Seconds after Julio Lugo flipped to Cesar Izturis to end the Yankees' ninth inning comeback bid and supply Triple-A call-up Alfredo Simon with his first career save, my chronically hopeful friend Casey said she was glad to be at the stadium for the start of an O's turnaround.
I laughed and shook my head, glad for the win but realizing that the Birds are still in the AL East cellar at 4-16. But my friend might not have been wrong to have a sense of optimism.
By defeating the Red Sox (Sunday) and the Yankees last night, Balmer now has its first winning streak of the season (two games! woo-hoo!)
But despite my sarcasm and pessimism, is that not significant? A week ago it was almost unthinkable that the Birds would win another game in the month of April, let alone two in a row.
The big guys at the top of the lineup -- Adam Jones, Nick Markakis -- still aren't producing the way they ought to. But in the past three games, the O's have scored six, seven and five runs, giving some hope that the bats are coming out of a collective slump.
Hell, even Jones hit a seeing-eye double down the third base line late in Tuesday night's game. His hit even came on an 0-2 count, a situation in which he's hit just .154 this season.
Perhaps the key there is that Jones got his hit late in the ballgame, when the O's have stopped scoring this season and the opposition has taken advantage of what has been been one of the Major League's worst bullpens.
But Tuesday the O's scored three in the bottom of the sixth inning to take the lead. And Sunday the Birds plated three runs in the seventh and three more in the tenth to earn a victory.
The bats may very well be waking up.And while Alfredo Simon (a.k.a., "The Sauce,") allowed a couple of runs, aided by Izturis' untimely 2-out error, he featured a fastball that was consistently at 96 mph and touched 97. He even used a 91 mph slider to strike out Derek Jeter with two men on.
It seems Simon will get a few opportunities to prove he can pitch in the ninth, seeing as no one else on the roster seems capable.
If Simon is successful, allowing the rest of the bullpen to return to their more comfortable roles, and the bats continue to pick it up, the two game winning streak may end up being the start of some kind of turnaround.
So I'll try to be like Casey, because for the first time in several weeks, at least there are some reasons to be hopeful.
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