Manager Buck Showalter was trying to find the right word Wednesday afternoon to describe how his inconsistent hitters might be feeling after losing the first two games of the four-game home series against the first-place Boston Red Sox.
They had been upstaged in their home ballpark by a Boston lineup that seemed determined to show them who was the real power broker in the American League East. The Sox had outhomered them 7-0 Monday and Tuesday to add to a slump that dated to the Orioles' ugly 52-strikeout series in Houston.