Movin on up

The Baltimore Orioles are 40-74. The Pittsburgh Pirates are 39-74.

So, at least for awhile, the O's are not the worst team in baseball.

In Luke Scott's last 67 games he is hitting .320 with 19 HR and 45 RBI. Scott has always been a feast or famine streak hitter, however, 67 games is by far the longest hot streak he's ever had.

This is Scott's 6th ML campaign.

Has he matured into a dangerous hitter? Should the O's plan on having Scott in the middle of the lineup in 2011? or is this just a long hot streak and the O's should trade him this winter at his peak value?

Respond to a poll here.

What's happening?

The Baltimore Orioles are 6-1 under new skipper Buck Showalter, having completed a 7 game homestand hosting the Angels and White Sox. It is only their 3rd winning homestand of the season and the only one where they played well in each game. Now they get their first road trip under Showalter as they head to Cleveland for 3 and Tampa Bay for 3 more.

The O's record is 38-74 on the season, the worst in ML baseball. 24-34 at home and 14-40 on the road, both worsts in the AL. However, they are 10-3 in extra inning contests and 21-16 in one run games.

So can they actually play ball and just haven't? Has the arrival of Buck Showalter at the helm flipped some "play good" switch? Has the coincidental return of Brian Roberts to the lineup been the catalyst? The departure of Miguel Tejada?

The Orioles are 6-1 under Buck Showalter. In those 7 games, the O's have pitched, fielded and hit well.

I don't know what the hell is going on.

Nick Markakis and George Brett?

Mike Flanagan, Orioles talking head, compared Nick Markakis to Hall of Famer George Brett based on both players' habit of hustling on routine outs.

My initial reaction was that would be the only comparison.

I checked anyway:

Through 731 Games:

Stat	Nick	George
AB	2773	2850
Runs	417	413
Hits	822	870
TB	1289	1298
2B	197	169
3B	9	53
HR	84	51
RBI	399	353
BB	313	210
IBB	22	28
SO	457	187
SB	40	79
CS	16	45
Avg	.296	.305

Hmmm.......