Atlanta Braves

BOSTON -- Minimal expectations were easily met by the Orioles last night.Turning to rookie starter Sidney Ponson to extend a three-game winning streak, they went down meekly to the Boston Red Sox and Bret Saberhagen at Fenway Park. Hammered for 14 hits, they lost 9-1 and returned home for a three-game interleague series with the Atlanta Braves.The Orioles have won eight of 12 but dropped back to three games below .500. Saberhagen used his bionic shoulder to contain the Orioles on seven hits in seven innings.

The Orioles have officially entered the bidding for free-agent pitcher Randy Johnson while all but excusing themselves from competition for the market's two most compelling players, first baseman Mo Vaughn and center fielder Bernie Williams, general manager Frank Wren said yesterday.During an afternoon news conference held to introduce newly signed closer Mike Timlin, Wren also confirmed a modified offer to left fielder B. J. Surhoff, one of the Orioles' seven remaining free agents.Wren declined to detail the new bid to Surhoff but a source familiar with negotiations said the Orioles bumped their long-standing three-year, $12 million offer to $12.75 million -- halving the difference between their existing bid and Surhoff's demand for $13.5 million.

CLEVELAND -- The tried-and-true formula holds. Given a healthy starting rotation able to carry a game into late innings, the Orioles have shown since the All-Star break that their bullpen was more a victim of stress than incompetence in the first half.Sure, there have been casualties. Left-hander Norm Charlton was released last month in Detroit, only to be picked up by the Atlanta Braves. Hobbled starters Jimmy Key and Doug Drabek have been disabled but have received ample cover from a group strengthened since the exile of temporary fifth starter Pete Smith.

San Diego Padres vs. Atlanta Braves(Best of seven; TV: chs. 45, 5)Tonight: 8: 15, at Atlanta.Padres' Andy Ashby (17-9, 3.34) vs. Braves' John Smoltz (17-3, 2.90).Tomorrow: 8: 15 p.m., at Atlanta.Padres' Kevin Brown (18-7, 2.38) vs. Braves' Tom Glavine (20-6, 2.47).Saturday: 4: 15 p.m., at San Diego.Braves' Greg Maddux (18-9, 2.22) vs. Padres' Sterling Hitchcock (9-7, 3.93).Sunday: 7: 45 p.m., at San Diego.Braves' Denny Neagle (16-11, 3.55) vs. Padres (undecided).Monday*: 8: 10 p.m., at San Diego.

Meet Tom GlavineTom Glavine of the Atlanta Braves has won 91 games over the past five seasons. That's more than any major-leaguer. His ERA in April was 1.06 -- the best in the National League.After high school, Tom was drafted by the Atlanta Braves and the NHL's Los Angeles Kings. Tom chose baseball over hockey. "I thought my chances of having a long sports career would be better as a pitcher, " he says. "Pitchers don't get bodychecked by rugged defensemen!"WHAT'S THE CALL; BASKETBALL BOOSTThe Ravens are leading the Redbirds in the fourth quarter of a high school basketball game.

Chicago Cubs outfielder Sammy Sosa got his wish. He said weeks ago that he would gladly trade the chance to own the single-season home run record for a chance to play in the postseason, and that's exactly how it played out.It took some doing. The Cubs had to take the regular season into overtime to earn a spot in the Division Series against the Atlanta Braves -- and they had to survive a nail-biting, ninth-inning comeback attempt by the San Francisco Giants -- but Sosa got to take his wonderful 1998 season into October.

ATLANTA -- After years of grinding up opponents in the gears of their awesome starting pitching rotation, the Atlanta Braves are having the process reversed on them in the 1998 National League Championship Series.And it hurts.The Braves fell down by two games to none in the NLCS as Kevin Brown pitched and hit the San Diego Padres to a 3-0 victory in Game 2 last night at Turner Field.Brown, the stone-faced right-hander with the nastiest moving fastball in baseball, stopped the Braves, holding them to three singles while striking out 11 and ringing up the complete-game win."

ATLANTA -- From start to finish, Game 1 was an impressive display by the Atlanta Braves. They showed power. They got superb pitching and fielding. When it was over, the Chicago Cubs had been pummeled.With Michael Tucker's two-run home run providing an early lead, and Ryan Klesko's seventh-inning grand slam turning the game into a rout, the Braves opened the playoffs with an easy 7-1 victory over the Cubs yesterday before 45,598 at Turner Field.John Smoltz became the all-time leader in postseason victories (11)

Davey Johnson called his Orioles' September strategy "mix and match." Lou Piniella could call his October predicament "flail and trail."This afternoon at Camden Yards, Johnson will match Jimmy Key with an opportunity to end a one-sided Division Series in which the Orioles have placed the favored Seattle Mariners in a historically impossible position: No team has ever lost the first two games of a best-of-five format at home then recovered to win.The Mariners...

ATLANTA -- The Chop has been cut down.The most dominant team of the 1990s, the Atlanta Braves will not return to their fifth World Series during this decade. They were trumped last night by a wild card.The Florida Marlins, who finished second to Atlanta in the National League East but have won 15 of their past 21 games against the Braves, clinched the NL pennant behind ace Kevin Brown, leading all the way in a 7-4 victory before the largest crowd at Turner Field, 50,446.The win gave the Marlins the series, four games to two, the same 2-1 ratio by which they mastered Atlanta during the regular season (8-4)

Former Orioles pitching coach Leo Mazzone talks about the biggest mistake of his career - bolting the Atlanta Braves to become pitching coach for the Orioles under old friend Sam Perlozzo. ( For more, go to baltimoresun.com/schmuckblog)

Two down - sort of, anyway - and now one more essential move to go. The Orioles traded their most expensive and accomplished veteran, Miguel Tejada, to the Houston Astros in December for five prospects to trigger a much-anticipated rebuilding effort. And it looks as if soon they might finally send ace Erik Bedard, pending approved physicals and blood oaths, to the Seattle Mariners to complete Step 2 of the three-pronged improvement plan. Once the dust settles on this Bedard mess - and there hasn't been this much dust swirling around the printed word since John Steinbeck wrote The Grapes of Wrath - the Orioles will have five more players in the fold for now and the future.

Andy MacPhail's first non-waiver trade deadline as Orioles president came and went yesterday afternoon without any completed deals, leaving him with a bittersweet feeling. "It was fun. I enjoyed it," said MacPhail, who took over the Orioles' reins in June. "I think if you are not in uniform, this is about as much fun as you can have in the game. I think the only thing that was a little disappointing is that we weren't able to do anything." During an unusually quiet day around the league, MacPhail said he never came close to making a deal.

Good morning -- Atlanta Braves -- So you're renting Mark Teixeira? Orioles fans wonder if you're interested in a sublet.

When you're the Atlanta Braves and you win year after year, the postseason is expected. When disappointment finally happens, as when Atlanta's record-run of 14 consecutive National League East titles was broken last year, the fall -- and the Fall -- can be pretty hard. "It's tough. When you have been there consistently every year and not to be in it last year, it was a heartbreaker," Braves center fielder Andruw Jones said. "But this is the life [other players] go through. And you need to make adjustments."

CLEARWATER, Fla. -- Lounging cross-legged in an overstuffed chair at the Bright House Networks Field complex, Pat Gillick couldn't look much more comfortable. It's the preseason. The annual blather about hope springing eternal hangs in the thick Florida air. And Gillick again is leading one of baseball's most talented teams. "I think we've got a shot," Gillick said of his 2007 Philadelphia Phillies. "I think we have a very good starting staff and if we can beef up the bullpen a little bit, I think we can be OK."

While Orioles fans grow continually disillusioned with the performance of their team and a faction has pleaded with owner Peter G. Angelos to sell the club, another maligned owner of a struggling franchise may very well jump ship this year. Kevin McClatchy, the Pittsburgh Pirates' chief executive officer and managing general partner, has been noncommittal on whether he will sell his control of the team, which just clinched its 14th straight losing season. "I've said that I'll comment on my situation after the season," McClatchy said.

It looked over. It had to be over. The longest division title winning streak in professional sports appeared to be finished last month. There was little hope. Then came July. And, amazingly, the light began flickering again at Turner Field. Although the Atlanta Braves likely won't win the National League East again this season, it no longer is a slam-dunk certainty that they'll miss the postseason. That, in itself, is impressive. "People have been giving up on us for the last four years and we have proved them wrong," Braves center fielder Andruw Jones said.

ATLANTA -- They showed the now hard-to-believe graphic on the scoreboard last night at Turner Field while Russ Ortiz was warming up before throwing his first pitch as an Oriole. In 2003 as a member of the Atlanta Braves, Ortiz won a National League-high 21 games. That same season, Tim Hudson won 16 games for the Oakland Athletics with a tidy 2.70 ERA. Three years later, on a humid night here, they were two veteran pitches, relying on stuff not good enough to consistently get major league hitters out. Inside Tejada's games-played streak reaches 1,000.

ATLANTA // They showed the graphic on the scoreboard last night at Turner Fieldwhile Russ Ortiz was warming up before throwing his first pitch as an Oriole. In 2003 as a member of the Atlanta Braves, Ortiz won a National League-high 21 games. That same season, Tim Hudson won 16 games for the Oakland Athletics with a tidy 2.70 ERA. Three years later, on a humid night in Atlanta, they were simply two veteran pitches, relying on stuff not good enough to consistently get major league hitters out. In the Orioles' 7-4 victory in front of 38,414, Hudson was yanked after 2 2/3 innings, booed off the mound after giving up six runs (five earned)