Showalter on snowball time of year

Manager Buck Showalter refers to the final month of the season as the "snowball time of year." Losses can pile up on a team - just ask the Orioles - but so can the wins.

The Orioles are rolling in the right direction again, winning back-to-back series for the first time since July 24-29 following tonight's 8-2 victory over the Royals before 22,496 at Camden Yards.

The Orioles (69-73) took two of three from the Yankees and the Royals and are tied with the Rays for third place in the American League East.

"I said it before, things can get going really one way or the other," Showalter said. "We have to keep the carrot out there. We've got 20 games left and we're going to try to win every one of them. If you watch the way our guys are going about their business, that's their idea as much as mine."

Wei-Yin Chen allowed two runs over seven innings, retiring 15 of the last 17 batters he faced.

"Better," Showalter said. "More aggressive. I think frankly we played pretty good defense and there were about eight or nine balls hit on the button that our guys made plays on. (Gerardo) Parra made some good plays. Of course, Manny (Machado). And Jonathan (Schoop) fielded some hard-hit balls. Adam (Jones) took benefit of the shallower center field that he plays. But he attacked. Didn't walk anybody. And the balls they hit hard, we defended."

The Orioles pounced on Royals starter Johnny Cueto, hitting four home runs in the first five innings. Schoop accounted for two of them to raise his season total to 14 in 69 games.

Imagine what he could do over a full season.

"There are a lot of guys that do that in a short period and they have an injury or whatever and everybody just projects it, but there's two parts of that equation," Showalter said.

"Manny's crossing the threshold this year that you like to see young people do. I think Jon can do it, too. I've said many times it's a little bit of the legacy that Cal (Ripken Jr.) left here. Adam, whatever. It's a place they expect each other to post up. And I think Jonathan, if he stays on top of that knee, that he's going to have to ...

"He went through a period when he got here - he said his legs felt better than they ever felt with all the work they did down there. I saw the films. Brady (Anderson) filmed the stuff he was doing. I don't know if anybody has ever been challenged to work as hard as he did the last 10 days to get back here. But then he went through a period here up until maybe 10 days ago where his legs got a little heavy on him.

"We always think that because the guy hit five home runs his rookie year, he's going to hit 10 the next year and 20 the next year. It doesn't always work that way. Some guys are the same player five years later that they were. That's why a scout tells you never draft an 18-year-old with a full beard, because he is going to be the same guy. What you see is what you get. All the maturity is there. You can't get a veteran scout to draft a guy with a full beard out of high school."

Schoop is clean-shaven, if that helps.

"I think Jon is just starting to figure it out in a lot of ways," Showalter said. "The thing I like about him is he is very humble and he doesn't take anything for granted. He's going to be as good as he's capable of being. As long as he keeps defending the way he defends, he'll get a chance to be as good as he's capable of being."

Cueto hasn't been very good since joining the Royals.

"He didn't throw as many changeups tonight as he usually does. He threw a lot more fastballs or cutters," Showalter said.

"He's had his challenges a little bit since the trade. It's an adjustment for pitchers coming over from the National League to the American League. He's a good quality pitcher. I was looking at his numbers today. This guy has had a sub-three ERA for a long time and he's only 29. I would be surprised if he wasn't a big contributor for them in the playoffs."

The playoffs remain a long shot for the Orioles, but they've won four of their last five games. The temperature is dropping. It's snowball time.

"Today's the first time you get a little fall crispness in the air," Showalter said. "Tonight was a reminder of what playing in the playoffs was like. It was dark when the game started. There was a certain feel to it. You're playing the team with the best record in the American League. It was good. Beat the Yankees two out of three and beat these guys two out of three."