Earlier last week a veteran Oriole walked past me and joked, “You gonna write something positive today?”

Your humble barkeep responded, “Give me something positive to write.”

That response was met by a shrug and a nod.

It is what it is in Birdland, a miserable season with the storyline in three months morphing from potential hope to hoping for next year.

I’m not here to make up happy happenings. You wouldn’t want that.

But I’ll say this: There were some positives in the past few days.

The obvious is that Chris Davis, exiled for eight games, contributed with the bat this weekend, homering to the opposite field on Friday and adding a huge double on Saturday in two wins against a good Atlanta Braves team.

Colby Rasmus has contributed some on both sides of the ball since his return.

Mark Trumbo is on one of his scalding-hot homer streaks.

Alex Cobb was the good Alex Cobb this weekend.

Mike Wright held things together for the Orioles in two separate games.

Caleb Joseph looks re-invigorated since he’s been back.

Danny Valencia’s trade value is rising – and you can’t tell me there isn’t a team that wouldn’t want him in a lineup against left-handers.

I’m sure I’ve missed some. And I understand it’s all too little, too late. But they did win a series on the road, they have scored some runs in the past week or so and have been in every game for the past two weeks. And a 3-3 road trip to Washington and Atlanta has to be considered a victory in a season like this.

I don’t feel like I’m stretching too much here, yet the reality is the Orioles are still 23-53, 30 games under .500 and going nowhere.

Point is, though, there were some good things that happened for the Orioles in the past few days. So, I’m willing to look at those – for a day, anyway.

Maybe something that happened this weekend will carry over as the trade deadline approaches.

Tap-In Question: What was the most encouraging thing about these last few days for the Orioles?