O’s to play game 2 against Detroit tomorrow night

Tomorrow night the Orioles will play their second game of the three game series against the Tigers at Camden Yards at 7:05 PM.  The O’s are looking to go 5-0 for the first time since 1970, the same season they won the World Series.  I’m not saying that that means anything right now since it has only been 4 games out of 162, but it’s getting extremely hard to not be an optimistic fan.  I’m trying very hard not to get too optimistic just in case the O’s have gotten lucky.  But, it really doesn’t seem that way.  How can it when the starting pitchers have only given up 2 runs in 4 games? How can it just be luck to sweep last year’s AL East division winner on the road? How can it just be luck to outscore the opponent’s 17-4?

The team definitely changed at the end of last season when Buck Showalter came to town.  They went 34-23 the rest of the season under Buck and it seems like they’ve never looked back.  It definitely seems possible that it’s finally time for the team we have sometimes hated to love the past 13 years is coming back and coming back with a bang.

That bang has been in large part because of the starting pitchers, like I’ve mentioned numerous times.  Tomorrow, Brad Bergesen will take the mound against Jason Verlander of Detroit.  Guthrie was the scheduled starter but he was hospitalized with pneumonia and is expected to spend another night in the hospital while recovering.  Hopefully though, he can pitch Thursday night during the final game against Detroit and have another brilliant outing like he did on opening night against the Rays.  It’s pretty well known that Bergesen, who had a spot on the bullpen before getting the start tomorrow, really wants to be a part of the starting rotation so this is definitely his chance to get that opportunity.  Last season, Bergesen went 8-12 with a 4.98 ERA.  Not to sound like a broken record, but for the Orioles to hang in with the rest of the division and possibly be contenders, the starting pitching must continue the pace its on.

With this in mind and back to my questions about this being luck or talent, if the Orioles can have a record of 20-5 by April 28, I think all of us fans can be very optimistic.  The O’s face the rest of the series against Detroit, a series with the Rangers (who swept the Red Sox), two series with the Yankees (one at home, one away), a series with Cleveland, a 4-game series against the Twins, and a series with the Red Sox to make up the schedule until the end of this month.  Like I said, if the Orioles come away with only 5 losses to these teams in a month, I’ll start believing in a little more talent and a lot less luck.