Aruba

After spending 11 days in an Aruban jail cell, Orioles pitcher Sidney Ponson decided this wasn't the best time to be making public appearances. With the team's blessing, Ponson declined an invitation to participate tomorrow in its annual FanFest at the Convention Center, and he also pulled out of a scheduled appearance on the Orioles' cruise. Ponson has been a regular at both functions, but he spoke with Orioles vice president Mike Flanagan about the need to stay out of the spotlight and prepare for spring training.

ORANJESTAD, Aruba - Orioles pitcher Sidney Ponson apologized for his behavior yesterday and asked for forgiveness from the judge he allegedly struck during a Christmas Day beach fight that led to his 11-day detainment, which ended Tuesday. Ponson spoke at a news conference at the Queen Beatrix International Airport shortly before boarding a plane for Florida, where he plans to remain until reporting to the Orioles' spring training camp next month. He read a statement in Papiamento, a local language of Aruba, and took no questions.

ORANJESTAD, Aruba - Sidney Ponson emerged from the Noord police station wearing dark shorts, a white T-shirt, sunglasses and sandals, and walked to his car across a gravel parking lot baking in tropical sunshine. The Orioles pitcher was released at midday yesterday after being detained for 11 days while police investigated his role in a Christmas Day beach fight, during which he allegedly punched a judge. He must return to Aruba for a sentencing trial in March, said Mary Ann Croes, spokeswoman for the public prosecutor's office.

With two escaped suspects behind bars again in Aruba, Orioles pitcher Sidney Ponson is expected to be released from custody today after meeting with the public prosecutor and a judge. The hearing comes 11 days after Ponson was detained for his alleged involvement in a fight on a beach in Boca Catalina on Aruba's west coast. A group of people confronted Ponson, 28, and accused him of operating his Jet Ski recklessly and harassing them. Ponson allegedly punched a judge, who suffered a black eye, and fled the scene.

The investigation into a fight on Christmas Day that injured a judge and caused Sidney Ponson to be detained at a police station in his native Aruba remained on hold yesterday while local authorities searched for two friends of the Orioles pitcher who escaped from their cells. Ponson is expected to remain in jail through the weekend after allegedly getting into a fight on a beach in Boca Catalina on Aruba's west coast last Saturday - a confrontation that began when a group of people accused him of harassing them with his personal watercraft and operating it recklessly.

The only movement for Orioles pitcher Sidney Ponson yesterday involved a transfer, at his request, to another police station in Aruba. But two other men who allegedly participated in the same fight on Christmas that injured a local judge were on the run yesterday. The two suspects, who were being detained along with Ponson while a prosecutor completed his investigation, escaped from jail in Noord late Wednesday night. They remained at large last night, but a police watch commander said the men likely would be apprehended before morning.

Orioles pitcher Sidney Ponson will be detained in Aruba for up to eight more days after meeting yesterday morning with a public prosecutor who's investigating a fight on Christmas that injured a local judge. Ponson is being held at a police station in the community of San Nicolas. According to a spokeswoman for the prosecutor's office, Ponson could be charged with assault and fighting in a public place. The second charge is punishable by up to 4 1/2 years of imprisonment. "In this system, he is being suspected of something," said Mary Ann Croes of the prosecutor's office.

THERE'S only one thing worse than another trade-less, free- agent-pitcher-less winter weekend for the Orioles. That would be a trade-less, free-agent-pitcher-less winter weekend in which Sidney Ponson gets detained in Aruba for offenses that allegedly have to do with a personal watercraft, a judge, a black eye and a punch. The Orioles de facto "ace" was not, apparently, playing beach-blanket bingo. Sidney, Sidney, Sidney. And we thought Ponson's spring training regimen of 40 light beers at TGIF's was going to highlight Ponson's career as the Orioles' resident free-wheeling goofball.

Sidney Ponson and his attorney will make an appearance before the public prosecutor in Aruba today in relation to a fight on Christmas Day that allegedly caused injuries to a local judge and led to the Orioles pitcher's detainment by police. Ponson has not been formally charged with a crime, but he's being held based on a complaint of assault. Jesus "Chu" Halabi, the Orioles' Caribbean scouting supervisor, said authorities continue to interview witnesses to the fight, which took place on a beach in Boca Catalina after a group of people accused Ponson of harassing them with his personal watercraft.

Orioles pitcher Sidney Ponson could be arraigned today on assault and battery charges in Aruba after a fight on Christmas that put a local judge in the hospital. Ponson, 28, was detained on suspicion of assault at a beach in Boca Catalina after several people accused him of harassing them with his personal watercraft and operating it recklessly. According to police, Ponson allegedly struck one of the men, later identified as a judge, several times before fleeing the scene. The judge's condition was not released last night, but it's believed he suffered a black eye. Police detained Ponson, a native of Aruba, late Saturday night.