Braves

SARASOTA, Fla. - The Orioles won their second straight Grapefruit League game, backed by another superb pitching performance Thursday afternoon in a 2-1 victory over the Braves at Ed Smith Stadium. Right-hander Jason Hammel, making his first Grapefruit League start in an Orioles uniform, tossed a pair of scoreless innings despite allowing back-to-back one-out singles in the second inning. “Honestly, for the first time out, considering all things, results were good,” Hammel said.

Anise flavored drinks are not popular in America - they get a bad rap here. But the reasons for such distaste are usually misguided. Most people are turned off by hearing the words "black licorice" regarding the flavor while in the case of the most famous anise liqueur, absinthe, untrue tales of hallucination are a deterrent. This is a shame because anise flavored drinks are a delightfully refreshing and delicious way to get your drink on. If imbibed the way the Turkish (and most other countries)

Ever since I did a story on Riley Davis' bone marrow transplant in September 2009, I looked forward to finally meeting him in person. I wanted to be there when he went back to Jacksonville Elementary School. He was in the middle of fourth grade when he was diagnosed with leukemia in 2008. But his health didn't allow him to go back. So then I waited to see when he would start Hereford Middle School. I already envisioned our photographer getting a photo of Riley, known as “Sunny D,” sitting in the cafeteria and surrounded by his friends.

The United States continues to ignore the thwarted Arab Spring in Bahrain. Recently, a quasi-military court in the small Gulf state sentenced 20 doctors and nurses to up to 15 years in jail. The charge against them? Treating injured demonstrators opposing the regime. Doctors and nurses in the Middle East have a long and proud tradition of treating the ill, regardless of the situation. In ninth-century Baghdad, for example, Hunayn ibn Ishaq was the Caliph's physician. The Caliph asked this physician to prepare a poison to kill his enemies.

Red Sox and Braves Phil Rogers Chicago Tribune Forget the angst of Red Sox Nation. The Yankees are taking care of the Rays, and the Rangers will do the same with the Angels. Terry Francona's guys will march into October. It's the National League wild-card chase that gives us the best shot at a Game 163. The Cardinals are carrying a huge head of steam into season-ending series against two of baseball's weakest teams, the Cubs and Astros, and the already unsettled Braves end the season against the Phillies.

I became quite dismayed on reading Frank O'Keefe's letter complaining about the reporters covering Hurricane Irene ("Enough about weather," Sept. 1). He derides their reports of siding being blown away from people's homes. These reporters were out in the thick of the disaster braving wind, rain and cold for hours on end. What did he expect them to report - the crisis in the Middle East, the Orioles' scores or Kim Kardashian's $6 million wedding? Those were all covered elsewhere.

Editor: On behalf of the 12U Bel Air Braves travel baseball team, we would like to thank everyone who supported our fundraisers, bought raffle tickets, made donations or just wished us good luck throughout the season. The Braves have had a very successful season (29-8-1) which will culminate in playing in the Cal Ripken World Series as the host team from Harford County! Members of the team are: Camren Exter, Michael Yetter, Ryan Neuberger, Daniel Webber, Nick Robinette, Michael Koski, Kyle Bright, Brian Ballard, Zach DeLuise, Andrew Brndjar, Jordan Ly and Carter Poulsen.

"Gentlemen, we may not live through today. " Jay Jonas, a deputy chief in the New York Fire Department, heard those words on Sept. 11, right before his unit entered the north tower of the World Trade Center. "We wished each other good luck, shook each other's hands and headed inside," Jonas said. There were 13 other firefighters with Jonas on that morning. They were on the 27th floor when they heard the south tower fall. Jonas said he knew that they needed to retreat.

A day after a frustrated Mark Reynolds stood by his locker and said his two-homer game meant nothing because the end result was another loss, the third baseman rescued the Orioles with one more powerful swing. A half-inning after the Atlanta Braves had scored four times to take the lead, Reynolds launched a two-run homer off Scott Proctor and the Orioles bullpen survived some anxious moments late to close out a 5-4 victory in front of an announced 23,492 at Turner Field. "It's a little nail-biting," said Reynolds, who has 18 homers this season and four in his past four games.

The Orioles finally did tonight what recently looked like an impossibility for them when they took their first lead in 39 innings on Mark Reynolds' towering two-run homer over the center-field wall in the top of the fourth. A lead over the Atlanta Braves meant so much to these Orioles that in the bottom of the inning, they decided to give a tutorial on how to blow it as quickly as possible. All it took was a two-out, and two-strike hit batsman, a dropped line drive, a five-pitch walk, and one belt-high Jake Arrieta fastball that was driven into the left-field seats.