Belle

Harold Baines was out of the lineup again yesterday to rest his sore legs, so the Orioles went with a right-handed designated hitter for the second consecutive game despite the Texas Rangers starting another right-hander. Only this time, it wasn't Rich Amaral who filled in for Baines.Amaral's name was in the original lineup as the DH, but Ray Miller told Albert Belle he could be used there if seeking a breather. After taking batting practice, Belle took Miller up on his offer, so Amaral was moved to right field.

ATLANTA -- As usual, Jeff Conine wandered over to where the Orioles' lineup was posted in the visiting clubhouse at Turner Field yesterday, checking to see if his name was among the batters who would take their cuts against four-time Cy Young Award-winner Greg Maddux.What Conine found was most unusual: He was occupying right field and the cleanup spot, the previous domains of Albert Belle.Two nights after he was confronted by Belle in the dugout at Florida's Pro Player Stadium and lured into a heated exchange, Orioles manager Ray Miller made the decision to start Conine, a .357 (10-for-28)

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- The Orioles acquired Albert Belle for his numbers but could hardly anticipate the relative power drought he has so far endured.The Orioles right fielder has nine home runs and a team-leading 31 RBIs, numbers that project to well over 30 home runs and 115 RBIs for the season. But by Belle's own definition, they are below par.Few, if any, individual statistics this season rank with Belle's one double in 157 at-bats. A year after slamming 48 doubles with the Chicago White Sox, Belle has one fewer double than utility infielder Jeff Reboulet in 105 more at-bats.

Orioles right fielder Albert Belle used the occasion of yesterday's offensive breakout to address local media for the first time since spring training, and his comments during a third-floor news conference included a denial that he recently renounced the blanket no-trade provision in his five-year, $65 million contract and disappointment with the reception he has received from many Orioles fans.Interrupting a media boycott, Belle criticized last week's report by The Sun that he approached the club last month to renounce the no-trade provision.

ATLANTA -- The Orioles answered the $80,247 question last night.Albert Belle sat down.Manager Ray Miller, who verbally sparred with Belle in the visitors dugout at Pro Player Stadium two nights before, acted upon several Thursday conversations with general manager Frank Wren by deleting the right fielder's name from the cleanup spot in the series opener against the Atlanta Braves.Steadfastly refusing to categorize Belle's benching as punishment, Miller terminated Belle's string of 392 straight games, longest in the majors.

Whether intended as a prank or a protest, Orioles right fielder Albert Belle created an organizational swirl last night by posting a petition at his locker to boycott next Monday's exhibition in Rochester.Belle's handmade sign said simply: Petition to Boycott Exhibition Game in Rochester on Monday, 6/28/99. Below were spaces for players to register their support. Belle was the first to sign, and later on Scott Erickson's signature appeared underneath. Club officials apparently were not amused.

Highlights and lowlights from the Orioles' 7-6 loss to the Montreal Expos in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.DOWN -- Base running: Manager Ray Miller sums it up best: "We had a little jet lag on the bases."UP -- Lenny Webster: Serving as the designated hitter, Webster takes the role to heart.UP -- Sidney Ponson: Remove one inning and it's sheer perfection.DOWN -- Mike Timlin: Numbers look worse than performance, but it's still three runs and five hits in one inning. And the loss.UP -- Charles Johnson: The bat looks so much quicker this spring.

The story making the rounds is that slugger Albert Belle deliberately shoved a Baltimore police sergeant during a game last week. The Orioles and police describe it more as a brushback.Nevertheless, the on-field incident during the Cleveland game last Friday prompted a meeting between police and the Orioles in which both agreed to "characterize it as an inadvertent brush," said Orioles spokesman Bill Stetka."Both the club and the police believe it is not an issue," the team spokesman added.

OAKLAND, Calif. -- The runs had to come from somewhere, and soon. Jason Johnson was pitching the game of his major-league life. It couldn't go unrewarded.In what passed as an avalanche by the Orioles' standards, they buried Oakland starter Jimmy Haynes under a six-run fifth inning, sending 11 batters to the plate and avoiding a West Coast sweep yesterday with a 9-5 victory before 17,271 at Network Associates Coliseum.The Orioles returned to Baltimore last night to begin a four-game homestand against Detroit before again hitting the road.

Selfish players on displayI agree completely with Jeff Mariner, who wrote about selfish baseball players in a letter to The Sun on June 20.After a recent Orioles-Angels game, my son and I went to the players' parking lot in the hopes of getting an autograph. There were less than 20 youngsters waiting there, so we thought our chances would be good.One after another, the players walked to their cars and sped off, while the kids screamed out their names. Not one child got an autograph from a starting player, and no one even waved to acknowledge the presence of the young fans.

Ballet Theatre of Maryland opened its 31st season with two successful performances last month of "Beauty and the Beast" choreographed by artistic director Dianna Cuatto, who is in her seventh season with BTM. Cuatto brought symbolism, metaphor and humor to the show, while combining romantic elements reminiscent of Jean Cocteau's 1946 film sprinkled with hints of Disney's 1991 animated version. The ballet was set to the surprisingly compatible music of Edvard Grieg to complete the magic.

Having trouble making ends meet? Who isn't in these troubled economic times? And so tonight comes Showtime with a new comedy series showing a way to pay the bills and have a glamorous life as well - even if you are as "lazy" as Belle (Billie Piper), the call girl protagonist in Secret Diary of a Call Girl. The cable series debuts right after the fourth season premiere of Weeds, which stars Mary-Louise Parker as a soccer mom who takes to selling marijuana as a way of maintaining her family's suburban standard of living after her husband dies.

Children's Theatre of Annapolis offers life lessons to young people through such classic tales as Beauty and the Beast that teach children to think of others ahead of themselves. It is when the Beast learns to put Belle's happiness above his own that he feels love and begins his transformation from Beast to Prince, and Belle learns that goodness can exist beneath a fearsome exterior. Other hallmarks that distinguish CTA productions are evident in this Beauty and the Beast, which continues through the weekend at Anne Arundel Community College's Pascal Center for the Performing Arts.

The Orioles are back home at Camden Yards tonight and, in a sense, so are the New York Yankees. Maybe not in a literal sense, since the Yankees already have the house that a Baltimore guy named Ruth built, but they have taken up permanent residence in our consciousness in much the same manner their fans regularly take over our ballpark. In a weird psychobabble sort of way, they have become a part of us. This is really nothing new. The fortunes of these two franchises have been intertwined for decades, from the 10-player deal in the 1970s that brought Scott McGregor, Rick Dempsey and Tippy Martinez to the Orioles to the end run the Yankees made around Peter Angelos to steal Mike Mussina to a pair of recent managerial searches that have focused on candidates with those heinous pinstripes running through their backgrounds.

On January 1, 2007, MINNIE BELLE HOCH. A Memorial Service will be held for Minnie Belle Hoch at Haebler Chapel, Goucher College, on Saturday, May 5, from 1-4 PM.

On Wednesday, April 4, 2007, BENJAMIN BORISH (87 years), beloved husband of 63 years of the late Gloria Borish (nee Frankel), loving father of Gayle Lois Brier-Billebault of Baltimore, MD, and Roberta Ann Shikes of AZ, dear father-in-law of Gerard Billebault, loving brother of the late Irvin Borish and the late Belle Plotkin, proud and devoted grandfather of Jamie and Tom McDonald, Suzanne and Jeffrey Long, Elizabeth and Dr. Baxter Bell, Kimberly Salese...

District B13 is an action movie for the rest of us. Moviegoers who were awed by the treetop martial arts on display in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon knew they could never attempt such feats in their own backyards. And fans of Jackie Chan appreciate his kung fu while knowing such acrobatics are beyond their ken. But the stars of District B13 insist that their leaps, tumbles and jumps can -- for the most part -- be replicated by anyone. The film, released on DVD, introduces to filmgoers a new style of action called parkour, a French term that means using fast, fluid movements to advance through an urban terrain.

Former Oriole Albert Belle was sentenced to three months in jail and five years of supervised probation yesterday for stalking his ex-girlfriend. Belle, 39, pleaded guilty in July to one felony stalking count. He had initially been arrested and charged in February, then rearrested May 17 at his Scottsdale, Ariz., home after he again contacted the victim. He has been jailed since the second arrest, and received credit for time served only since he entered his plea. Superior Court Judge James Keppel warned Belle that if he contacts the victim again he will go to prison.

When a Stranger Calls, starring Camilla Belle and Brian Geraghty, was not screened for critics.

It was probably in 1977 when it dawned on me that I could never have been a major league baseball player. Mind you, I was 22 at the time and I had long since been cut from my high school team three years running, but up until I first saw Bruce Sutter's split-fingered fastball, I was convinced that my absence from the bigs was the result of poor Little League parenting or politics or some other cosmic accident that had nothing to do with my clear lack...