Aaron Sele

Scouting report: Mariners vs. Orioles At Oriole Park at Camden Yards Day................ Time............TV.......... Starters Tonight......... 7:05........... CSN.........RHP Aaron Sele (13-4, 3.51)vs. RHP Calvin Maduro (2-4, 4.24) Tomorrow.... 4:05............. 45............RHP Paul Abbott (13-3, 4.20)vs. RHP Jose Mercedes (7-15, 5.82) Sunday...........1:35............ 54, 50..... RHP Joel Pineiro (3-1, 2.35)vs. undecided Radio: All games on WBAL (1090 AM) Mariners update A brutal homestand for the Orioles takes another nasty turn with the Mariners' arrival at Camden Yards.

AMERICAN LEAGUE Who's hot Jarrod Washburn of the Angels has won seven straight decisions. Who's not The Devil Rays are 1-34 in games in which they've been held to two runs or fewer. Line of the day Deivi Cruz, Tigers shortstop AB .... R .... H .... RBI .... HR 3 ...... 3 .... 3 ...... 2 ...... 0 NATIONAL LEAGUE Who's hot The Dodgers won for the 16th time in 21 games to move a season-high 12 games over .500. Who's not The Reds have won only 13 of their 50 games at Cinergy Field.

SEATTLE - A spirited meeting of former and almost Orioles convened at Safeco Field last night. Starting pitcher Aaron Sele (honorary member) and reliever Arthur Rhodes conspired for the first eight innings of the Seattle Mariners' 2-1 victory over their old team and completing a sweep of the three-game series. Sele (8-0) pitched 7 1/3 innings before Rhodes secured the game's two most important outs to hold off a riveting eighth-inning rally. In the 100th win of Sele's career, the loss was another in a series of close games the Orioles have played against contending teams where one pitch, one decision or one swing has often decided the game.

At Safeco Field, Seattle Day...Time...TV... Starters Tonight...10:05...54, 50...Willis Roberts (5-3, 5.36) vs. Freddy Garcia (4-0, 4.26) Tomorrow...10:05...CSN...Jason Johnson (4-2, 3.49) vs. John Halama (3-4, 4.83) Thursday...10:05...54, 50...Jose Mercedes (1-6, 6.11) vs. Aaron Sele (7-0, 2.81) Radio: All games on WBAL (1090 AM) Mariners update There hasn't been a better team in baseball than the Mariners, who bring the majors' best record (37-12) into this series. They haven't missed shortstop Alex Rodriguez, just as they recovered nicely from the departures of Randy Johnson and Ken Griffey.

ATLANTA - Aaron Sele was supposed to represent the Orioles on this night. He was supposed to justify the money thrown at him this winter by winning games and earning his second All-Star selection. He's winning games - 11 of them at the break. And he was in the American League's bullpen last night, waiting for a call from manager Joe Torre after being a spectator for all nine innings in 1998. He's just not an Oriole. Does close count? Sele had reached agreement on a four-year Orioles contract in January and flew to Baltimore for his physical.

What if a team were forced to trade its best, most marketable player under conditions akin to extortion, lost both its catchers to significant injuries, found itself within baseball's highest-percentage division and faced the likelihood of its franchise shortstop leaving via free agency at season's end? What kind of cataclysmic season could be expected? Well, the Seattle Mariners are doing just fine, thank you. The Mariners won seven games in a row before losing, 3-2, Wednesday to Anaheim.

Mariners That was then: Seattle had its second straight sub-.500 season, never climbing out of third place after early July. The Mariners opened spacious Safeco Field and closed both the cozy Kingdome and the Ken Griffey era. This is now: Protesters at the World Trade Organization conference in Seattle rallied in December over fair trade; imagine how upset they'd have been if they knew how little the Mariners would get two months later for Griffey....