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Orioles rebuilding effort paying off

Jun 18, 2008 - 12:57 PM Houston (33-38) at Baltimore (35-34) 7:05 pm EDT

BALTIMORE (Ticker) -- Trading Miguel Tejada was supposed to be one of the reasons why the Baltimore Orioles were going to struggle in 2008. However, even without his power in the middle of their lineup, they remain one of the season's biggest surprises.

The Orioles aim to climb two games over the .500 mark for the first time in nearly a month when they continue their three-game interleague set against the Houston Astros on Wednesday.

Baltimore, which hasn't been two games over .500 since it was 24-22 on May 22, dealt two of its biggest stars in the offseason when it sent ace Erik Bedard to Seattle and Tejada to Houston, trading away its best pitcher and hitter in a full-scale effort to rebuild.

However, the Orioles are six games ahead of their 69-game record from a season ago, primarily due to their ability to rally late and win close games. Baltimore has overcame a two-run deficit a major league-leading 16 times this season, and are 16-10 in one-run games after going 13-31 last year.

The Orioles rallied from a 5-3 deficit in the series opener to claim their third comeback win in the last four games in Tuesday's 6-5 triumph.

On Wednesday, Baltimore will turn to Jeremy Guthrie (3-7, 3.71 ERA), who is coming off one of his worst starts of the season. The righthander surrendered five runs and seven hits while walking a season-high five batters over 4 2/3 innings in the Orioles' 9-2 loss to Boston Thursday.

The Astros, losers of six straight, will try to halt their skid when they send Brian Moehler (3-3, 4.76) to the mound. The righthander, who had won two of his previous three starts, surrendered a season-high seven runs and seven hits over 4 2/3 innings in Houston's 9-6 setback to Milwaukee on Thursday.