Listless O's lose 8th straight

Some Orioles started trickling into the home clubhouse before 10 a.m. yesterday as a long day of baseball awaited. They ate, read the newspaper and then changed into their uniforms before manager Dave Trembley interrupted their pre-game routine.

He informed the players that Game 1of the doubleheader against the Oakland Athletics had been postponed but that the nightcap would go on as planned.

Talk about delaying the inevitable.

The Orioles got another poor starting pitching performance, this one by Daniel Cabrera, and sleepwalked through an eighth straight loss, a 5-1 defeat to the A's before an announced 21,553 at wet Camden Yards.

Shut out until Nick Markakis' RBI groundout in the eighth inning, the Orioles (63-78) are 0-5 against the A's this season with one game remaining between the teams, the contest that was originally scheduled for yesterday afternoon before the rain wiped it out. It's possible that game will not be played, a development that would probably be welcomed in an Orioles clubhouse growing more fed up by the day.

"This is the worst I've ever experienced in my bigleague career," veteran outfielder Jay Payton said of the team's stretch of 13 losses in the past 14 games. "Honestly. Just the last 2¿ or three weeks, what we're going through right now, I've never been through anything like this."

The Orioles latest loss ended in fitting fashion as Payton lost track of how many outs there were and was doubled up on Luke Scott's deep flyout to center to end the game.

"I looked up at the scoreboard and I could've sworn it said two outs," Payton said. "I should know better than to look at the scoreboard because it's wrong 50 percent of the time here. That's my fault. I made a mistake."

About two hours before the nightcap was scheduled to start, the rain stopped, the sun broke through and the tarp was removed. The Orioles then went out and played like a team that wished it hadn't been. They managed just three hits in seven innings against left-hander Greg Smith, a 14-game loser who entered the game with just one win since June 30. He did walk five, but the Orioles repeatedly swung themselves out of rallies.

"It's terrible," Payton said. "It's hard to focus right now. Your mental focus goes. Like yesterday I was told I'm not going to get many at-bats the rest of the season, which I've kind of figured. We've got some young guys here. You battle. … Mentally, it gets straining to sit out there and play defense forever. It takes its toll, and right now, I think a lot of guys are having a tough time with the mental aspect."

In fairness to the rest of the Orioles, the tone already had been set even before their first at-bat. In his first appearance since Aug. 24 as he was shut down by arm soreness and suspension, Cabrera walked the first three batters he faced. He got out of the first inning allowing only one run, but his stay in the game didn't last much longer.

He allowed two earned runs on five hits, including one of Jack Cust's two solo homers, and six walks in three plus innings. Alfredo Simon came in and didn't fare much better in his major league debut, surrendering two home runs and three runs.

"When you don't get good starting pitching, it looks like you're not playing with a whole lot of life," Trembley said. "The innings have a tendency to drag on and on. It's very difficult to establish any momentum in the game when it seems like you're out in the field forever. The third out seems like it's pulling teeth."

Cabrera, who said this past week that he was struggling with both back and forearm pain, still was throwing mostly in the low 90s, topping off at 94mph. However despite throwing 84 pitches, Cabrera took solace in that he felt no pain. He's now 2-4 with a 7.88ERA since the All-Star break.

"It's been bad," Cabrera said. "It's not just me. It's been bad for everybody here."

Related topic galleries: Jay Payton, Nick Markakis, Major League Baseball, Oriole Park at Camden Yards, Oakland Athletics

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