Disabled List

NEW YORK -- Still feeling some discomfort in his left side, Orioles starting catcher Ramon Hernandez, who has has not played this season, was placed on the 15-day disabled list yesterday. The move was retroactive to March 31, meaning Hernandez won't be eligible to come off the disabled list until Sunday against the Kansas City Royals, the final day of a seven-game homestand which begins today. Hernandez and Jay Payton, who is on the disabled list with a strained left hamstring, were expected to travel to the club's minor league complex in Sarasota, Fla., yesterday to begin rehabilitation programs.

Orioles reliever Matt Lindstrom, who has been on the disabled list since May 11 with a partially torn ligament in his right middle finger, will pitch two innings at Double-A Bowie on Friday and one inning on Sunday as part of his minor-league rehab stint. If everything goes well, Lindstrom could be activated from the DL as early as Tuesday, when the Orioles host the Los Angeles Angels for two games. Lindstrom, who had a 1.29 ERA in 13 games for the Orioles, allowed one run on two hits in one inning pitched Wednesday for the short-season Class-A Gulf Coast League club.

The Orioles again postponed a decision on sore-ribbed Brady Anderson yesterday and are apparently prepared to wait until 35 minutes before today's first pitch before either writing their All-Star center fielder into the starting lineup or reluctantly sending him to the 15-day disabled list.During yesterday's 90-minute workout, Anderson swung a bat for the first time since suffering his injury in a March 23 exhibition against the Atlanta Braves. His 30 swings confirmed pain in his left side.

PHILADELPHIA - Despite recent troubles endured by two members of his starting rotation, Orioles manager Mike Hargrove said yesterday that no adjustments are planned for the "near future." Willis Roberts provided another strange outing in Friday night's 15-7 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies, lasting only three innings while blowing 3-0 and 5-3 leads. He was chased in the fourth inning after allowing six consecutive hits without getting an out. Roberts surrendered nine earned runs for the second time in his past four road starts and saw his ERA soar to 5.66.

For the second time this season, the Orioles have lost their starting catcher to injury. Ramon Hernandez went on the 15-day disabled list yesterday with a bruised groin, an injury he suffered when hit by a foul tip in the ninth inning of Wednesday's game against the Seattle Mariners. He's eligible to return June 22, which he said is likely to happen. To take Hernandez's place, the Orioles purchased catcher Alberto Castillo's contract from Triple-A Norfolk. Castillo appeared in eight games with the Orioles when Hernandez began the season on the DL with a strained oblique muscle, going 4-for-23 before being designated for assignment.

Mark McGwire missed the All-Star Game with a sore right knee, and now that knee has landed him on the disabled list for the first time since 1996. The St. Louis Cardinals placed their slugger on the 15-day DL yesterday, a move retroactive to July 7, because of patella tendinitis, a condition that has bothered him since spring training and worsened over the last seven weeks. "It's just gotten to the point where it's unbearable," McGwire said yesterday. "The last two or three or four home runs, I've limped around the bases.

Before taking the field yesterday for pre-game stretching, David Segui leaned on a bat in front of his locker, studied his sore left knee and wondered how much longer the Orioles would play short-handed without him. It doesn't appear that they're willing to go any further with the current arrangement. Unable to run because of pain and swelling in the knee, Segui most likely will be placed on the disabled list for the fourth time in the past two seasons. The move is expected to come before tonight's game in Cleveland.

A comical spill on the base paths no longer seems quite so funny to Orioles outfielder Mike Kinkade. Soreness in his left shoulder, and a thin bench, prompted the Orioles to place Kinkade on the 15-day disabled list yesterday and recall Luis Matos from an injury rehabilitation assignment. Matos was expected to join the club last night. Kinkade was injured in the second inning of Thursday's game against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays while advancing to third base on a single by rookie Larry Bigbie.

Left-hander Tsuyoshi Wada, a former Japanese All Star who signed a two-year deal with the Orioles last offseason but didn't pitch because of an elbow injury, threw off a full mound again Saturday. And manager Buck Showalter was there to watch the side session. “Pretty impressive. He's throwing the ball, fastball and changeup, and that's pretty fun to watch him throw because it just reminds me of what he can be for us,” Showalter said of Wada, who had Tommy John surgery in May. “He's got a chance to be pretty good.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - Acknowledging that "his career as an Oriole is effectively over," the Orioles last night officially classified right fielder Albert Belle as "totally disabled" and will place him on the 60-day disabled list today. The move, hastily announced minutes before last night's exhibition game against the New York Mets, all but ends the eventful 2 1/2 -year relationship between the club and the highest-paid player in franchise history. Today's action serves as the first step in satisfying conditions laid out by an insurance policy indemnifying the Orioles for roughly 70 percent of the $39 million remaining on Belle's contract.