It was only a few months ago that the rest of the baseball world couldn’t help but admire the combination of power and speed of the Orioles’ starting lineup.

The O’s had two outstanding base stealers in Jorge Mateo and Cedric Mullins. They had a double-digit home run threat in nearly every at-bat, including two young bombers – Gunnar Henderson and rookie Colton Cowser – with outstanding speed and defensive range.

It was an elite mix that produced exciting offensive chemistry and made life difficult for opposing pitchers, but in its place came a summer of misery that has left the team struggling to achieve a .500 record since the All-Star break.

The power is still there, of course. Anthony Santander (3^rd) and Henderson (6th) are among the best home run hitters in the major leagues on a team that has hit more home runs than any other, and the Orioles still rank third in the major leagues in runs scored (615) after leading the sport in that regard for much of the first half.

What has been conspicuous by its absence lately has been the team’s tremendous speed that sparked that offensive magic. And it remains an open question whether the Orioles will be able to recreate that speed as they find themselves in the home stretch of a tight divisional race with the Yankees.

Manager Brandon Hyde acknowledges that point. He wants the Orioles to be more aggressive on the bases going forward, but a combination of factors — most of which are outside of his control — make it difficult to force that move.

Mateo, of course, is out until at least the end of September after that weird elbow dislocation, and Mullins is still struggling to get on the bases consistently, although he did steal second base in the third inning on Thursday night after a pitch hit. Henderson and Cowser can steal bases, but opportunities to do so have been limited in recent weeks.

“It’s a little bit on Mateo and Mullins … I think that’s definitely fair,” Hyde said before Thursday night’s game. “Those were our two main base stealers. Mullins wasn’t on base that much. Mateo wasn’t here. Mateo is one of the best base stealers in the game and gave us a big speed factor. We also have young players who are still learning how to steal bases. Mateo just got the green light. But we need to be more aggressive on the bases.”

Think about that for a minute. Mateo is a hitter with a career .224 average and a .270 on-base percentage. How could he possibly have that much impact on this top-notch offense? But when he got on base with any regularity, he was a run waiting to happen… and you usually didn’t have to wait very long.

There’s obviously more to it than that, as Hyde went on to explain. Often times, the game situation or the opposing pitcher can keep a running game in check, and that became an increasingly important factor as teams sent more left-handed starters the Orioles’ way.

“Look at the last two nights we played (Tuesday and Wednesday),” Hyde said. “We had a left-hander who was very quick to hit early in the game. And then the right-hander we were behind against early on was also very quick to hit, which pretty much shut down the running game for us. We see a lot of left-handed relievers who are hard to run to as well. So we could definitely be better in that area, but I think the absence of Jorgie and our youth — the lack of experience — are the (main) reasons for that.”