BALTIMORE -- Dealing with today's Generation Y youth is not easy. Respect is earned, not automatically given. Trust is even more difficult to obtain. And building relationships takes tremendous effort.

Orioles pitching coach Ray Miller experienced this firsthand with promising young left-hander Erik Bedard, who is emerging as one of the team's top pitchers. Bedard tossed eight stellar innings in a 5-0 win over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays on Friday night at Camden Yards.

The Orioles have won six straight games and lead the American League East by three games. They also improved to eight games above .500 for the first time since Aug. 24, 1998.

Bedard, under the tutelage of Miller, has tossed 15 consecutive scoreless innings, and his 2.84 ERA leads the Orioles' starting rotation.

Bedard credits Miller with his recent success, which can be attributed to his developing an above-average changeup that plays well off his fastball. Bedard's changeup was sharp on Friday as he retired 24 of 29 batters he faced and threw first-pitch strikes to 18 Devil Rays.

"I threw wherever I wanted, and I stuck with it," he said. "I got quick outs early, and I got on a roll. I felt pretty comfortable out there."

Bedard's transformation into a reliable Major League pitcher has been an arduous process. He won the No. 5 job in the rotation out of Spring Training in 2004 but labored in starts for most of the season. Bedard couldn't finish off hitters, who fouled off his curveballs until they saw a fastball to their liking. If they didn't, they just worked a walk.

When Miller took over as pitching coach for Mark Wiley on June 25 of last season, he had never met Bedard. And that was significant.

"He was just like anybody else you don't know," Bedard said of Miller. "You don't trust someone as soon as you meet him. You have to get to know him. I didn't know Ray, so how was I supposed to trust him?"

After a couple of weeks of examination, Miller determined that the key to Bedard's eventual success was developing a changeup.

When Miller approached Bedard with the idea, he was rebuffed. "Nope," Bedard said. "Can't do it."

So Bedard had the potential to be a frontline starter, but he refused to learn a changeup.

"He's very defensive about coaches," Miller said after the game. "I don't know whether he's had some bad experiences in the past, but it takes him a long time to trust you. I worked the whole last month of last year, I had him sitting right next to me talking to him when he wasn't pitching."

Finally, after an offseason of persuasion, Bedard told Miller at Spring Training that he was ready to learn the changeup.

"The changeup allows him to not have good stuff and still be able to pitch," Miller said. "You still have an offspeed pitch that you can keep us in the game, and on this ballclub, that's all you need to do is keep us close."

The Orioles' offense gave Bedard some early run support Friday, thanks to a booming three-run homer by Miguel Tejada off Hideo Nomo, who no-hit the Orioles at Camden Yards three years ago while with Boston. Brian Roberts opened the bottom of the first with a single, and Melvin Mora followed with a bunt single.

Tejada, who has seven home runs in the past 13 games, walloped a forkball into the Orioles' bullpen in left-center field and Baltimore was never threatened after that. Jay Gibbons and Javy Lopez added solo home runs.

The Devil Rays didn't record a hit until Nick Green's single with two out in the third inning. Bedard then retired six straight Devil Rays before allowing a single to Toby Hall. Two outs later, Julio Lugo reached base on an infield single and Tampa Bay had its first threat.

After falling behind Aubrey Huff, 3-1, Bedard threw a changeup for a called strike two and then a fastball for called strike three.

Perhaps the old mentor was right in stressing the changeup.

"I think the changeup has gotten him away from being afraid of throwing the ball over the plate," Miller said. "He looked like a big-time big-league pitcher tonight. I see him growing with confidence in every game."

Said Bedard of Miller: "Now that I know him, I really like him. It just took some time."