Al Pacino said it best...

"Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in."

That's the Orioles for you. Just when you thought they were headed for another 100-loss season after losing 10 of 12, they started playing better baseball, taking 2 of 3 from the Red Sox and 3 of 4 from the White Sox.

5 of their last 7 ain't bad. And they now sit at 14-15, 3rd in the AL East, 4.5 games back of the Yankees.

The pitching has been solid. The bats are starting to wake up. And the Orioles actually resembled a good team, taking advantage of the many mistakes the White Sox made in this last series. And they made a lot.

The O's now head to Kansas City to face the upstart Royals who are 15-13 behind a powerful line-up that's 3rd in the AL in scoring. Their team ERA, however, is 10th, and their starting pitchers have a collective ERA of 5.11. So the Orioles may not want to get into the Royals bullpen. Just string the Royals starters along like a cat with a mouse, letting them live just...long...enough.

And while the Orioles are currently 11th in runs and 12th in pitching, they've been playing a lot better lately: getting good starts out of their rotation (3.98 ERA) and getting some great clutch hitting (.885 OPS with RISP), and look to ride some momentum into KC.

But that's the O's for you. Setting you up just to disappoint you.

Will it happen again?