Detroit Tigers

It's time to check on the young bucks again. With the trade deadline approaching and teams re-imagining their rosters, hot prospects are flooding the big leagues. Mike Pelfrey and Stephen Drew have starred in previous prospect checkups, and now Pelfrey is starting for the New York Mets and Drew is playing shortstop for the Arizona Diamondbacks. Here are more players who have impressed so far this season. A few may hit the majors by September while others may not get their shots until 2007 or 2008.

For two straight years under former manager Mike Hargrove, the Orioles were 53-57 after 110 games, only to have the floor open up and swallow them. If not for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, they would have crashed to the bottom of their division. The numbers seem to mock this team, if only because they registered again this summer. Four games below .500 with 52 to play. A chance to be respectable. A chance to win over the fans who have stopped caring once the Ravens opened camp. Do the Orioles have the legs to outrun history?

The New York Yankees are still comfortably on top of the heap in the American League East, and there is no reason to think their economic domination of the division is going to end anytime soon. They've been to the World Series six times in the past eight years, and they appear to be headed in that direction again as the 2004 season pauses for the All-Star break. So why has the issue of competitive balance - such a major concern during the cataclysmic labor dispute of 1994 and the underlying theme of each ensuing collective bargaining period - fallen under baseball's economic radar during the early months of this season?

DETROIT - No team understands the tricky science of developing young starting pitchers better than the Detroit Tigers, and last night, that hard-earned knowledge almost helped them spoil another win for Orioles rookie Daniel Cabrera. After scoring seven early runs against Jeremy Bonderman - one of the young guns who has taken his lumps during Detroit's latest pitching experiment - the Orioles thought they might cruise to an easy victory. But by the fifth inning, the Tigers used a patient approach to put Orioles manager Lee Mazzilli through some anxious moments.

Orioles tonight Opponent: Detroit Tigers Site: Comerica Park, Detroit Time: 7:05 TV/Radio: Chs. 13, 20/WBAL (1090 AM) Starters: Orioles' Eric DuBose (3-3, 4.67) vs. Tigers' Jason Johnson (3-5, 5.57)

AMERICAN LEAGUE CENTRAL Chicago White Sox Manager: Ozzie Guillen 2003 finish: 86-76 (second) On deck: It's a good thing the newly hired Guillen was such a popular player in Chicago because he'll be working with a lot less talent than Jerry Manuel, who was fired after his club blew a two-game lead in September. The only fun is wagering on how long it takes for Frank Thomas to sulk. Who had April 5? Man on a mission: Magglio Ordonez could be traded because he's eligible for free agency after the season and has priced himself out of the White Sox's budget.

Former Washington Senators baseball player Frank Howard will greet visitors and sign autographs as part of a charity drive sponsored by Arena Sports Cards & Games in Carrolltown Center. He will appear from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday on the center court stage and will sign up to two autographs for anyone donating three canned goods or $5 to Carroll County Food Sunday. Howard was the 1960 Rookie of the Year for the Los Angeles Dodgers. He played for the Senators from 1965 to 1971 and was the leader in home runs for the American League in 1968 and 1970, as well as the team's top home run hitter.

The Orioles are on their way to an unprecedented sixth straight losing season, and maybe they should count their blessings. They have some good young players and some money to spend in the offseason and, well, their dignity, which is a lot more than can be said for a certain downtrodden team in Detroit that may be about to put losing into a brand-new historical perspective. The Tigers (38-113) could be on their way to replacing the 1962 New York Mets (40-120) as the team with the most losses in modern baseball history.

As general manager candidates go, they were three can't-miss prospects, and Orioles owner Peter Angelos probably could have hired them all. Randy Smith, Kevin Malone and Dan O'Dowd. Each of them landed high-profile GM jobs, while critics wondered, "How could the Orioles let them get away?" Each of them joined forces with new owners, who trusted them with their checkbooks, and everyone knew those three had more control than they ever would have had under Angelos. Then the unexpected happened.