Batting Practice

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- With his recovery from a fractured right thumb moving at a swift rate, David Segui isn't expected to miss as many games as the Orioles originally anticipated. The Orioles placed Segui on the disabled list yesterday, retroactive to March 21. He's eligible to return on April 5, five days after the opener against the Cleveland Indians at Camden Yards. Segui suffered the injury March 12 in Fort Myers, Fla., after raising his glove to protect himself from a line drive during batting practice.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- A day after taking batting practice for the first time, catcher Ramon Hernandez reported to Tropicana Field feeling sore and conceded he may not be back in the Orioles' lineup until early next week. The original hope was Hernandez, who hasn't played this season because of a strained left oblique muscle, could make his season debut tomorrow, but the catcher no longer thinks that is realistic. "I think it's going to feel better. I'm just taking it slow," said Hernandez, who took batting practice again yesterday.

CLEVELAND -- The realities of the Orioles' grinding second-half surge have forced several temporary concessions by a veteran clubhouse. On orders from manager Ray Miller, cutbacks were decreed this weekend in the amount of extra hitting taken by some players. Starting position players were prohibited from participating in early hitting yesterday as a tonic for what the manager construed as weariness.Rich Becker, Jeff Reboulet and Willie Greene were the only hitters to take early hitting yesterday.

Sam Snider looks like an Oriole, dressed in big-league threads with his name on the back. He acts like an Oriole, mingling with players and coaches. He moves in Oriole circles, shares Oriole secrets, pockets Oriole pay.Snider earns every cent, doing blue-collar chores that keep the club humming. He throws batting practice (up to 200 pitches a night), hits countless fungoes to fielders and warms up all the pitchers. Lumps, he takes. Snider has been shelled by line drives, bruised by errant fastballs and even battered by debris in out-of-town bullpens.

NEW YORK - It's opening day and the Pirates are beating the Phillies 2-1. Baseball fan Zack Hample, 26, flashes a slightly malevolent grin as he watches the last out of the game on TV in his parents' Manhattan apartment. "Millwood lost; I'm glad," Hample says, referring to Phillies pitcher Kevin Millwood. "He's really snotty." Hample is driven by an unquenchable thirst for baseballs, and at a Phillies game last year in Montreal, Millwood denied Hample a baseball during batting practice.

DETROIT -- Cal Ripken attempted to tap the healing powers of Tiger Stadium one more time yesterday when he took batting practice for the first time since going on the disabled list Aug. 1, increasing both the duration and degree of difficulty of his pre-game work at third base.Yesterday marked 28 days since Ripken last played.During his extended activities, Ripken fielded a full round of batting practice and fielded grounders off the fungo of bullpen catcher Sam Snider. Unlike Friday, when he remained virtually stationary while taking ground balls, Ripken ranged to his glove side.

CHICAGO - With one swing, Sammy Sosa shattered a bat and, perhaps, his image last night. In the first inning of the Chicago Cubs' 3-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Sosa's bat splintered as he hit a ground ball to second base. Tampa Bay catcher Toby Hall retrieved the pieces and showed them to plate umpire Tim McClelland. After huddling with his crew and inspecting the shards, McClelland ejected the Cubs superstar for using an illegally corked bat, igniting a controversy that figures to linger for quite some time.

Noon Gates open 12:25-1:25 Orioles batting practice 1:25-2:05 Devil Rays batting practice 2:05-2:25 Field preparation 2:25 Ceremonies begin 3:05 Game begins Tributes Commemorating late photographer Jerry Wachter, executive Harry Dalton, outfielder Pat Kelly and player and coach Elrod Hendricks First pitches Hendricks' sons, Ryan and Ian National anthem American tenor Richard Troxell Presenting colors Army (Baltimore Recruiting Battalion)...

On the field: The tarp spent more time there than the players. The field had to be covered before the game, cutting short batting practice, and again at 8: 39 when it began to pour. The game was called 1 hour and 42 minutes later.In the dugout: Manager Davey Johnson waited until after seeing sore-shouldered Roberto Alomar take batting practice before posting his lineup card.In the clubhouse: "He's very happy to be here. He's earned the right to pitch in either role. I don't think it's like a demotion.