Don’t look now, but the Orioles have won four straight and they ahead of both the Yankees and the Blue Jays, and just behind the Red Sox, in the American League Central. They did it with a three game sweep over the Blue Jays and you wonder if things are just starting to click. I know we have 2005 to look back on to see how quickly things can fall apart but for now, we should enjoy it while we can.
On Friday, we had a good old fashioned come back. Down 4-2, Aubrey Huff and Kevin Millar drove in a run a piece in the eighth to tie it and then Nick Markakis drove home Corey Patterson to win it in the ninth. Markakis finished the game with three hits and Melvin Mora drove in two and walked three times in the 5-4 win. Danny Cabrera threw a solid 6 2/3 innings and he struck out seven and Chris Ray picked up the win with a shutout ninth.
It actually got easier from there. Saturday’s game saw Adam Loewen throw 5 2/3 decent innings and he improved to 2-0. The seven walks were disappointing but they didn’t come back to haunt the Orioles in the 5-2 win. Chris Gomez finished with two hits and two runs while Miguel Tejada drove in two.
Then yesterday, it was Nick Markakis again with a double, a triple, three RBIs and two runs in the 7-3 win. Tejada drove in three and finished with three hits. Even Steve Trachsel got it done and he picked up his first win with 5 1/3 solid innings. He gave up just one run on four hits and four walks with three strikeouts.
At the end of all that, the Orioles sit at 11-7. Next up is two against the Athletics beginning tonight and it’ll be Erik Bedard taking on Danny Haren. I know it’s easy to be an optimist right now, but I like our chances in this one.
