Mora takes time to regroup in Anaheim

Baltimore (35-44) at Los Angeles (43-34), 10:05 p.m. ET

Spencer Fordin / MLB.com

ANAHEIM -- Maybe it was in his mind and maybe it wasn't. Melvin Mora asked for a day off on Thursday right as he was on the verge of setting a new career-long streak of homerless games. Mora has gone 43 games without a home run, tying a streak he set in 2001 and setting off concerns about his slowing bat speed.

Mora, to his credit, said the streak wasn't on his mind Thursday and that he just wanted to clear his head. But he'll be looking down the barrel of the same milestone Friday in the second act of a four-game set in Anaheim. Mora took an interesting stance on Thursday, when he spoke in part about his career being in the past tense.

"First of all, I'm not a home run hitter. I'm a line drive hitter," Mora said. "Second of all, when I go to home plate, I don't even think about homering. I think about driving runs in. When I don't drive runs in, there's something wrong. Maybe I don't have somebody in scoring position, or maybe it's something else. I don't worry about the homers."

Mora, the longest-tenured member of the Orioles, said that he didn't have his drought in mind. He also said that there's nothing in baseball that can bring him down, especially when you consider the context of his career.

"The only thing I was worried about was if I could make my 10 years in the big leagues," said the native Venezuelan. "I already did, so nothing else can bother me. What else could bother me? I've come through a tough career. I went to Taiwan to play. I played in Venezuela for the Houston Astros and never made the big leagues there. Now I've got 10 years in the big leagues and I've already made it to the All-Star Game two times. ... What else can I ask from baseball? I've made my money. I think I've had a sensational career, so nothing else can bother me.