Big Night

A season of incremental change advanced another step for the Orioles last night. Wrapped within a compelling 3-2 win over the Detroit Tigers before 27,722 at Camden Yards, a closer's role was thrown open and an outfield's composition altered. Cal Ripken replied to another unspoken challenge by preserving the game with an eighth-inning dive and received a standing ovation. More obviously, starting pitcher Pat Hentgen tied up the Tigers before a tag-team bullpen covered the final six outs to give the Orioles their second three-game winning streak.

Leaving nothing to chance, the Blast made quick work of a pesky but overmatched Buffalo team last night at Baltimore Arena, impressively completing a two-game sweep to move forward to the American Conference final. Forcing the issue at every turn, the Blast left the Blizzard with few openings while taking whatever space it wanted in an energized 18-13 win in front of 3,756 that has the team preparing for Philadelphia. The KiXX, which swept Harrisburg in the conference's other first-round series, will visit the Blast at Baltimore Arena next weekend to open the best-of-three conference championship series.

DURHAM, N.C. - If you had to find an unlikely hero in Maryland's 91-80 victory last night at Duke, look no further than Danny Miller. Miller's final stats were nothing spectacular - seven points, three rebounds and one blocked shot in 12 minutes - but the sum of the plays he made were a little out of the norm for the junior forward. The biggest, of course, was his block on Shane Battier as the Duke All-American was going up for a dunk that would have given the second-ranked Blue Devils a 73-72 lead with a little over four minutes remaining.

TALLAHASSEE - It might have been a hotly contested football game, the way horns were honking and people were whistling and throngs of people were chanting, "Hey, hey, hey, goodbye." But it was a presidential election, surely one like the country has never seen - and Florida's capital was acutely aware that history was watching last night. At 7:26 p.m., with a roomful of reporters seated and several dozen curiosity seekers watching on a monitor outside, Secretary of State Katherine Harris walked in to the Cabinet meeting room in the state Capitol to essentially declare Texas Gov. George W. Bush the next president of the United States - by 537 Florida votes.

Since last year's 22-21 loss at Broadneck spoiled their bid for a perfect regular season, Kevan Simms and his Annapolis teammates have yearned to get even. They got their chance and delivered last night at Al Laramore Field in Annapolis, as junior running back Eric Venerable ran for four touchdowns and 262 yards and the No. 6 Panthers (9-1) defeated the No. 8 Bruins, 26-19. "It feels real good, and we weren't worried, " said Simms, a senior running back and defensive back. "We knew we would stop them."

Rare is it a game at Camden Yards is played in a mid-June fog. But last night's evaporating starting pitching, stumblebum fielding and lackluster relief validated the weatherman's forecast. The team with the first-inning grand slam and four-run eighth inning beat the team that sent 11 hitters to the plate during its seven-run fourth inning. The Orioles may have looked better in almost all their previous wins, but it's doubtful they've been more resilient than in last night's 11-10 beating of the Texas Rangers before an announced crowd of 39,231 at Camden Yards.

It was a big night at the American Heart Association's Heart Ball. Big place, big turnout, big hearts. The party was held inside the Warehouse, next to the Rusty Scupper on Key Highway, where 715 guests gathered to raise more than $230,000 in the battle against coronary disease. It also was a celebration of Baltimore. The building brimmed with bits of Charm City history and projections of cityscapes shimmered on the brick walls. Mingling among the memorabilia: William Donald Schaefer, event chair; Chuck Knudsen, logistics committee chair; Donald Kirson, sales committee chair; Bud Russell and John Sandblower, event committee members; Grant Cole, board chair of AHA Mid-Atlantic Affiliate Maryland Council; Neil M. Meltzer, board chair-elect; Jay Weinstein, Jackie Gaines, Larry Frank and Sheldon S. Satisky, board members; Bob Kirkpatrick, executive vice president of the AHA Mid-Atlantic Affiliate; Dr. Ligia Peralta, assistant professor of pediatrics, University of Maryland; Rich Galen, vice president of the Rouse Co.; Jerry Edwards, president of Chef's Expressions; and Dr. Sandy Quartner, obstetrician-gynecologist at GBMC.

MONTREAL -- Not even Montreal's emergency services could prevent the Blast from winning last night's National Professional Soccer League game between the American Conference's top two teams. Playing before 2,253 -- largely the city's police officers, firefighters and ambulance personnel -- the Blast scored the game's first nine points and then hung on to beat the Impact, 15-11. "We had a terrific start, and although Montreal has a good team, it becomes hard to catch up when you're behind that early," said Blast forward Erik Rasmussen, whose unassisted goal 35 seconds into the game opened the scoring.

The Orioles got only a couple of innings from the starting rotation and quickly fell behind by four runs last night, but this apparently isn't the same team that departed Baltimore in disarray 10 days ago.Obviously, somewhere between Miami and Atlanta the club stopped off for a heart transplant, because something has to account for the steady beat that the Orioles have developed over the past week.They shook off the early trouble last night and climbed back to score a 6-5, extra-inning victory over the Kansas City Royals, extending their season-long winning streak to six games before a crowd of 41,377 at Camden Yards.