Optimistic about 81+ wins?

[DougDE]

Well after a disasterous 4 game stretch culminating in the Friday night beat down at the hands of the Nats, the Birds have bounced back with a 5 game win streak to reach .500. Does this do anything to get fans excited again about a possible winning season or is it still to early yet, after just 48 games?
Some reasons I think it is possible. Brian Matusz has yet to start a game but I think is an obvious upgrade over Tillman or Bergesen. At this point I think its Bergesen thats out. Zach Britton has been phenomenal and even deserves All-Star consideration. Also deserving of All-Star consideration in my opinion is A. Jones and M. Wieters. V. Guerrero has been good without lighting the world on fire so I think its reasonable to believe he can sustain his pace, which has been helpful. And without citing any numbers, I think the defense has passed the eye test. Its at least been reasonably good.
There are som reasons for concern however. B. Roberts is hurt again. N. Markakis is on pace for another year well under 20 HR's. For that matter the power from all 4 corners is probably not what you'd ideally want. Other then Koji, the bullpen has been hit or miss. And of course there's the 0-6 against the Yanks.
I personally think, as presently constructed, that this is a .500 club and will see-saw back and forth around that number. Wouldnt surprise me if they won 82 or 83 but if I had to pick a number it'd be 80. They still need to show me they can consistently beat the teams in their division before I think they can get mid 80's or better. So how many wins are you now envisioning?

[Don]

The one reason it is possible is that the Orioles are beating up teams at their level or below, which is the first step to producing a winning ball club. You cannot allow teams that are just as good as your club to win on a consistent basis and figure that growth is on the horizon.

I take some of the lumps in the AL East with a grain of salt. It is no longer the view that the Yankees, Soxs, Rays, Blue Jays are a step or two above the Orioles. The Orioles can absolutely hang night in and night out with them. They simply need to cut out the miscues from the lineup and bullpen and do damage when they get their chances. I look at last week as a great example.

The Orioles should have won that game in Boston. The Yankees did not win those game and more along the lines the Orioles found a way to lose, without holes in their lineup.

I honestly feel when all the cards are in the deck, the Orioles will be a part of the reason why only one team makes the playoffs out of this division. This is not dumb luck .500 and it is really starting to show the strong, young, nucleus team members becoming top flight baseball players.

[DougDE]

The one reason it is possible is that the Orioles are beating up teams at their level or below, which is the first step to producing a winning ball club

Definetly. This is something that I think the Ravens are so good at. They may have their problems with the Pittsburghs and Indy's, etc. at times, but they generally make the playoffs because they take care of the teams they should