Batting Cage

SARASOTA, Fla. -- Brady Anderson's bid to win the job as Orioles leadoff hitter will be delayed for at least two exhibition games.Anderson, a left-handed hitting outfielder, is recovering from a slight sprain of his right ankle, suffered a month ago while working out.As a precautionary measure, manager John Oates will keep Anderson out of the first two preseason games, the second of which will be played on the artificial surface at the Kansas City Royals...

Curtis GoodwinWhat he would be doing if there were no strike: At the outset of spring training, Orioles manager Phil Regan made it clear that he was leaning toward using Goodwin as his regular center fielder and leadoff hitter. Part of Regan's rationale was that Goodwin excelled in winter ball and was ready to make the jump from Double-A to the major leagues. Although the strike may wipe out Opening Day, Regan still wants Goodwin to win the job.What he's doing instead: Since returning from Venezuela, Goodwin has been living in Los Angeles.

The Orioles' No. 1 pick in this year's draft, third baseman Bill Rowell, is expected to agree to terms during the next homestand. The team continues to hold discussions with agent Gregg Clifton, who also represents Kris Benson and B.J. Surhoff. One team official said Rowell is "ready to go" and just waiting to sign. Dean Albany, who scouted Rowell, said the infielder reminds him of Mark Teixeira. "He hits them just like [Teixeira] used to hit them," Albany said. Rowell seems to be the total package.

OAKLAND, Calif. -- For the first time in almost three months, Glenn Davis has been cleared to resume certain baseball activities.The injured first baseman traveled with the Orioles to the West Coast yesterday after taking batting practice for the first time in almost three months. Davis will participate in pregame workouts and continue his rehabilitation exercises with all activities closely monitored by trainer Richie Bancells.Davis took about 25 controlled swings during a regular batting practice workout before the Orioles' departure yesterday.

Howard County Department of Recreation and Parks has announced that Elkridge Adult Athletic Association and Elkridge Youth Organization formally "adopted" Rockburn Branch Park on Sept. 19.A maintenance agreement was signed, and an official Adopt-a-Park sign was unveiled at the ceremony.The groups plan regular park cleanups, installation of a batting cage and refurbished bleachers.The Recreation and Parks Department and Elkridge Adult Athletic Association will co-sponsor the seventh Haunted House & Hayride at the park from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. Oct. 16, 23 and 30, and from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Oct. 17 and 24.The cost is $6.A "Not-So-Scary" Hayride, for children ages 2 to 7, will be offered from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Oct. 18 and 25.The cost is $3.Information: 410-313-4721; text telephone, 410-313-4665.

The Baltimore Museum of Industry was transformed into a sports mecca at the "Mid-Summer Sports Fest" to raise more than $35,000 for two scholarship organizations, CollegeBound Foundation and Joe Sandusky Fund. More than 600 guests were greeted by party co-hosts WBAL-TV sports director Gerry Sandusky and Baltimore Raven Jamie Sharper. An array of games awaited: a batting cage, basketball hoops, putting greens, a makeshift climbing "mountain," pool table, pingpong, tennis, even fencing. If that wasn't enough, you could listen in on the sports radio show being broadcast live from the site.

COVESVILLE, Va. -- On a recent drizzly Saturday, players smacked baseballs in batting cages and spectators sat under colorful awnings, watching children play game after game of baseball on fields worthy of the pros. Here, in the jagged foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains southwest of Charlottesville, a 45-year-old multimillionaire novelist has built his field of dreams: a $3.8 million, seven diamond ballpark for kids. John Grisham, author of such best sellers as "The Firm" and "The Client," completed Cove Creek Park to accolades in 1996 and the park keeps growing.

A Columbia business consultant has grand plans to open a family entertainment indoor sports complex in the former General Electric Dryer building next June. The complex would include scores of activities, from a rock climbing wall adorned with a waterfall to indoor skating and soccer rinks.Reginald N. Spencer, who heads Maryland Multi-Media and Marketing Management Inc., said he is in the process of raising $5 million to lease and develop a 150,000-square-foot area in the former Dryer building, which serves as a headquarters and warehouse for Luskin's Inc. and includes several other tenants, including a volleyball operation.

Former two-sport standout and current NFL Network analyst Deion Sanders, in town for Thursday night's Ravens home game against Cleveland, stopped by Oriole Park at Camden Yards to take batting practice with the Orioles. Some players got a kick out of it -- left-hander Troy Patton asked Sanders for his autograph -- and Orioles manager Buck Showalter, who was Sanders' manager with the Double-A Albany-Colonie Yankees in 1989, reminisced about Sanders' athletic ability, saying that watching Sanders leg out a triple is "still one of the prettiest things I've ever seen.

HOUSTON -- An ESPN report Tuesday that roughly 20 major league players will be suspended for their involvement with performance-enhancing drugs as part of the Miami-based Biogenesis clinic scandal has been met with caution by Orioles officials. The suspensions could come within the next few weeks, according to ESPN, and executive vice president Dan Duquette said he'd be waiting to comment until all the information is out. “I think the commissioner's office worries about the larger issue of what's good for baseball, and they have spent a lot of time and resources investigating this particular situation,” Duquette said.