Ballclub

The city of Baltimore was willing to close streets and stop traffic, ready to throw the parade that would celebrate the Orioles as winners -- even though they came up short in the American League playoffs.But the team turned down the offer. No championship, no parade, no thanks."If you look at the cities around baseball, the only time you do any parade or rally is if you win a league championship or a world championship, but we did neither," Orioles spokesman John Maroon said yesterday.But it's not as though Orioles fans haven't been willing to show their love in the face of "almost."

While a 100-win season once seemed a near-certainty, Orioles manager Davey Johnson now considers it "just a number."A game from clinching a wild-card berth and standing on the cusp of the franchise's first division title since 1983, Johnson now says the landmark is of secondary importance to resting position players and aligning his rotation in preparation for the postseason.Downplaying the feat comes with personal loss for Johnson, who would join Sparky Anderson and Whitey Herzog as the only managers ever to achieve 100 wins in both leagues.

Rupert Murdoch's Fox Group agreed to buy the Dodgers 40 years, almost to the day, after they and the Giants left New York for the West Coast.The Sun's Peter Schmuck probably spoke for most people outside New York when he wrote Sept. 5: "The late Walter O'Malley is considered the pioneer who turned Major League Baseball into a truly national pastime when he moved the team from Brooklyn to Los Angeles."Nobody disputes that the major leagues needed to establish themselves outside the Northeast, and that San Francisco and Los Angeles deserved big-league ball clubs (well, I cling to the stereotype that Los Angeles fans will leave a double no-hitter in the seventh inning to beat the traffic to the beach, but let that go)

The first time Robert Irsay met William Donald Schaefer, he brought his priest and his accountant with him. Schaefer thought, I understand the accountant, but why the priest? Later, he found out. They were already performing the last rites over the Baltimore Colts.Now someone will pronounce all the officially respectful words over Irsay, dead nearly 13 years after he committed the most infamous act in Baltimore sports history. But nobody's lighting candles around here. Irsay, dead at 73, is more unwelcome proof that the good die young.

Ten o'clock Sunday night, as he stared at a newspaper sports page that quoted Jon Miller, the best baseball voice of his generation, declaring he was leaving the Baltimore Orioles, the telephone rang in Peter Angelos' home."

On the field: Brady Anderson is on a serious roll. His homer leading off the first was his sixth of the season, breaking Don Buford's club record of five. No wonder that in the eighth inning yesterday, in the rather drab final few innings of the Orioles' 10-5 win, fans in the center-field stands suddenly began chanting Anderson's name. "Brady's the best," said Bill Ripken. "What more do you want? What can you say about that but 'wow'?In the dugout: For the second straight game, the Orioles' bullpen could rest easy.

Redskins, go home.Back to D.C. Back to RFK Stadium. Back to Marion Barry.Poor Jack Kent Cooke.D.C. didn't want him. Alexandria, Va., didn't want him. And now Laurel doesn't want him, either.Some big shot.Cooke now has struck out on as many stadiums as marriages, depending on how you count Marlena "Not My Wife" Chalmers.He's going to fight this, of course. He's going to appeal, and cajole, and bully -- whatever it takes to build his 78,600-seat temple of greed.Hit the road, Jack.Take your 330 luxury boxes, your stupid entry passes, your stinkin', last-place Redskins.

If you lighten up, I'll shut up.That, in essence, is what Orioles majority owner Peter Angelos is trying to tell his manager, Johnny Oates.He imparted that message most eloquently in the final of six paragraphs in a letter he hand-delivered to Oates yesterday."

There is a lot of talk about whether Johnny Oates should be fired, which is hardly surprising. One of the advantages of spending $173 million to buy a baseball team, as Peter Angelos and his group did, is that you get to pick the manager you want.Spending that much money means you have every right not to have to live with your predecessor's version of a good idea.But spending that much money doesn't necessarily mean you know what's right. It doesn't mean you know how to fix what ails your ballclub.

Gov. William Donald Schaefer was in a blue funk yesterday, hanging his head in his hands throughout the morning's weekly Board of Public Works meeting.The day after Baltimore learned a decision on its NFL expansion bid would be put on hold until Nov. 30, the governor even wore a tie appropriate for the occasion: The brightly colored pattern, set against a dark blue background, featured cartoon-like exclamations: "!"An aide said the tie selection was no coincidence.As he ended the meeting, the governor turned to state treasurer Lucille Maurer and said that Tuesday was "the most frustrating and sad day" he has had.Asked if the Baltimore delegation will consider legal action, Mr. Schaefer said: "We have no plan on suing.