The Baltimore Orioles fired manager Lee Mazzilli on Thursday with the team mired in an eight-game losing streak and still reeling from Rafael Palmeiro's positive drug test. The Orioles have made bench coach Sam Perlozzo the interim manager for the remainder of the season. The announcement was made just two hours before Baltimore's game at Anaheim. Coming into Thursday, the Orioles were 51-56 and 10? games behind first-place Boston in the AL East. The Orioles finished 78-84 in 2004, Mazzilli's first season, and this year appeared on course to ending a run of seven straight losing seasons. Baltimore got off a solid start and on April 23 gained sole possession of first place in the AL East, ahead of the defending champion Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees.