There is hope yet for the Orioles

The Orioles have been the punchline on several late night shows and even from your friends, but still there is hope.

Juan Samuel has a losing record, just like his predecessors, but "his" team has found some heart at last in the middle of one of the worst season's in franchise history.

Last night's comeback victory over the AL West leading Texas Rangers was the 7th comeback in the last 8 victories with a Matusz win mixed in. Matusz threw 7 shutout inning against Boston in that game in Fenway.

Juan is 12-20 in his last 32 games, but most of his wins if not all have been marked with some pretty special moments.

Lets recap:

June 6th: 4-3  win vs Boston -  Juan Samuel's 1st MLB win and the Orioles are 4-0 against Boston so far.

June 10th: 4-3  win over New York - Arrieta gets his 1st win and the 1st save for David Hernandez

June 15th: 4-1  win over San Francisco - Arrieta gets his 2nd straight win and the 2nd straight save for Hernandez

June 19th: 5-4  win over San Diego - Millwood's 1st win as the staff ace.

June 24th: 11-5 win over Florida - 1st comeback win under Samuel after down 3 runs quick. Orioles on the right end of blowout with 17 hits + Tejada has 4 hits and a 170-at-bat drought is over with a homerun, Jones has 3 hits and a homerun, tatum has 3 hits and best of all Millwood gets his 2nd straight win

June 25th: 7-6  win vs Washington - 2nd straight comeback and second straight win after trailing 6-3 in 8th, the Orioles win due to 4 total errors by the Nationals

June 26th: 6-5  win vs Washington - 3rd straight comeback and 3rd straight win. They score 4 in the 5th and 1 in the 7th to secure their 1st series win in the last 14 series.

June 27th: 4-3  win vs Washington - 4th straight comeback and 4th straight win scoring 3 in the 5th and 1 in 8th

June 30th: 9-6 win vs Athletics - 5th comeback after trailing 6-4 in the 7th. Ty hits the 1st homerun as an Orioles 1st baseman

July 4th:  6-1 win vs Boston - Matusz throws 7 shutout innings in Fenway

July 8th:  6-4 win vs Texas - Orioles score 2 in the 7th and 3 in the 8th against a bullpen that had a 1.94 ERA in the last 17 games

July 9th:  7-6 win vs Texas - Patterson hits his very 1st career grand slam in the bottom of the 9th, bases loaded, with 2 outs and a 2-2 count against rookie All-Star closer Neftali Feliz

The Orioles are 4-12 through his first 16 games, but since have played .500 baseball through the last 16 games including a sweep of the Nationals and so far they can't lose the series to the Texans, but in order to win the series tonight they'll have to do it against Cliff Lee, while the Orioles send Chris Tillman to the mound who was just promoted from AAA. Horrible timing.

Chris pitched in 4 games as a starter this season, pitching just 15 innings, allowing 25 hits, 15 runs (14 earned), 3 hrs, 8 total walks and 7 strike-outs, with an ERA of 8.40. Don't worry, since being send down to AAA he has found his mojo again. These are his season total numbers at AAA: 13 games, 8-4 record. 65 hits in 79.1 innings. 25 runs (24 earned). 17 total walks but an amazing 60 strike-outs. His ERA there at 2.72. Now it is time to step it up again in the big leagues. No better test then the homer-happy Rangers.

Arrieta (2-2) however will pitch in the final game before the All-Star break for the series win against Wilson (7-4). Arrieta has allowed 34 hits in 32.2 innings with 18 total walks and 17 strike-outs, allowing 21 runs (18 earned) with an ERA of 4.96. Jake hasn't won since June 15th. Wilson has allowed just 83 hits in 108.1 innings with 50 total walks and 77 strike-outs, allowing 45 runs (39 earned) with an ERA of 3.24.

The Orioles are 14-12 in 1-run games this season. ----- As a side note, Felix Pie injured himself during a ground-out swing, but said he would be fine to play today, although likely we won't see him. (Update) He has been diagnosed with a strained quad and will rest today. His replacement Jake Fox gave the Orioles the game-winning go-ahead homerun in the 10th inning. Matt Wieters injured his right hamstring. (Update) He also diagnosed as a strain and he will miss the last two games before the break.

This post was written by Arjan @ BmoreFan