It looks like Albernaz is finally fed up.
The Baltimore Orioles lost 11-3 to the New York Yankees on Sunday at Yankee Stadium, and it felt worse than the score looked.
Baltimore is now 15-19, four games under .500, and the losses keep coming in bunches against the teams they are supposed to be chasing in the American League East.
Albernaz Wants Answers
Craig Albernaz has been patient all season.
The first-year manager has gone out of his way not to call anybody out, even when the results have been bad.
Sunday was different.
"For me, it's at a crucial point where, 'What team do we want to be? We can fold up and just think that everything will turn around just by itself, or we've got to put the work in and really make this happen,'" Albernaz said postgame.
That quote means even more considering what happened after Saturday's 9-4 loss to the Yankees.
He blamed himself, said flat out that a roster this talented should not be three games below .500 and took the heat for it.
So to come back less than 24 hours later and start asking the team what they want to be?
That's Albernaz getting fed up. He went from shielding his players to asking them to step up.
A Rough Stretch Getting Worse
The Yankees outscored Baltimore 27-9 across the first three games of the series.
Sunday's game featured rookie Trey Gibson, who was called up from Triple-A Norfolk for his MLB debut, and he gave up three runs in 4 2/3 innings against a stacked lineup.
Aaron Judge launched his 13th homer, Ben Rice went deep for his 12th, and Jasson Dominguez put it away with a two-run shot and an RBI single in a seven-run eighth.
Baltimore's bats have been cold for a while now.
The Orioles struck out 34 times across three games heading into Sunday, and nothing changed.
Pete Alonso, the big offseason addition, has not looked like himself and entered the weekend at .198 with a .637 OPS through 31 games.
Injuries Have Piled Up Too
The roster is also just beaten up right now.
Jackson Holliday and Jordan Westburg have been out, Zach Eflin is gone for the year following elbow surgery, and both Trevor Rogers and Dean Kremer sit on the injured list.
Baltimore has had to piece things together with young arms and fill-in guys, and the lack of depth shows every night.
What makes Albernaz's comments even more interesting is that he rarely talks like this.
He has protected his clubhouse all year, taken losses on himself, and tried to keep things steady.
Sitting at 15-19 while the Yankees roll along at 22-11, that approach was starting to run its course.
Baltimore still has plenty of season left, but these early results are getting harder to brush off.