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BALTIMORE — Some days, you've just got to be good to win.
Other days, opportunistic.
A little bit of luck can't hurt, either.
Combine all three and success can fall your way, as the Toronto Blue Jays discovered yesterday afternoon.
The Blue Jays turned Camden Yards into their personal playground against the hapless Baltimore Orioles for several hours in the muggy heat, and the result was two satisfying wins.
In the first game, a carryover from Wednesday when a thunderstorm caused the suspension of play in the sixth inning, the Jays persevered for a 5-1 victory. Pitcher A.J. Burnett didn't even have to pick up a ball yesterday to win for the third time in his past four outings and improve to 11-9 on the year.
Burnett was the pitcher of record when he departed from Wednesday's game with the Jays leading 2-1. His 11 victories are the most he has tallied in one season in the three years he has played for the Jays.
"My day gets better," Burnett said. "Now I go and get to watch Doc pitch."
Doc is Roy Halladay, the Blue Jays' ace, who started the regularly scheduled game, which began 20 minutes after the holdover contest.
Halladay was not as miserly with his pitches as he usually is, but he still handcuffed the Orioles on seven hits over seven innings in a 7-1 Toronto rout.
Halladay ran his record to 12-7 on the season.
"Location-wise, I wasn't as good getting ahead of the counts," said Halladay, who threw 119 pitches. "But Zaunie [catcher Gregg Zaun] did a good job. We called a pretty good game and we made pitches when we had to."
The Jays took three of four games from the Orioles, 48-52, and won a series on the road for the first time in eight tries, dating back to May 27 to 29 in Oakland.
Toronto ended its trip 4-3 and improved to 51-51, the first time the Jays have enjoyed the view from .500 since June 14, when they were 35-35.
"That's something we've been trying to do since I've been here is get back to .500, so we've managed to do it," said manager Cito Gaston, who took over from John Gibbons on June 20. "We didn't start off too good on this road trip, but it's turned out pretty good."
For once, the Jays combined solid defence with good pitching and opportunistic hitting.
In Halladay's win, Adam Lind continued his solid play, going 3-for-4, as did Marco Scutaro.
Zaun broke out of a miserable 0-for-19 drought when he smacked a single into centre field with the bases loaded in the sixth inning, scoring two runs. That gave the Jays a 6-0 lead.
The Jays added two runs on sacrifice flies by Lyle Overbay and Scutaro.
Toronto enjoyed some good fortune in the fourth inning when it was nursing a 3-0 lead. With one out and Baltimore's Melvin Mora at second base, Jay Payton struck a grounder that appeared destined to go through the middle and score a run.
But the ball struck Halladay in the lower left leg and deflected to shortstop John McDonald, who threw Payton out at first base. Mora was stranded at third.
"When you're playing well and scoring runs, it seems like those things happen a little more," Halladay said. "It's nice to have that."
In the completion of the suspended game, the Jays took advantage of some shoddy play by the Orioles to build on their 2-1 lead in the eighth inning, when Lind came to bat with the bases loaded.
Lind struck a grounder to Kevin Millar and the Baltimore first baseman threw home hoping to force Overbay at the plate.
But Millar's throw was too high for Baltimore catcher Ramon Hernandez and the ball went to the backstop, allowing both Overbay and Matt Stairs to score on the error.
Scott Rolen wound up on third and Lind at second.
The next batter, McDonald, then lifted a sacrifice fly to left field that easily scored Rolen, making the score 5-1.
The Jays return home to engage the Seattle Mariners in a three-game weekend series, beginning tonight.
