April Showers...

You know how the old saying goes...

Just for fun, after each month of the season passes I'm going to compare the O's record and a few key stats from last season to this one.

April 2009 was rough, but the first month of this season was close to the worst in the teams history...

Here's a quick breakdown:

• in 2009 the O's were 9-13, in 2010 they stood at 5-18 at the end of April
• in 2009 the O's were 2-4 in one-run ballgames, this year they were 4-6
• last season, the O's scored 116 runs but gave up 144 in the month of April...this averaged out to just over five runs scored per game, and nearly seven runs allowed
• this year, the O's scored just 75 runs in April, but gave up 118...the team averaged just over three runs per game but allowed an average of just over five runs

The Orioles were a half-game out of last place in 2009, this season they are at the bottom of the A.L. East heading into the month of May. And speaking of divisional games, the 2009 Orioles went 4-6 against the East compared to 4-12 this year.

It's reassuring to see that the pitching has improved since last year, but the decline in offensive production is a bit disturbing. I've said it numerous times in my April posts: it's hard to win when you don't score any runs.

The bats have certainly heated up over the last week, and with the temperature rising, as well, I'd expect that the team will break out of this offensive slump, hopefully sooner rather than later.

Here's hoping for some May flowers...