What the *&#%, Baltimore Orioles?

The erstwhile worst team in the major leagues, the Baltimore Orioles, have suddenly won five in a row and eight out of nine, the last two against the Indians. Despite this hot streak, the O's still have the American League's worst record, and still had the worst record in the majors until last night, when they passed Pittsburgh by half a game.

The obvious thing to point to is the managerial change—Buck Showalter is 8-1 with a team that was a putrid 32-73 when he arrived—but no manager can make that big a difference, at least not permanently. He's probably provided some sort of spark, but a manager can't turn the worst team in baseball into the best. It's simply not possible. The Birds simply have a bunch of players who are playing much, much better at the same time than they were all season. They can't keep this up.

Last night's result was a perfect example. Brad Bergesen took the mound for Baltimore with a 3-9 record and a horrendous 6.26 ERA, having not won a game since May. (It's now August, in case you've lost your calendar.) You may think he probably got sent down or hit the disabled list in the meantime, but I just looked at his game log — while he appears to have missed a start here and there, he'd made 14 starts since his last victory, entering Wednesday night's game.

So what does he do? He pitches a complete game two-hitter, and beats the Tribe 3-1. Last night was the highlight of Brad Bergesen's career to date. The Indians came into the series against the Orioles having gone 13-11 against the likes of the Yankees, Red Sox, Rays, Tigers and Twins, contenders all. So it's not like this is a team that was ripe for the picking.

How do you explain it? Seriously, I'd like an answer, because I'm just baffled.