At about the fourth game of the winning streak, that’s when Phil Cooper really took notice. He called his brother, Randy, and pointed out that the Orioles hadn’t lost a game since their mother, Phyllis Cooper, died at 93 on July 2. In the time since her death, Baltimore found new ways to win, and four wins turned into five, and five turned into six.
After Wednesday night’s 7-1 win over the Chicago Cubs, that streak rests at 10 straight games, the longest since the Orioles won 13 straight in 1999. With each win, Phil would call his brother, pointing out the feat with a sense of amusement at how their mother, a lifelong Orioles fan and Baltimore native, must be pulling some strings from above.
“He kept calling me every day. He’d say, ‘They won again,’” said Randy Cooper, 60. “I said, ‘Holy cow, are we talking about the same team? The Orioles, right? They won again!’”
