Time travel

It's starting to look a lot like 1988 in Baltimore.

After 53 games, the 2010 Orioles and the 1988 Orioles are pretty much identical twins.

In 1988, the Orioles were 12-41.

In 2010, the Orioles are 15-38.

Here is some more amazingness.

The Orioles are on pace to score 542 runs.

That is....

- 200 runs less than they scored last year.
- 240 runs less than they scored in 2008.
- 400 runs less than they scored in 1996.
- 8 runs less than they scored in 1988.

They are on pace to allow 811 runs.

That would be...

- an improvement over 9 of the last 11 years.
- 31 more than they allowed in 1988.
- 240 more than they allowed in 1997.

But wait. Just when you think that the O's have made some improvements in the pitching department, they are still 10th in the AL in ERA, and offense is down all across baseball.

Take, for example, the perfect game that never was last night. An umpire's blown call ended Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga's perfect game. If he would have gotten the perfect game, it would have already been the third perfect game this season. So offense is definitely down across the league, which may explain some of the Orioles' offensive woes.

Or maybe not.

This is just a terrible baseball team, especially on offense, and until MacPhail does something, it's only going to stay the same -- or get worse.

Until then, we'll at least be able to enjoy the 1988 season all over again.