Danny Tartabull

The best moments of the expansion draft, easy, no question, were when ESPN cut to those bewildered fans in Denver and Miami standing around with blank expressions after their club's latest selections were announced.The cable network was hoping for some excitement in baseball's newest hometowns. The NBA and NFL drafts can get loud, for at least a few seconds, when a team picks a hot player and some VTC fans gathered in a ballroom start hollering and putting hog snouts on each other.But, this time, the Rockies and Marlins spent their big day perfecting the art of the obscure draft pick, and the fans gathered in Joe Robbie Stadium and a Denver convention center just became more confused and depressed as the selections drifted between unspectacular, unknown and unbelievably useless.

In their first major player move in more than a year, the New York Yankees made a surprise late offer to Danny Tartabull, and the free-agent outfielder agreed yesterday to a $25.5 million, five-year contract.The deal, which makes Tartabull the fifth-highest-paid player in baseball, came six days after Daniel McCarthy replaced Robert Nederlander as the team's managing general partner. Tartabull became the first major addition to the Yankees' roster since pitcher Mike Witt signed as a free agent on Jan. 2, 1991.

It was nothing personal, but the California Angels' Dave Gallagher sure did a number on his former Orioles teammates.Gallagher, who played in 23 games with Baltimore last year, nicked Mark Williamson for a home run in the ninth inning of the Angels' 8-4 loss last night. It was his first since April 15, 1989.Gallagher finished the Angels' season series against the Orioles hitting .407 (11-for-27). This by a fellow who batted .216 for the Orioles last season.* COSTNER TO TAKE BP: Actor Kevin Costner is expected to take batting practice Sunday with the Orioles or the Oakland A's.* APPROACHING BAYLOR, BOOG: Dave Parker's solo home run off Roy Smith in the second inning was career No. 337, leaving the 40-year-old slugger one behind Don Baylor and two behind Boog Powell, both former Orioles.

When the Indians help the Orioles open Oriole Park at Camden Yards on Monday, Charles Nagy will be on the mound for Cleveland."It's a big honor and I'm looking forward to it," Nagy said. "But I don't think it will be too tough pitching the first game of the season. It will be a different atmosphere, though, because of the new stadium. There will be a lot of excitement in the air. President Bush will throw out the first ball."Nagy, 24, a right-hander, was 10-15 with a 4.13 ERA last year when he was a rookie and the No. 3 starter behind Greg Swindell and Tom Candiotti.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Danny Tartabull has survived three years of potential turmoil with the New York Yankees without his placid nature becoming the least bit disturbed.There was the night at Camden Yards in September 1992 when he had nine RBI in a blowout of the Orioles and declined a chance at breaking or tying the major-league record of 12 RBIs in a game by allowing manager Buck Showalter to remove him from the lineup in the late innings as the game got out of hand.There was the night in Milwaukee in September 1993 when the Yankees were trying to stay in the American League East race with Toronto and owner George Steinbrenner suggested Tartabull needed to assert himself more and not be so quick to come out of the lineup because of minor injuries, a charge the outfielder-DH has faced most of his 11 seasons in the majors.

With so much at stake, a playoff berth, the idea of the Orioles reverting back to their form of May and June seemed preposterous. Guys not running hard? Lack of intensity? Impossible.But for whatever reason, the Orioles played the first five innings of last night's game as if they were out of any race and merely finishing out their schedule, and the lethargy cost them. The White Sox foiled Mike Mussina's first attempt to win his 20th game, knocking out the Orioles' ace in the fourth inning in an 11-3 Chicago victory, before 47,342.

There is nothing quite so ugly as a good baseball team playing a bad game. Exhibit A, the Orioles, losing 11-3 to the Chicago White Sox last night.Mike Mussina pitched poorly, his worst outing since July. The Orioles' defense was lousy and lackluster, and in a complete departure from the last month, they gave away runs.Chicago right-hander Alex Fernandez can take responsibility for shutting down the Orioles, holding them to three hits, only one after the first inning. But even so, they looked flat, reminiscent of their play in May and June, and it cost them.

His family left Cuba when he was 6. The Palmeiros weren't exactly poor, but little Rafael and his friends would gather outside the Orioles' spring training stadium in Miami, trying to catch home run balls. "Those were the baseballs we practiced with," Rafael recalls.Palmeiro's father, Jose Sr., ran an ice cream stand in Cuba, then worked construction in the United States. "We had everything we needed," Palmeiro says. Still, when it came time for him to attend Mississippi State, he qualified for federal grants on top of his baseball scholarship.

Although not thought of in the same ecclesiastical sense, there's a similarity in the philosophies of George Steinbrenner and Father Flanagan, who are famous in different ways, in that they espouse an identical personal belief:"There's no such thing as a bad boy."Steinbrenner believes in rescuing adult delinquents, which is an admirable quality, and offering them the opportunity to become productive citizens. He gets them into rehabilitation programs with his New York Yankees . . . especially if there's even a remote hope they might be able to pitch or hit.It's a possibility, should the price be right, that Steinbrenner's next reclamation project will be Darryl Strawberry, who has had bouts with drugs and even a jam with the Internal Revenue Service -- the same kind of difficulty that sent Pete Rose off to pull time in prison.

The landscape of the American League East changed dramatically Friday, like the San Andreas Fault shifting the division's relative powers. Weaknesses became strengths, the first-place team suddenly looks like a loser, and the Orioles have emerged as the front-runner.The revised predictions:1. Orioles. Best defensive team, best pitching among AL East contenders, serviceable offense.2. Yankees. Best hitting among AL East contenders, average defense, very good pitching.3. Boston Red Sox. Worst defense in AL, a pitching staff in tatters, and the inherent knowledge that somehow, they are always supposed to fail (and don't underestimate the importance of that last part)