The Orioles missed their chance to celebrate at Camden Yards Sunday afternoon, but they have officially landed in the postseason for the first time since the 1997 season.

With the Los Angeles Angels falling to the Texas Rangers in the second game of a doubleheader, the Orioles’ magic number for a postseason berth fell to zero as they have assured themselves of at least a wild card spot in the 2012 postseason.

The Orioles will undoubtedly take a few moments to celebrate as they arrive in St. Petersburg for the final three-game set of the regular season against the Tampa Bay Rays, but they remain focused on winning the AL East as they’re deadlocked with the Yankees in first place.

Should they remain tied with the Yankees, the teams would play a tiebreaker game in Baltimore on Thursday that would be considered the 163rd game of the regular season to determine the division champion. The season series was tied 9-9 between the clubs, but the Orioles own the next tiebreaker to host the game by way of their superior division record. Baltimore owns a 42-27 mark against the AL East while New York is only 38-31 as both clubs play their final three games against AL East opponents.

The Oakland Athletics won Sunday to remain one game behind the Orioles in the wild card race. Oakland holds the tiebreaker over the Orioles via their 5-4 record in the head-to-head series this season, meaning they would host the wild card play-in game on Friday should the Orioles not win the division and the teams finish with the same record.

Regardless of how the final three games of the regular season play out, Orioles fans can take satisfaction in knowing their team is heading to a place it hasn’t been in 15 years.

Upon completing a 4-3 win over the Boston Red Sox Saturday night to pull into a first-place tie with the New York Yankees in the American League East, the Orioles are in a position they haven’t faced in 30 years.

The last time the Orioles were tied for first place this late in the season was Oct. 2, 1982 when Baltimore pulled even with the Milwaukee Brewers in the AL East on the penultimate day of the season. Entering that final four-game set with the division-leading Brewers at Memorial Stadium, the Orioles trailed by three games and needed a sweep to win the division in Earl Weaver’s final season as manager (before he returned to manage the club in 1985).

After winning the first three games of the series to pull even with Milwaukee, the Orioles fell short in that final game of the 1982 season as future Hall of Fame pitchers Don Sutton and Jim Palmer squared off in what resulted in a 10-2 win for the Brewers. Of course, the stakes were much higher then with no wild card spots and the Orioles needing to win to keep their season alive.

The Orioles enjoyed sole possession of first place this late in the 1983 and 1997 seasons, with no one challenging them in the final month of 1983 and the Yankees getting no closer than two games behind Baltimore in the final week of the 1997 campaign.

In the famed 1989 “Why Not?” campaign, the Orioles began the final series of the season in Toronto trailing by one game and needing to win two of three to force a one-game playoff with the Blue Jays — or win all three to take the division outright — but dropped the first two at SkyDome to fall just short of pulling off the impossible.

Though focused intently on winning the AL East, the Orioles’ magic number for clinching a wild card spot is down to two with four games to play, all but assuring them of their first postseason berth since 1997. However, the Oakland Athletics’ comeback victory over Seattle Saturday kept them one game behind the Orioles in the wild card race. Oakland holds the tiebreaker over the Orioles via their 5-4 record in the head-to-head series this season, meaning they would host the wild card play-in game on Friday should the Orioles not win the division and the teams finish with the same record.

Should the Orioles remain tied for first with the Yankees, the teams would play a tiebreaker game in Baltimore on Thursday that would be considered the 163rd game of the regular season to determine the division champion. The season series was tied 9-9 between the clubs, but the Orioles own the next tiebreaker to host the game by way of their superior division record. Baltimore owns a 41-27 mark against the AL East while New York is only 37-31 as both clubs play their final four games against AL East opponents.

Regardless of how the next four days play out, the Orioles are tied for first place at the conclusion of play on Sept. 29. They can clinch a spot in the postseason with a win and a loss by the Los Angeles Angels on Sunday.

Even typing those words makes it difficult to believe for a club from which so little was expected.

But believe it.

And buckle up.

After hitting a two-run homer to help the Yankees beat the Orioles Friday night, Alex Rodriguez paid tribute to Ravens inside linebacker Ray Lewis in his post-game interview.

Rodriguez wore a No. 52 University of Miami jersey in the Yankees clubhouse following their 8-5 win over the Orioles to retake sole possession of first place in the American League East. The third baseman grew up in Miami and attended Westminster Christian High School before being drafted by the Seattle Mariners with the first overall pick in the 1993 amateur draft.

Lewis played his college football for the Hurricanes from 1993 through 1995 before entering the NFL draft after his junior season.

“He’s my boy,” Rodriguez said. “I love Ray Lewis, I love the University of Miami, and I’m in his hometown. So, I’m honoring the Hall of Famer Ray Lewis.”

Though Rodriguez offered respect to one of Baltimore’s greatest sports heroes of all time, it’s highly unlikely the veteran won over any local fans as the Orioles are in the midst of their first pennant race in 15 years.

Here’s the post-game interview, courtesy of the YES Network:

It was only a matter of time before Adam Jones started popping off on Twitter regarding his feelings about the lack of people standing behind him in centerfield at Camden Yards. It wasn’t as juicy as last year’s advice to “knock the s**t outta the Yankees fans” but he made his feelings well known yesterday about the worst crowd of the season to see the season’s most significant game to date.

It’s very apparent that Adam Jones cares more about whether the good people of Baltimore come to Orioles games than his bosses and owner do but still not enough to vest himself in our community enough to recruit people to come and pay to see the team play.

It must be a bummer for any Orioles player to endure the emptiness of the home ballpark while finally playing meaningful games and quality baseball.

In 2012, the price to pay for 15 years of losing and the worst owner in the history of professional sports is what Adam Jones now sees with a fantastic view from centerfield every night: an empty stadium in downtown Baltimore and plenty of green seats to backdrop every fly ball.

It’s been very clear that the prescient message I sent with “Free The Birds” in 2006 – “if you’re not careful, Mr. Angelos, we might leave and never come back” – has now become a prophecy. The 2012 Baltimore Orioles are everything you’d want in a local sports team to follow – interesting, fun, lively and relevant – and a grand total of 48K came to Camden Yards over four days to watch the best baseball this city has seen in 15 years.

The empty seats are a glaring reminder of what’s gone wrong with the franchise and the city’s passion for the Baltimore Orioles since Peter Angelos bought — and then wrecked — the franchise.

Once Adam Jones stops talking out of the side of his mouth and at the end of this run of success in 2012 – and I’m not betting it won’t end in a parade just yet because I’ve seen stranger things happen — it’ll then be time to invest himself in our community the way he likes to on his Twitter account.

He got the $85.5 million deal back in May and it’ll be his turn to become a Baltimore resident or not. If he’s really interested in people coming to the ballpark then I hope he’ll spend the offseason with the fans here and be Mr. Oriole all winter.

Where will he be in November…and December…or January?

Will he be shaking hands, kissing babies and attempting to become a guy who eventually gets one of those shiny statues out on the patio that no one is visiting these days?

Will Adam Jones be in the community trying to win back the fans of Baltimore?

I’m not talking sitting at a table in a card shop or swag store charging $50 for an autograph. I’m talking about being a true ambassador for the community.

This isn’t about the marketing department. This isn’t about buying more billboards or state-run MASN ads. This isn’t about popping off on Twitter or mandating “sitdowns” with people like me who are still pissed about the entire tenor and arrogance of the Baltimore Orioles and Peter Angelos over two decades.

If the players on the field are embarrassed by an empty stadium, it’s my belief is that THEY – directly – are the only ones who can do something about it. We have to care about them and want to invest our money

As Mike Mussina makes his triumphant return to Baltimore this weekend for the Orioles Hall of Fame activities it’s certainly a thought-provoking time to be a long-time observer and fan of the franchise.

Sure, the Orioles are once again relevant — playing meaningful and exciting games every night — which harkens to the days of 1996 & 1997 when “Moose” was an integral part of the magic of being an Orioles fan every fifth day during the zenith of Camden Yards’ passion and Inner Harbor energy.

Mussina has been gone from Baltimore – except for three visits a year in New York Yankees pinstripes – for 12 years now. So long ago that time has seemingly dimmed the glory of his deeds and his departure serves as a truly seminal moment in the awfulness of the Orioles franchise under the stewardship of Peter Angelos since 1993.

In the 1970’s it was routine for the Orioles to lose players to owners, markets and franchises that had more wealth, population and revenue. Many members of the franchise “Hall of Fame” and “Oriole Way” stalwarts left like Mayflowers in the middle of the night for greener pastures including Don Baylor, Bobby Grich, Reggie Jackson, Wayne Garland and Doug DeCinces and later Eddie Murray, Mike Boddicker, Mike Flanagan, B.J. Surhoff and Mike Bordick were all dealt away to save cash and get younger players.

But in the 1980’s and 1990’s, replete with a fan base from six states that pumped unprecedented money into the franchise and reached into the state’s funds to build Camden Yards and turn Baltimore into a spigot for Major League Baseball profitability, the Orioles never lost a player they wanted to keep.

Not until they lost the best player and pitcher of his generation of Baltimore baseball when Mike Mussina wore the “turncoat” label and bolted for the New York Yankees.

After the 2000 season, tired of three years of losing and Angelos’ low-balling and obvious meddling and mismanagement, Mussina simply took the advice of his agent Arn Tellem and played out his option and walked. On Dec. 7, 2001 after years of eschewing the notion of playing in big, bad New York he signed a six-year, $88.5 million deal to play for the Evil Empire.

I’ll share my many personal memories and my friendship with Mussina later in this blog but I can remember the surreal nature of watching that press conference from The Bronx from Chicago’s Sporting News Radio studios with my jaw open. It was the definitive signal that quality Major League Baseball players simply didn’t want to be in Baltimore anymore and it had little to do with crab cakes or the American League East.

Mussina was thought to be “irreplaceable” at the time and 11 years later time has borne out that diagnosis.

Mussina left the Baltimore Orioles because the owner stunk. He knew it and everyone in baseball knew it.

So, Mussina will finally return and don Orioles colors this weekend for the final time and he’ll find a few fresh statues on the veranda, a team in the midst of its first pennant run in 15 years and a seemingly soulless shell of a former love affair for baseball in Baltimore.

There’ll be plenty of empty seats and shoulder shrugs at his mostly sweet and sour induction into the Baltimore Orioles Hall of Fame this weekend. Certainly a worthy candidate if there ever were one, Mussina’s time as a starter for the Birds is only eclipsed by the deeds of Jim Palmer, who as I’ve said many times is the greatest (and most underappreciated) Oriole of all time by any measurement.

Palmer let loose with a haughty pronouncement on a MASN broadcast earlier this week in promoting this weekend’s festivities. “The Moose is going to Cooperstown – at least I hope. He’s got 270 wins,” said Palmer, who went on to proclaim that in the steroid era to win all of those games and Gold Gloves and remain a “clean figure” in the needle witch hunt of the Mitchell Report should get him a Hall of Fame ballot punched in 2014.

For “real” Orioles fans, he’ll always be known as the Benedict Arnold of the modern generation for leaving the

So, Ichiro in pinstripes, huh?

Yesterdays trade seem to out of nowhere, and rendered a gasp heard all around the MLB. Chalk another on up for the “Evil Empire”.

It got me thinking: Was it public knowledge that Ichiro was on the trade block?  How did the Yankees give up essentially nothing to collect Ichiro.  The Mariners even tossed in cash to cover a significant chunk of his salary.  The players the Yankees offered up, no names with seemingly little potential.  This deal has the fowl stench of back room deals politicians make make with snake oil salesmen.

Ichiro said during his press conference that he wanted a chance to play for a contender, while allowing Seattle to give an opportunity to younger players to play and develop.  Well, my friend, believe it or not, the Orioles are still contenders.

Would the Orioles have had a chance to match, or even sweeten the offer?  Even as a .261 hitter this season, Ichiro would almost certainly hit lead off on this team (still has speed, a more natural lead off hitter then Markakis).  Granted, we don’t need help in the outfield, but since the Orioles have consistently been in the practice of adding aging veterans to the roster (i.e – Thome, Tejada, Guerrero, Sosa, Tejada again), this would be a deal that would be right in the wheelhouse of the front office.  Imagine for a second, and outfield with Ichiro, Jones, and Markakis.  Without question, this would have been the best defensive, if not outright, outfield in baseball.  It wouldn’t have solved the holes at 1B and 3B, but regardless, when the Birds acquired Thome, we didn’t “need” a DH, but the deal has started to pay off over the past road trip.

Any team chasing a playoff spot that doesn’t jump at the chance to add an Ichiro to their roster, quite frankly, is bonkers.  I have no idea what the market is for him, but with so many teams in contention, he could have been worth a kings ransom to an overzealous GM.

The Mariners, I feel, reacted too quickly in this scenario.  Ichiro, who gave so much of himself, wanted a chance to play for a contender.  He’s a future Hall of Fame player, He’s earned it.  The front office bent over backwards to facilitate a quick trade, and it just so happened the Yankees were in town.  Should Ichiro had longed to play for a contender early in the month, when the O’s were in town, things could have been different.

If Ichiro really wanted to help out the franchise that treated him like a golden god for over a decade, he’d have allowed them time to negotiate a bigger deal, that strengthens their roster for the future, not . I strongly feel that if it were announced he was on the market, the Mariners would have had several suitors lined up making offers.  They’d have a tougher decision then Emily Manard on the Bachelorette over who to pick*.

The Orioles have done business in the past with the Mariners.  We were able to dump that bum Erik Bedard off on them, and in exchange, got a franchise player in Adam Jones (who by the way, leads the Orioles in nearly every offensive category this season), George Sherril (who by the way, was an All-Star closer during his time here), and Chris Tillman (who by the way, has only given up 2 earned runs since being called up to the 25 man roster this season).  If the Mariners truly wanted AA level arms, we’ve got tons of em. Take your pick!

All in all, I can’t fault Ichiro for going to the Yankees.  I’m probably just a little sour the Yankees found a way to get better.  I don’t mind Yankee player like the Jeters, Riveras, Posadas, those that came through the originization.  I don’t like the scores of players (Rodriguez, Texiera, Giambi, Mussina, Clemens, Sabathia, Damon) who found success elsewhere, then sold his soul for the chance at a ring.  Seems we can add Ichiro to this list now.

I think it’d been nice to see him finish out his career in the Blue and Green uniform that suited him so well for so long.  It’s so rare that a player sticks out an entire career in just one city.  Even if he wins a championship this season, it’ll just be a footnote, and won’t be what he’s remembered for.

Ichiro, as far as I’m concerned, will still be a Mariner.  Even if he had ended up wearing Orange and Black in Charm City.

*Note: I’ve never seen an episode of the Bachelorette.  I had to Google her name. Coincidentally, the finale was last night.  I didn’t read far enough, nor do I care, who she ended up with.

@JamesTFinn on Twitter

Major League Baseball’s All Star Game carries about the same amount of condescension and pity as someone holding a surprise party for themselves.  Its one big MLB love fest, except anyone with a brain turns the game off and is left with animosity…or maybe that’s just me.

It all starts with the voting.  Any bloke with a computer can vote for their favorite players regardless of whether they are deserving or not.  I hate to be “that guy” but the old voting system where you had to actually go to a game to cast one was leagues better.  Not only did it draw in more fans, but it also ensured that at least the fans who were voting cared enough about the game that they actually went to one.  Don’t even get me started on the Twitter voting.  That was one of the most asinine things I’ve seen.  Not only did it destroy my timeline, but the fact that all of western Asia was able to vote for Yu Darvish was just completely unfair.  Fan voting influence needs to be decreased.  There are far too many snubs that should’ve made it and players that shouldn’t be there (ahem, Bryce Harper) that are.

The game used to mean something.  But those days are long gone.  Being an All Star used to be an honor and the players would reflect that on the field during the game.

Some players don’t even want to be there and until this year they were allowed to simply opt out.  I’m sorry but I can’t take any game seriously in which a rule had to be instituted that players have to participate if elected or they will be fined if they don’t have a legitimate injury.  Why wouldn’t you want players to play who actually want to be there?  Wouldn’t that be more entertaining Bud Selig?

The fact that only 5 teams are represented in each of the starting lineups is utterly ridiculous as well.  If I wanted to watch the Rangers, Tigers, or Yankees, I would just tune into ESPN on any given night.  To combat this and in order to insure “fairness”, baseball mandated that every team must have at least one participant.  So when you have so many from so few teams and then you have to add at least one more for the rest of the teams, it just gets to be a ridiculous amount of people.  And some of them don’t even get to play.  It’s just a microcosm of everything that is wrong with the MLB.  You have the league dominated by a few teams and the MLB tries to make up for that but ends up failing (see revenue sharing, or lack thereof). 

Sure, baseball’s All Star game is the closest thing to the real game, but that’s one of the problems with it.  It’s the same as every other game.  Interleague play has really done a number on its popularity.  Before interleague play, the game used to be one of the only time you could see the best from the AL play the best from the NL.  I have already seen the likes Bryce Harper, RA Dickey, and Dan Uggla because they have played the Orioles during interleague play.  It has taken the sense of surprise and unpredictability out of it.  It’s not special anymore because everyone has seen these most of these players play their team at some point.

And it’s not just the All Star game that is a joke.  If you didn’t watch the Home Run Derby, I completely envy you.  The fact that there was three hours of televised home run jacking is just absurd…THREE HOURS!  The most exciting part of the whole thing last night was watching Adam Jones chow down on some ribs.

But the biggest mistake Major League Baseball has made with the Midsummer Classic was the knee jerk reaction to the tie that occurred ten years ago.  Baseball’s genius idea to avoid future ties and to ‘make it more interesting’ was to add incentive to the game: home field advantage to the winning league in the World Series.  I guarantee you that Adam Jones isn’t worried about striking out for fear the AL might get home field advantage in the World Series.  I mean, he could care less about his own individual performance since getting his new contract.  What if an 88 win team somehow makes it to the World Series against a 108 win team?  You’re telling me the 88 win team should get home field advantage because their league won a scrimmage back in July?  I’m sorry, but you can take that cow fodder somewhere else.

MLB’s All Star game is completely flawed as is every leagues all star game.  But it will continue to exist because they get to show off their “best” players to everyone.  It’s just one big advertisement for Major League Baseball; that Fox actually pays them for.  Genius business strategy I’d say.  I don’t blame them for having one.  If I was in their position I would have a party for myself too.

I just blame people for watching the sorry excuse that is…

PRESS RELEASE

The Orioles announced Saturday that they have acquired outfielder-first baseman Steve Pearce from the New York Yankees organization in exchange for cash considerations.

Pearce, 29, was batting .321 with 15 doubles, 11 home runs, 30 RBI and a .996 OPS in 52 games for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

In 185 major league games over five seasons (2007-11) with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Pearce batted .232 with 29 doubles, three triples, nine home runs and 52 RBI.

To make room for Pearce on the major league roster, veteran Bill Hall was designated for assignment. In seven games for the Orioles, Hall batted .222 (2-9) with one home run, two runs scored and one RBI.

I’ve already used both space on Twitter (@WNST, @GlennClarkWNST) and on AM1570 WNST.net to opine about the significance of the Baltimore Orioles giving CF Adam Jones the richest contract in franchise history.

We now finally know all of the details and Jones is set to discuss those details Sunday at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.

I won’t be attending Sunday’s press conference. I would, but our WNST.net Ballpark reporter Luke Jones has been denied the right to ask questions at previous press conferences and I don’t want to run the risk of causing a scene at what should almost certainly be a day of celebration.

Adam Jones’ contract extension is as much an event to celebrate as almost anything we’ve seen in the last 15 years of baseball in Charm City. The Birds have perhaps addressed both their present and their future and made a major statement about their willingness to do things differently than they have for more than decade while losing many more games than they won.

I’m aware Jones perhaps took a hometown discount in signing the contract a season and a half shy of free agency. I’m aware the team still appears to need more pitching than they currently have to be an annual contender. I’m aware that the team now needs to shift attention to catcher Matt Wieters when it comes to contracts.

There was something bigger than jumped out at me though.

As I was given more time to dissect what Jones’ deal really means, I thought back to December 1997. For O’s fans around my age, Brady Anderson was about the coolest thing to ever happen to the Orange & Black. He had young female fans worship him and young male fans…well…basically worship him. He had it all. Sideburns, muscles, personality, charm, speed, defense and an amazing 50 home run season.

(I didn’t mention anything about performance enhancing drugs. You do what you want there.)

After Anderson’s 50 home run campaign in 1996 and the Orioles’ run to the ALCS in ’97, young fans like myself lived in fear of waking up one morning to be informed that Anderson had signed a major deal with the New York Yankees or Atlanta Braves or Cleveland Indians.

Anderson was certainly not the commodity at 34 that Jones would have been had he reached free agency at 28, but he still had market interest. He ultimately passed on shorter deals with more per season to accept five years and $31 million from Peter Angelos and the Orioles. Anderson’s best seasons were clearly behind him, but it still meant quite a bit for the franchise to make the move.

I also thought back to January of 2009, when Andy MacPhail locked up OF Nick Markakis for six years and $66 million, the richest contract extension the franchise had given to a player until Jones’ deal. (SS Miguel Tejada had received the overall most lucrative contract in team history until Jones.) While certainly not reaching superstar status, Markakis has given the Birds stellar defense and a mostly consistent bat.

But beyond the significant contracts, there is a more important similarity between the two players whose time has spanned much of the team’s “Rock Bottom Era.” The issue is that neither player was able to use his major contract to help keep the team accountable.

A baseball player with a rich contract is in a unique situation with the franchise paying the deal. Because the money is guaranteed, the player has the right to get away with certain things a player in another league might not be able to. In the case of the Orioles, they’ve really needed a player who has been willing to stand up and say “we need better” as the team suffered through losing seasons after losing season.

Allow me to be fair to the two players involved. Anderson was only part of the club at the very beginning of their lean years, and the team was still making at least some attempts to improve by bringing in the likes of Albert Belle and others. (Anderson however has become a well known defender of the Angelos regime in recent years, which has helped him find his way back into the organization.) Markakis has never been much of a vocal type, but he did publicly question the direction of the organization. His participated in a dinner with Angelos that season to discuss those very issues.

Perhaps there is an argument to be made that Markakis’ 2010 outburst DID lead to accountability, as two years later the Orioles have shown themselves (at least for two months) to be one of the better teams in baseball.

But moving forward, I hope it’s a role that suits Jones well. I hope the fire, drive, passion and determination to win that have made Jones an emotional figure in recent years will translate both on field and off. I hope that if the Birds make questionable decisions, he’ll call them out for them. It doesn’t need to be something he does publicly, just a statement made privately from the player slated to receive more money during his tenure than any Oriole before.

I hope Jones embraces not only the responsibilities of an on field leader and star, but as a bit of a caretaker for an organization that has so desperately lacked the right man for the role. I hope he puts pressure on the organization to make the moves necessary to stay in contention every season. I hope he never takes the easy way out and thinks “Mr. Angelos (or insert future owner’s name here) has made me a rich man. It’s not my place to stand up to him.”

I feel as though Jones can be a significant part of the solution for the Orioles. I hope he’s up for everything that comes along with the task.

-G

It was just over two weeks ago when emotions were flying high following Wilson Betemit’s game-winning three-run homer to complete a dramatic ninth-inning comeback against the Oakland Athletics.

The win put the Orioles at 14-8 and in a tie for first place in the American League East. But, what awaited next would presumably be the reality check to knock the club and fans off their early-season pedestal.

The eternal optimists and pessimists alike knew the next 15 games against New York, Boston, Texas, and Tampa Bay would paint a clearer — but by no means definitive — picture of who the 2012 Orioles really were early in the season. Most paying close attention to the last decade-plus of Baltimore baseball figured the good vibes of April would turn to uneasiness by the time the middle of May rolled around.

Instead, the Orioles’ 5-2 win over the New York Yankees on Tuesday not only salvaged a split in a brief two-game series but  capped a 9-6 record over the brutal stretch. Instead of potentially finding themselves below the .500 mark and in the familiar basement of the division as many feared two weeks ago, the Orioles stand at 23-14 and are still tied for first place — deadlocked with the Tampa Bay Rays.

Making the feat even more impressive was the amount of turbulence the Orioles experienced along the way. Outfielders Nolan Reimold and Endy Chavez, infielder Mark Reynolds, and relief pitcher Matt Lindstrom landed on the 15-day disabled list. Two extra-inning games in Boston left the bullpen taxed and injuries began surfacing, forcing executive vice president of baseball operations Dan Duquette to make 22 individual roster moves over a seven-day period last week.

Two weeks ago, who would have predicted Bill Hall, Steve Tolleson, and Xavier Avery would comprise the bottom third of the lineup in Tuesday’s win over CC Sabathia? If you did, you certainly wouldn’t have expected the Orioles to remain atop the division.

Yet, the cracks in the armor are impossible to ignore. In addition to the injuries, the pitching that had carried the Orioles through the first five weeks of the season looks vulnerable, both in the rotation and in the bullpen.

Starters Jason Hammel and Wei-Yin Chen have been the biggest surprises of the young season, but Jake Arrieta, Brian Matusz, and Tommy Hunter need to find more consistency to pitch deeper into games and stabilize the rotation. Otherwise, a bullpen that’s been outstanding through the first six weeks of the season will continue to wear down and become less effective as the seasons progresses.

The infield defense at the corners continues to be abysmal as manager Buck Showalter hasn’t found a viable duo at first and third on which he can rely. The poor defense has put unnecessary strain on young starting pitchers on top of their struggles on the mound.

Even with those warning signs, the Orioles continue to win and haven’t suffered more than two consecutive losses since the second series of the season when the Yankees swept a three-game series in Baltimore.

There’s no disputing the Orioles have benefited from the injuries hammering Boston, New York, and Tampa Bay in the division. In order to compete, we knew Baltimore would not only need to exceed expectations but those divisional opponents would have to come back to the pack a bit.

Through May 15, that’s exactly what’s happened.

Unlike those clubs, however, the Orioles aren’t capable of overcoming shaky starting pitching, poor defense, and more injuries. Their margin for error simply isn’t high enough in the toughest division in baseball.

Resiliency has been the keyword of the 2012 season through 37 games, and it’s found the Orioles in an unfamiliar position of prosperity.

Will it continue?

As was the case on the day of that walk-off win against Oakland, no one knows, but with every game and every series and every difficult stretch in which the Orioles find a way to get the job done, they recruit more and more believers.

Including themselves.