI and three runs scored. Brian Roberts reached base twice against the Angels on Sunday, but then made two costly mistakes on the bases. Roberts’ first mistake was getting caught stealing third base (photo) with one out in the top of the first inning. There’s rarely much value in stealing third base to begin with, and doing it in the top of the first inning is almost never a good idea. To make matters worse, each of the next four batters singled. Then in the ninth, Roberts singled off closer Francisco Rodriguez to start the inning. However, he was picked off of first base by catcher Jeff Mathis with one out, leaving the hot-hitting Aubrey Huff in the on-deck circle to end the game. The Angels were lucky to walk away with this victory given the Orioles’ 15 hits, and Roberts is a large reason why.

Kevin Millar’s second RBI single reduced the Angels’ lead to 6-4 in the fifth, and Nick Markakis greeted reliever Justin Speier with a leadoff homer in the seventh on the right-hander’s first pitch of the game. Scot Shields then pitched a perfect eighth and Francisco Rodriguez got three outs for his major league-leading 13th save.

Jeremy Guthrie picked up his first victory in 16 starts by holding the Angels to two runs in seven innings on Friday in the first game of a long, 10 day road trip. Guthrie allowed just three hits, all of them singles. It was the sixth straight start in which he hadn’t allowed more than three earned runs, but he had nothing to show for his success until now. He’s 1-3 with a 4.06 ERA on the year. A revamped O’s lineup scratched together a few early runs to put Guthrie out in front. Nick Markakis (photo) had a homer and a double. Markakis was batting second for the second time this year as the Orioles tried to shake things up a bit. That Markakis responded with his fifth homer could keep him in the spot for a while. He wasn’t getting a ton of RBI chances as a No. 3 hitter anyway. Dropped to the sixth spot in the order, Kevin Millar went 0-for-3 with a walk in Friday’s game. George Sherrill made it interesting in the 9th escaping a one-out jam with the tying and winning runs in scoring position for his MLB leading 11th save. The Orioles are 8-2 in one-run decisions, after going 13-31 in those situations last season.

The Orioles opened the month of May with a loss to their surprising division rivals, dropping the rubber game to the Rays by a 4-2 score. Carl Crawford’s two-run single off Jamie Walker in the seventh snapped a late-inning tie and ruined another fine outing by Brian Burres, who worked six strong innings but was pushed two batters too far. The sleepwalking O’s offense certainly did nothing to help their pitchers, managing just three hits and scoring only on an Adam Jones two-run homer. Jones hit the game-tying homer in the fourth inning, but his error in the seventh contributed to the loss that prevented the Orioles from holding at least a share of second place in the American League East.

According to the Baltimore Sun, a bone scan of Adam Loewen’s injured elbow “came back clear.”
No cause for Loewen’s soreness has been discovered yet, so he’s scheduled to be examined Monday by Dr. James Andrews. “I was relieved because I was thinking the worst and I didn’t want it to be fractured again,” Loewen (photo) said. “I’m really relieved. I just want to find out what’s causing the pain. If we can’t find out what’s causing the pain or what it is, there’s really no definite timetable to come back.”