During my recent conversation with Matt Blood, the O’s vice president, player development and domestic scouting, we spent much of the time discussing what happened on the O’s farm in 2024.

He was honest to say the club was, to use his words “not celebrating” the farm offense from last season.

Sure, a lot went right and players like Samuel Basallo and Coby Mayo and others had plenty of special days and nights on the farm.

But overall, Triple-A Norfolk’s team OPS of .752 rated 13^th of 20 teams in the International League. Double-A Bowie (now Chesapeake) had a team OPS of .667 (ninth of 12 in the Eastern League). High-A Aberdeen was at .684 to finish seventh of 12 in the South Atlantic League. Low-A Delmarva, at .641, ranked 11^th of 12 in the Carolina League.

Like the big league club making some changes and adjustments on offense, the farm system may do some of the same moving forward.

The Orioles can use today’s off day to regroup a bit after two straight walk-off losses at Pittsburgh. They lose their first series of the year but were so close to a sweep and a 7-2 record. 

As they wake up today, they are 5-4 and looking up in the standings at the New York Yankees (8-2) and Boston Red Sox (7-3).

That makes the series that starts Tuesday at Fenway Park even more important. The O’s want to show they can get past the disappointment in Pittsburgh and that they are still Boston’s superior.

They went 7-6 versus the Red Sox in winning the AL East in 2023 and went 3-3 at Fenway Park. They were 23 games better in the final standings.

Right now, this club is also looking for consistent offense. The Orioles scored 24 runs on 24 hits their first two games, reminding some in Birdland of last year’s club that scored 807 runs. But now they have scored 23 runs in the last seven games.

The Orioles have now gone 80 consecutive series dating to May of 2022 without being swept in a series. Their win by 7-0 over Toronto last night pushed their incredible streak to 80.

No sweep for the Blue Jays and maybe even no series victory if Baltimore can win tonight.

The Orioles (78-48) are leading the AL East by two games over Tampa Bay and by 8.5 over Toronto. They have won four of five, seven of 10, 15 of 22 and 29 of their past 42 games.

Dean Kremer, now 12-5 with an ERA of 4.31 threw six scoreless on 94 pitches for his third scoreless start of the year. Over his past nine outings, Kremer is 4-1 with a 3.06 ERA.

O's starters have allowed three earned runs or less in 21 of their past 24 games. In those 21 games, the rotation ERA is 2.71.

Right-hander Lucas Giolito recorded a couple of important "firsts" on Wednesday. In the 6-1 with over the GCL Marlins, Giolito won his first professional game, in his longest outing (five innings) with a career-high strikeouts (five). He allowed five hits, one run and one walk in the win. Giolito is now 1-1 and 3.57 ERA in 17 2/3 innings with 20 strikeouts and eight walks. He has 12 strikeouts and just two walks in his last three starts. This year's top pick right-hander Jake Johansen...