Adjustments

The Baltimore Grand Prix lurched toward its starting line Thursday as downtown was consumed by the chaos of last-minute preparations for the three-day event. Wide-scale road closings began to take effect, preparing the race course along downtown streets for high-speed practice runs. And that forced businesses, schools and residents to adjust routines to cope with the blocked roads and walkways, public transit changes and increased traffic near the track. But getting downtown Baltimore to grind to a halt was no easy task.

Maryland's 2013 season could be compared to an exhilarating amusement-park ride that kept passengers highly entertained through the first half before sputtering out and leaving riders wanting more. After back-to-back appearances in the national title game, the Terps fell well short of that goal this spring, falling to Cornell, 16-8, in the first round of the NCAA tournament Sunday. With the loss, Maryland extended its national crown drought to 38 years. As frustrating as that is, however, coach John Tillman said the program will not lower the bar. “Our expectations will always be the same,” he said.

Right-hander Kevin Gregg took his place in the parade of major league pitchers who worked in Sunday's "B" game, but didn't take it personally. The Orioles have to schedule extra spring games to get enough innings for all the pitchers in camp, and it wasn't like Gregg was being relegated to a lower class of competition. He pitched between possible No. 1 starter Tommy Hunter, who apparently has won his bout with lower back soreness, and left-hander Zach Britton, who was testing his injured shoulder for the first time in a game.

Owen Blye and Zach Palmer might not have much sympathy for each other, but this season, they can empathize with one another. That's because the attackmen are laboring through underwhelming senior campaigns for Maryland and Johns Hopkins, respectively, and have been overshadowed by their teammates. But as Palmer leads the No. 15 Blue Jays (6-4) into Saturday's annual game with Blye and the No. 4 Terps (8-1) at Byrd Stadium in College Park, the duo can mutually agree that they are willing to sacrifice individual glory for team success.

All season Larry Washington's powerful legs and shoulders caused unexpected adjustments to the pads and mouthpieces of opposing tacklers. Unseen and not as hurtful, but just as vexing, were the adjustments made by the Randallstown players and coaching staff on the way to their state 4A football championship.When their 13-0 season ended Saturday with a 21-12 win over Wootton, the No. 1-ranked Rams completed the process of synchronization begun when coach John Buchheister replaced Ken Johnson, who moved to Chesapeake.

AS 1999 unfolds, your family should do a financial checkup. Here are suggestions, some from Financial Planning Perspectives newsletter: Have your circumstances changed in the last year, or do you expect changes this year? For example, do you have a new job, or have you lost an old one? Was there a death or divorce in the family? Do you plan to marry in 1999 and have children?Review your investments. Ask yourself, "How well did I weather violent 1998 stock market swings?" If you panicked last fall and dumped stocks at the wrong time, your risk level may be too high.

Out of the spotlight of the Medicare debate, the nation's private health plans have obtained a series of technical changes in the overhaul approved by Congress that stand to reap them billions of dollars.One adjustment in the Medicare legislation would raise to 8 percent next year's increase in the amount that private plans are reimbursed by the government for treating Medicare patients. In earlier versions of the legislation, passed separately by the House and Senate, the rate would have been several percentage points lower, making the reimbursements billions of dollars less.

In its latest move to rein in rising hospital costs, the state Health Services Cost Review Commission yesterday voted to make it tougher for hospitals to receive automatic inflation adjustments.Hospitals did not oppose the change, but asked that it be phased in more slowly. Commissioners, however, complained that costs in Maryland are outstripping those in other states, and voted to act more quickly."When your house is on fire, you have to take strong and quick measures," said commission member C. James Lowthers.

The toll for their fall-down season reached into the Orioles' clubhouse yesterday as the club dismissed hitting coach Rick Down and named former Orioles designated hitter and hitting coach Terry Crowley as his successor.Crowley, 51, had served as Minnesota Twins hitting coach the past eight seasons but will rejoin the organization for whom he twice played and previously served as hitting coach under four managers from 1985 to '88."He's a lot like I was as a pitching coach -- very involved with every hitter," manager Ray Miller said.

Baltimore County police officers and deputy sheriffs have agreed to forgo cost-of-living adjustments and pay more into their pensions in exchange for job security. Under contracts ratified by the unions that represent 2,000 employees in the police and sheriff's departments, members may not be laid off or furloughed at least through June 2012, officials said. They will receive previously scheduled increment and longevity increases, but not cost-of-living adjustments. The firefighters union and several others have reached similar agreements with the county, subject to ratification by their members, county officials said.

A portion of Friday's article on the improved play of No. 10 Loyola's defense centered on the progress that Jack Runkel has made. After recording a 8.57 goals-against average and a .504 save percentage in the team's first seven games, the junior goalkeeper has posted a 5.00 goals-against average and a .625 save percentage in his last three starts. Runkel said one factor in his recent performances has been a conscious effort to break a habit of standing too deep in the cage. The 6-foot-3, 250-pound Runkel takes up a lot of space, but he said that stepping out allows him to reduce the angle that opposing shooters have.

The first visit Silvano Altamirano made to the East Coast felt like a bit of a “culture shock” to the California native. But the 6-foot-2, 290-pound offensive guard from San Diego Mesa College enjoyed his official visit in December to Maryland enough to sign with the Terps days later. One month into his new life in College Park, Altamirano so far is happy with his decision. “It's going pretty good,” Altamirano said last week after Maryland's annual Signing Day ceremony.

After finishing his freshman season at Maryland, Nick Faust figured that he had a good chance to become one of the men's basketball team's leading scorers as a sophomore. With the departure last spring of Terrell Stoglin, the Atlantic Coast Conference's top scorer a year ago, it seemed only logical for Faust to make that step. If his freshman year was a big transition for a player who had not played point guard since middle school and had been accustomed to always being a primary scoring option, Faust's sophomore year has been even more of an adjustment.

Will Likely bypassed second-semester high school senioritis in favor of a head start on his 2013 college classmates by enrolling at Maryland last month. The transition from Belle Glade, Fla., to College Park has been smooth so far for the four-star cornerback, save for one obvious exception.  “I've been freezing. Nah, I'm just playing,” Likely joked Wednesday after Maryland's annual Signing Day news conference. “I'm adjusting to the cold. It's not that serious. I dress up. My mom calls me every morning, makes sure I'm dressed up. So I've got to abide by those rules, even though I'm gone.” Likely is the Terps' lone high school-aged early enrollee.

Businesses in Annapolis near where President Barack Obama met with Senate Democrats on Wednesday said road closures for security were affecting them, with some shutting their doors. "I had to shut down until 2. Nobody can get in," said Riccardo Santoro, owner of Varuna Aveda Salon Spa in the Park Place complex, adjacent to the meeting. He said the closing, due to the expected traffic woes, was his decision — and he expected to lose about $1,200 in revenue. City streets closed right around Westgate Circle, where the Westin Annapolis hotel is located.

Chemical maker W.R. Grace & Co. said Thursday it will adjust the estimated cost of settling its asbestos-related liabilities to $2 billion from the previous estimate of $1.7 billion. The increase reflects higher estimated values of a common stock warrant and deferred payment obligations to be paid to a trust to compensate personal-injury claimants and property owners under the company's bankruptcy reorganization. The company filed for Chapter 11 protection in 2001, partly as a result of asbestos-related lawsuits filed by residents of Libby, Mont., and others.

ATLANTA -- Tom Glavine sat in the Braves' dugout during LTC Game 5, clipboard on his lap, charting the pitches thrown by Atlanta ace Greg Maddux. He watched the Cleveland Indians' hitters stand a little closer to the plate, show a little more discipline.The adjustments helped the Indians thump Maddux and survive to play Game 6 of the World Series, which Glavine starts tonight against Cleveland right-hander Dennis Martinez. The Braves lead the series three games to two, but the tide of history could turn against them tonight.

CLEVELAND -- Teammates asked teammates to autograph baseballs in the Cleveland clubhouse before Game 5 of the World Series yesterday. A subtle acknowledgment, Orel Hershiser said, of the Indians' predicament.There would not be another chance for autographs if Cleveland lost to perennial Cy Young Award winner Greg Maddux. The Series would be over, the Atlanta Braves would be champions.But between signatures, the Indians studied videotape of the Atlanta pitcher and talked about hitting adjustments they would implement.

After allowing more than 180 rushing yards in three straight games, including a franchise-worst 227 yards in a Week 6 win over the Dallas Cowboys, the last place the Ravens defenders wanted to be during their bye week was a dark film room. "I was just thinking, 'Get away. Get away as far as possible,' " defensive end Arthur Jones remembered, not so fondly, this week. "I want to clear my mind, just really getting some rest and getting away from it a little bit. I started watching a little film at the end of the bye week.

Towson brought a four-game winning streak into its showdown for first place in the Colonial Athletic Association on Saturday against Northeastern. Then it sprinted to a 12-point lead. One important defensive change, though, put a stop to the Tigers' quick start in a hurry. Northeastern switched to a zone in the middle of the first half, a move that stumped Towson for the rest of a 70-59 loss before 1,814 at the Towson Center. "Sometimes when you get up, you have to make sure you handle prosperity the right way, and we probably didn't do it well enough today," Towson coach Pat Skerry said.