There comes a point when you just have to roll with it.
The Orioles swept a two-game series against the Boston Red Sox in dramatic fashion and now have won four of their first five games against the defending World Series champions and New York Yankees. It might be way too early to ask "Why Not?" but it's not too early to join in the fun.
And, make no mistake, the Orioles are having quite a time.
All you had to do was watch the walk-off handshake session to see that. They had their bills turned up to emulate the goofy way closer George Sherrill wears his cap. They had the look of a team that no longer thinks it has to keep pulling rabbits out of those hats to beat the best teams in the American League, even though that's pretty much what they did in each game against the Red Sox.
This time, it was Jay Payton lining a grand slam into the left-field bleachers to turn around another late-inning deficit. Tuesday night, it was Luke Scott going deep and Jim Johnson pulling a seventh-inning escape act that would have made Houdini blush.
Both nights, the crowd rocked afterward to a new "Orioles Magic" music video on the brand new scoreboard, and who can really say for sure that there isn't something special happening here?
"I really do feel like there is a little bit of magic going," said Jeremy Guthrie, who got the victory in the series opener and got some face time on the new video. "We've had some good wins, so why not do it? If the fans like it, even better."
Some people will think it's cheesy, but the Orioles filmed a bunch of footage of the current team lip-syncing the words - with Kevin Millar, of course, on lead vocals - and edited in clips from the years when Orioles Magic was a way of life.
The season is 40 games old and the Orioles are 21-19, which isn't exactly an excuse to start printing playoff tickets, but who really thought they would compete like this for a couple of weeks, much less a quarter of the season?
Manager Dave Trembley is one of those one-game-at-a-time guys, so he isn't ready to make any grand proclamations, even if the Orioles have played their best against the best teams they've played.
"I think it's way too early for that kind of stuff," he said. "What it says is, our guys will be ready to play, we'll compete, we won't give in and we know we have to earn it. We understand that. We're fully aware of that. I think it starts with the attitude and the approach you take and different contributions from the club. I think that's what's happened the last couple of nights here, and I think in the games against the Yankees, you've seen that as well."
