As the weather starts to heat up, will the Orioles follow suit?

The Orioles have dug out of two holes, one much more meaningful than the other.

They began the year 1-4 and their starting pitching ERA at that point was 7.56. Now, at 15-12, the Orioles are 14-8 since that 1-4 start, and last night they got the best outing of the year from Ubaldo Jimenez.

They are also now a plus-2 in run differential. Digging out of that hole is less important, of course, than the won-loss record. With a three-game win streak in which they've outscored their opponents by eight runs, the O's are now in the positive, outscoring their opponents 122-120 on the season.

By the way, the Orioles moved into first place by a half-game over New York very early this morning when the Yankees' loss to Tampa Bay became final.

Here was the Orioles lineup last night:

RF - Nick Markakis
3B - Manny Machado
LF - Nelson Cruz
CF - Adam Jones
C - Matt Wieters
SS - J.J. Hardy
DH - Delmon Young
1B - Steve Pearce
2B - Jonathan Schoop

That looks like a pretty decent lineup even without Chris Davis, but they would certainly love to get him back in the middle of that order as soon as possible. I can forsee Cruz moving to the fifth spot when Davis returns to make the middle of the order more formidable.

The O's offense has not been consistent by any stretch yet and they are not hitting homers at a rate they will be at some point. Some better times are ahead for this offense.

I like that lineup, but with Jemile Weeks on the roster, there could be times his speed and on-base capabilities will look good atop that order. This lineup has some flexibility.

By the way, will Jonathan Schoop become the regular season baseman now that Manny Machado has returned to the team?

It seems so, but manager Buck Showalter usually stops short of making a proclamation like Schoop is the starting second baseman. Remember, he didn't confirm Tommy Hunter would be closing games until opening day.

Meanwhile, Jimenez put it all together last night. Was it as simple as turning the calender to May?

His split-finger looked on from the start, he kept the ball down to get a lot of groundouts, had some swing-and-miss stuff and fanned 10 batters.

If the Orioles are going to get where they want to go, to use a Showalter phrase, they are going to need more nights like that from Ubaldo.

The Orioles rotation has had its struggles, the team has had key players injured and there's been tough travel, rainouts, blown leads and damaging errors made at times.

Still, the Orioles are 15-12 as the weather is about to get warm. Maybe the Orioles are heating up, as well.