Maybe the Orioles have turned in a new direction, but you’d never know it by their performance in the first two games after they packed Manny Machado off to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
They lost Friday night because of two middle-infield breakdowns in the 10th inning. They lost Saturday because they handed the Toronto Blue Jays four runs — three of them unearned and the other on a balk by veteran starting pitcher Alex Cobb.
What exactly did anyone expect? Machado was pretty much the heart and soul of a team that has not had nearly enough of either during this inexplicably horrendous season.