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The Orioles make their final trip to the west coast this season for seven games against the Angels and Mariners. Earlier this month the Orioles had a 1-5 west coast swing through Seattle and Oakland and they will most certainly look to better on that mark during this trip.

Playing in the AL East makes it tough to win games, so the teams from the division that do contend need to win games outside the division.

Traditionally, outside of the Angels, the AL West has consisted of teams that were almost as bad as the Orioles and despite the improvement of the rest of the division this year, I think that is the case this season as well.

If the Orioles are going to make any headway towards contending they will need to take care of business on this road trip, especially with a tough second half schedule.

The Orioles currently sit with an 11-23 record which is the worst road record in all of baseball. To add insult to injury the Angels and Mariners are a combined 41-30 at home, which does not bode well for a winning road trip.

With such a long season and so much travel, a west coast trip obviously takes a toll on the players so it will be interesting if the Orioles come out lack luster tonight against the Angels. Given the emotional loss to the Red Sox, the flight across country and the pitching match up, I do not expect to see an Orioles victory tonight and that could lead to another tumultuous trip.

During the four game set against the Angels, the Orioles will send out starting pitchers with ERA’s of 5.11, 4.19, 6.44 and 7.08 and a combined 11-16 record. The Angels counter with John Lackey, Matt Palmer, Sean O’Sullivan and Joe Saunders who have a combined record of 19-9, and they should be able to shut down the Orioles bats.

A loss in the first game of the series could open up the flood gates and lead to the Orioles “mailing it in” and just waiting for the All- Star break.

This series is one that could to lead to some hope for the season or could be the series that all but buries them for the rest of the season. Given the pitching match up and their mind set I expect to see a 2-5 road trip

With all do respect to Biggie Smalls, “the west coast is not the best coast” for the Orioles.

The only good thing maybe that with the games at 10pm, Orioles fans do not need to stay up to watch the Orioles stink it up for 7 games out west.

Hopefully they can some how leave Dave Trembely on the West Coast, but that may be too much to ask!!