Remembering the panic after Wrigley series and other O's notes and quotes

We can laugh about it now. It was the afternoon of Aug. 24 and the Orioles lost 2-1 to the Cubs at Wrigley Field. The Orioles were swept three straight and their American League East lead was down from nine games to six. There was panic coming from some circles. One poster wrote commented with this on that Sunday: * "As NO ONE sees us as a true threat despite being in first place. We are a mirage. So many think we still fold and blow this season. This is what others mean by run differential. Less than a 1/4 to go to the season and the AL East title, regardless of a first round exit, and we get swept by the Cubs? The worst record in baseball maybe? A JOKE team? Pathetic." Yep, bit of an overreaction. We see it a lot, and as rants go, that was a good one. Since that day the Orioles are 19-5. The Orioles lead the AL East by 14 games, their largest lead since Oct. 1, 1970. They had quite a celebration at Camden Yards this week and there was nothing even slightly pathetic about it. The Orioles are now headed for their second playoff appearance in three seasons. Barring something very unforseen, no other team in the division will have more than one postseason appearance in the last three years and the Orioles 270 wins since 2012 are 13 more than any other club in the East. Here are the standings from 2012-2014 in the AL East: .567 - Orioles at 270-206, 2 playoff appearances .541 - New York at 257-218, 1 playoff appearance .536 - Tampa Bay at 256-222, 1 playoff appearance .487 - Boston at 232-244, 1 playoff appearance .469 - Toronto at 222-251, 0 playoff appearances Yesterday on Twitter, MLB.com's Richard Justice posted this nugget: "Random stat - Most wins last 3 seasons: A's 273, Nationals 271, Orioles 270, Cardinals 269, Braves 266." Bud Norris won just seven games in 2012 and 10 last year. But after he got the win on Wednesday night against Toronto he is a 14-game winner. "Means a lot to me," Norris said. "You are out there to win games. My career isn't known for that but to be in this clubhouse with this group, just want to keep going. Going into postseason is what I'm looking forward to most." Norris has made 36 starts since the Orioles acquired him July 31, 2013. The O's are 25-11 in those games and Norris is 18-9. The Orioles are 12-1 in his 13 starts this season against the AL East. I don't know about you, but I find this stat pretty amazing: Since July 19, the Orioles are 32-1 when they score four runs or more. They are 72-14 for the year when scoring four or more. Kevin Gausman (7-7, 3.57 ERA) gets the start tonight against Boston. Trying to perhaps make a late push to get into the playoff rotation, Gausman has an ERA of 2.53 his last three starts. He has pitched seven or more innings each time. In those starts, Gausman has fanned 8.8 batter per nine innings and averaged just 14.8 pitches per inning. As the season gets longer, he's getting better. For Orioles minor league Player of the Year Christian Walker, it's one game, one win, one big league debut and one big league hit. He doubled in the seventh inning Wednesday for that first hit. He exited for a pinch runner to a huge ovation. The 23-year-old Walker hit a combined .288 with 53 extra-base hits, 26 homers, 96 RBIs and 73 runs scored in 139 games with Double-A Bowie and Triple-A Norfolk. No matter how many starts he gets in the final 10 games of the regular season, he said he is going to try to not do too much when he gets his chance. "You just have to stay relaxed. Just play the game," Walker said. "What I've been doing until now they've liked obviously and thought I deserved to be here, so I'm just going to play that game. Not try to do much or force anything and let the game come to me."