O's get a big win, plus a look at the final day on the farm

The Orioles don't seem to want to go down without a fight. It is rather admirable and I'm sure appreciated by the fan base.

They are 3-1 since losing that series against Toronto that dropped them four games out of first place in the American League East. They pulled within two games, dropped three back and now are back at two games off the AL East lead. Certainly, they are right there in the wild card race, tied with Detroit for the second wild card spot, with both teams one game behind Boston for the first wild card berth.

No one knows how the next 25 games will play out. But the Orioles are right there, contending for the postseason. Some of the venting we've read here that the season is over and that it's time to start looking at 2017 might have been good as far as rants go, but it just was not accurate. Some fans did, in fact, quit on the season, but the players have not.

When Ubaldo Jimenez was pitching poorly earlier this season, a few fans on Twitter chastised the media, asking reporters to stop saying he is a nice guy. As if his bad ERA made him a bad person. No, he was a great guy then and is now. Maybe it's OK to say it again. Actually, it always was OK to say it.

It is a mystery how Jimenez gets in terrible ruts where he can't throw strikes and get hitters out, and then turns it around and looks like a top-of-the-rotation pitcher. Whatever it was that turned it around this time, the Orioles will happily take it. Jimenez replaced Chris Tillman in the rotation and is doing a good impression of the 2016 Tillman.

On Aug. 25, Jimenez stepped into Tillman's rotation spot and gave up one run over six innings against the Nationals. Then he allowed three runs over 6 2/3 innings versus Toronto. Yesterday, he pitched a complete-game two-hitter after allowing a first-inning three-run homer. It was the Orioles' first complete game since Sept. 3, 2014, when Miguel Gonzalez shut out the Cincinnati Reds.

Dare we say that the O's rotation has once again taken a turn for the better. The starters have recorded six quality starts in the last eight games, with Dylan Bundy coming an out short of making that seven out of eight. The rotation ERA is 2.79 in that span. O's starters have an ERA of 3.70 over the last 15 games and 4.25 over the last 50 games.

The team that has seldom put pitching and hitting together on the same day now has 8-0 and 7-3 wins in the last four games.

The Orioles are 10-3 against Tampa Bay, while Toronto is 7-9. In winning Monday, the O's beat a Tampa Bay team that had won four of its last six and 12 of 20 games. The Rays entered this series with a mark of 24-23 since the All-Star break. With a win in one of the next two games, the Orioles will have two straight AL East series wins after losing five in a row.

It's a start. And it's showing that there is still hope to see some good things happen during the 2016 season. Even if some gave up that hope days or weeks ago.

Farm notes: Monday was the last day of the minor league regular season. Unlike last year, when the Orioles sent Triple-A Norfolk and Double-A Bowie to the playoffs and Bowie won the Eastern League championship, the Orioles do not have a playoff team this year. The final records:

Norfolk: 62-82
Bowie: 56-86
Single-A Frederick: 68-72
Single-A Delmarva: 73-66
Short-season Single-A Aberdeen: 32-43
Rookie-level Gulf Coast League: 27-32

Christian Walker hit two homers and drove in four and Chance Sisco homered in Norfolk's 7-1 win over Durham. Walker has 157 career RBIs with Norfolk, tied with Brandon Snyder for the most by a Tides player as an Orioles affiliate. Pedro Beato retired the only batter he faced as he registered his 65th appearance of the season. That mark established a new franchise record for games pitched in a season and tied him with Toledo hurler Preston Guilmet for the most games pitched in all of minor league baseball this season.

Bowie lost 8-5 at Akron. Drew Dosch and Joey Terdoslavich homered. Julio Borbon became just the ninth player in Baysox team history and the first in five years to steal 30 or more bases in a year.

Frederick beat Wilmington 6-3 as Josh Hart and Yermin Mercedes homered. With the victory, the Keys snapped a five-game slide and finished with their highest win total since 2011. In 122 games between Delmarva and Frederick, Mercedes hit .345/.404/.570 with 20 homers, 77 RBIs and a .974 OPS.

Delmarva's season ended with a 10th inning walk-off win over Kannapolis. Alex Murphy's RBI single capped a rally from 3-2 down to win 4-3 in the 10th. The Shorebirds finished the season with 15 wins in their last at-bat, six walk-off wins and 12 wins in their final 15 games.

Aberdeen blanked Hudson Valley 2-0. Zach Muckenhirn, Nick Vespi, Joe Johnson and James Teague combined on a four-hitter with five strikeouts.

With the end of the minor league season, I want to thank the many team radio broadcasters, public relations and front office staff, managers, coaches and players that have taken the time this year to do interviews and/or help me in coverage of the farm. It's a long list and this group is awesome to me. In some cases, it's a list of people that have been helping me for many, many years. In addition to the staff with each farm team, the Orioles' public relations staff has provided numerous stats and notes that have appeared on this blog often this year. Members of the Orioles front office, especially the player development and scouting departments, have always been there to take my calls and provide updates and information. I hope everyone knows how much they helped and how much they are appreciated by me. The coverage of the minors will not stop just because the season did, by the way. But to the many that were here to help this year, thank you!