Don’t look now, there’s a new kid on the block. Perennial American League East frontrunners New York and Boston find themselves chasing the league-leading Baltimore Orioles.

Baltimore hasn’t made the playoffs since 1997.

One of the architects behind the Orioles’ surprising start has been South Portland native Jim Beattie, their executive vice president for baseball operations.

The 50-year-old Beattie, who works closely with VP for baseball operations Mike Flanagan, has been pleased with the team’s start but is quick to say “there’s a long way to go.

“We’re not looking that far ahead. We’ve got to win games and we need to take advantage of our [favorable] schedule right now,” said Beattie who feels the eventual return of injured pitcher Erik Bedard, catcher Javy Lopez and center fielder Luis Matos will improve their chances.

Beattie said the Orioles’ free agent signing of former American League Most Valuable Player Miguel Tejada before the 2004 season laid the groundwork for the turnaround. Tejada has followed a terrific 2004 season (.311 average, 34 homers, 150 runs batted in) with an impressive 2005 season so far (.324-17-51).

More importantly, according to Beattie, is the Tejada signing “changed the perception of Baltimore from the previous four or five years.

“Now guys want to come to Baltimore because they know they can win here. We’re getting there. People realize Baltimore is a great town to play in. We have great fans, the ballpark [Camden Yards] is tremendous and we’re able to put a club out there that will challenge the Yankees and the Red Sox,” said Beattie, who pitched in the major leagues for nine years and won a World Series ring with the Yankees in 1978.

He also said Orioles owner-CEO Peter Angelos is willing to open his checkbook.

“Peter wants to win. He has given us indications that if there is a player out there who will give us a chance to win, we’ll be able to do something,” said Beattie, who is in his third year with the Birds after serving as GM for the Montreal Expos.

Ironically, the Expos are now the Nationals and have moved to Washington D.C., just 40 miles from Baltimore, and they are leading the National League East.

The Nats are definitely cutting into attendance at Camden Yards, according to Beattie.

“We had 23,000 [23,297] last night,” said Beattie.

Camden Yards holds 48,290.

“We feel they’re taking 10 percent of our fans away. They’re averaging over 30,000 a game,” said Beattie.

The Orioles will receive financial compensation from Major League Baseball because of Washington D.C.’s close proximity to Baltimore.

“I’m not sure any other ballclub is in the situation we’re in. D.C. is an hour away, and Philadelphia is an hour and a half away,” said Beattie.

Beattie said they will continue to try “different things” to attract fans to Camden Yards.

Beattie said he was honored to be inducted into the Maine Sports Hall of Fame.

“It was fun. There were a lot of old-timers there,” said Beattie who attended with his wife Martha, son Sam and daughters Nell and Sarah.

By the way, in case you wondered if Beattie grew up a Red Sox fan, he didn’t.

“I was more of a Cardinals fan because it seemed they were on the ‘Game of the Week’ all the time and we couldn’t get Red Sox games,” said Beattie.

Larry Mahoney can be reached at 990-8231, 1-800-310-8600 or by email at lmahoneya@bangordailynews.net.