O's Make the Most Of Their Tall Order

BALTIMORE

Brian Roberts, the little second baseman who seems intent on erasing all the single-season records of both Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb in the same season, began the Baltimore Orioles' homestand Friday night with a scorching single to left off Hideo Nomo.

Melvin Mora, whose .310 batting average is only the fifth best in the starting lineup of a team with a .303 mark, beat out a bunt to third. Miguel Tejada, the 215-pound shortstop who may be the best all-around player in baseball, demolished a 414-foot home run over the center field fence. Three batters. Three hits. Three runs.

As the pregame song on the PA system proclaimed, "The boys are back in town."

Still due up, Sammy Sosa and Rafael Palmeiro, both headed to the Hall of Fame and the only two 500-home run players ever to be teammates. After them, all-star catcher Javy Lopez, muscleman Jay Gibbons, who had 100 RBI in '03, Luis Matos, who is hitting .339 and -- relegated to batting ninth -- 6-foot-4 outfielder Larry Bigbie, who may look more like a statue of The Perfect Ballplayer than anybody on the club.

They are a lovely load, this nine. Nobody, not the Yankees or the Red Sox or the Cardinals, puts a significantly more charismatic and potent offense on the field than the Orioles. By the time southpaw Erik Bedard, a typical fledgling Orioles pitcher with obvious but unproven talent, went back to the Baltimore mound you could almost see the tears of gratitude in his eyes.

In just one month, the Orioles have done a remarkable job of erasing seven years of bad memories. Much more work remains to be done. But what a start to the job! A novel concept seems to have energized the Orioles: competition.

Perhaps it's only coincidence, but as soon as the too-long dormant Orioles were pressed by the new Washington Nationals for the affection of millions of local fans, the franchise has responded in classic free-market fashion. The Orioles have spent to add equipment (the new Sosa cleanup engine), instituted new efficiency procedures (fleshing out a bullpen that is now one of the deepest in baseball) and emphasized better employee morale (produce or return to Aruba).

As a result, the Orioles have suddenly brought a much-improved product to market. It's about time. Consumer satisfaction has been a dismally low priority for the Orioles of late. But, if it took the arrival of the nearby Nationals to prod the Orioles into a 15-7 start and a three-game lead in the American League East, then that's how the system is supposed to work.

The Orioles returned to Camden Yards Friday with a unique opportunity to capitalize. After beating the Yankees five times in six games and splitting four games with the Red Sox, Baltimore suddenly finds itself facing one of the softest sections of its schedule: 12 games in 13 days against Tampa Bay, Toronto, Kansas City and Minnesota. What a wide-open window.

Instead of wondering how far they will finish behind their New York and Boston nemesis, the Orioles might actually build a significant division lead. "You can't win it in April, but you can sure bury yourself. It's nice not to be buried," says veteran B.J. Surhoff, who has attended too many of those early Oriole internments. "It's better to have the fans excited than pessimistic."

That job, of reversing public perception, has been done so suddenly that the team itself is still digesting its early success. When the Orioles look at their scoring pace that would generate 940 runs for an entire season, they have obvious reason for optimism. When you add promising young pitching, plus the emergence of the diminutive Roberts, whose combination of seven homers and nine steals have the league buzzing, then the Orioles look like what they were for so long -- a threat to win 90 games.