What This Homestand Means to the Baltimore Orioles

If there was one concern that every Orioles fan had going into the season, it was the fact that the O's first 32 games were absolutely brutal.

Their start included a stretch of 16 straight games without a day off to stat the season, and all but three of the games were against teams with a winning record.

While going 9-23 during that stretch isn't exactly what fans were expecting, they can take solace in the fact that things might get better in the upcoming games.

Last night's win over Seattle was the second game of an eight game homestand that could very well signal the revival of the Orioles. 

The homestand includes one more game against Seattle, three against Cleveland, and a two-game series versus Kansas City—all teams of which have struggled almost as much as Baltimore.

Not only does the upcoming schedule seem conducive for an Orioles revival, but over the last two weeks, the O's have started to show some life.

After appearing to be one of the worst teams in baseball over the first 20 games or so, Baltimore swept the Red Sox-for the first time since 1998-and then split a four-game series in Minnesota.

I'm not saying that the team has been great, but there has certainly been improvement.

Ty Wigginton has added some surprising pop to the Orioles lineup, and Miguel Tejada and Nick Markakis are starting to heat up as well. Add that to a starting rotation that has actually been pretty solid all season, and you can see why the Orioles have been improving.

If the Orioles can win five or six of these games in the homestand, it could keep this steady improvement going and get the confidence of the younger guys back.

Not only that, but it will show the fans something that will keep them from revolting.

Even the patient O's supporters are starting to question general manager Andy MacPhail's "grand master plan." We need something to make us think that this isn't just another failed attempt at resurrecting the organization.

I said it at the beginning of the season, and I still believe it: the Orioles are not a bad team-they are far from it. They have the tools to compete with anyone; they just haven't been able to do it thus far.

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