NEW YORK -- So as not to jinx the good thing they finally have going in Baltimore, Orioles manager Buck Showalter tends to change the subject from his high-flying Birds to the Delmarva Shorebirds, the interestingly-named, talent-laden low-A-ball club of the Orioles that's winning admirers, at least admirers among aficionados of the Sally League.

So when Showalter is asked whether his nice-starting 16-9 Orioles remind him of the 1993 Yankees, the team that turned the corner for him and the storied Bronx-based franchise after a string of losers in New York, he demurred saying, "It's too short in this process to make those comparisons. We'll see how the guys play in Delmarva first.''

Showalter also said that since he has a habit of marking young players with stars, the Delmarva team from Salisbury, Md. looked like a virtual galaxy when he was through marking up their roster.

As for his Orioles? Well, so far, so surprising.

No one could have imagined this, even if Showalter is loathe to discuss it. In fact, baseball insiders had a hard time imagining anything other than another last-place finish for the Orioles, whose winter moves looked judicuous but decidedly underwhelming in baseball's best division. Yet, here they stand in second place after beating the team they almost never beat, the New York Yankees, 5-0, behind eight dominating innings from their talented righthander Jake Arrieta, who appears himself to be on the cusp of something special.

Showalter won't declare that his history-rich Orioles back to being bona fide contenders in a still impossible American League East. Not yet, anyway. But it's clear Showalter, the ex-Yankees (and Rangers and Diamondbacks) manager and new general manager Dan Duquette have this perennial doormat on the right path. A combination of astute acquisitions since last July combined with Showalter's own brand of tough love have them looking the best they have since the days after Showalter first arrived in 2010, when they were running on fear of a manager who knows what he likes (and what he doesn't like).

Duquette's only been there since winter, as he was hired following a GM search that was drawn out by necessity when several good candidates either rejected the Orioles (Tony LaCava of the Jays), dropped out (DeJon Watson of the Dodgers) or were passed over, but he recognized the positive influence of the mid-summer pickups from last year that were quite obviously acquired mostly on Showalter's recommendation. Those include three imports from Showalter's great old Rangers club: Chris Davis, the power-hitting first baseman who is showing strong signs of dismantling his reputation as a superb 4A player with his .963 OPS early, plus starting pitcher Tommy Hunter (2-1, 4.26) and hard-throwing reliever Pedro Strop (3-1, 2.08).

Duquette, who helped build the Red Sox's streak-breaking 2004 championship team before he was fired a year before the magic season, has been around Baltimore long enough to have made a trade that looks like one of the steals of the winter so far. That's the one where he sent the Orioles' most accomplished starter Jeremy Guthrie to the Rockies for starting pitcher Jason Hammel and reliever Matt Lindstrom. The Orioles never saw Guthrie as a real ace in the A.L. East anyway, and he's now on the disabled list after hurting his shoulder in a bike accident. Meanwhile, Hammel is 3-1 with a 1.97 ERA, the result of an improved sinker, and Lindstrom is one of three Orioles relievers yet to allow a run this year (closer Jim Johnson and winter pickup Luis Ayala are the other two).

"It's working out for us,'' Duquette said of the trade. 'We're happy.''

The team that perennially ranked at or very near the bottom in pitching has a stellar 2.83, and that's without one of their best young pitchers, Zach Britton, who's still working his way back from a shoulder injury, and perhaps the organization's best pitcher, 19-year-old Dylan Bundy, the leading stud of the Delmarva Shorebirds. After keeping batters hitless through his first four outings, Duquette dryly noted about Bundy that "he allowed a hit''  the other day.

The Orioles are going to take it slow with Bundy, as new pitching coordinator Rick Peterson has mapped out a plan with three more five-inning outings for Delmarva coming, followed by more minor-league outings. What's already in the majors finally isn't so bad, though.

Showalter believes the 95-mph throwing Arrieta is better than his early numbers suggest, and maybe even an eventual ace, and Showalter challenged Arrieta to become more aggressive before the Yankees game, the result being his five-hit, no-walk, nine-whiff effort. He looked the part of ace against the Yankees and their young star Ivan Nova, who hadn't lost since last summer.

Any victory against the Yankees is pleasing for the perennial patsy Orioles. But the cumulative score of 12-1 over the past two nights had to be sweet. "Our guys have been bloodied enough ... to understand the reality of each day being a different challenge,'' Showalter said.

Tuesday night's 7-1 victory over his old Yankees team also happened to be the 1,000th of Showalter's interesting career, with the first one coming just across 161st Street at the old Yankee Stadium on Opening day of the 1992 season against the Boston Red Sox. "It just means I'm old,'' Showalter texted back to a congratulatory email. "And I've been lucky ... real lucky.''

The Orioles appear to have more than luck going for them now, though.

They achieved their main winter goal of improving their pitching, and they are seeing some of their young hitters blossoming simultaneously, as well. Leadoff man Nolan Reimold (who they hope will be back this weekend after experiencing tingling in his fingers), center fielder Adam Jones and catcher and budding star Matt Wieters join Davis with OPS's over .900. The core is very good, with also Nick Markakis, J.J. Hardy and Showalter favorite Robert Andino. "We have a solid lineup,'' Duquette allowed. They have outscored their opponents by 23 runs, so their first-place standing is no fluke.

But the Orioles have been here before, and there's plenty of schedule left. Duquette, asked if they might possibly contend, can't be sure, of course. "That's why we play the schedule,'' he said.

None of them want to get ahead of themselves, understandable considering a recent history which includes 14 straight losing seasons. But they can dare to dream -- for a second here or there, anyway. "We might even be (buyers),'' Showalter allowed about the trade deadline two months from now. "Wouldn't that be nice?''

Well, it sure would be different.