Figueroa

Maybe this time, pitcher Juan Figueroa will be ready to take the next step without falling. The Orioles are watching his footwork just as closely as his arm. Figueroa, part of the four-player package obtained by the Orioles in their 2000 roster purge, received another promotion to Double-A Bowie last week. Once again, Single-A batters proved no match for him. Once again, he has been challenged to continue such mastery at a higher level. The Dominican native was named Pitcher of the Week in the Carolina League for July 11-17 after tossing eight shutout innings against Winston-Salem - leaving him 4-0 with a 1.24 ERA in a span of four starts.

The man who escaped from a Baltimore jail last week has been captured in western Pennsylvania, a state official said. The U.S. Marshals Service took Maury Figueroa, 29, into custody without incident, said Mark A. Vernarelli, a spokesman for the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services, in a Friday statement. Figueroa escaped from Baltimore Central Booking and Intake Center on Nov. 9. He escaped while working on a sanitation detail and climbed a fence in an employee parking lot, officials said.

The addition of ninth-round draft choice Paco Figueroa as a leadoff man and improved pitching and defense have the Delmarva Shorebirds off to a 7-3 start in the second half of the Single-A South Atlantic League. "We have a much better ballclub than we had in the first half," said manager Gary Kendall, whose Shorebirds were 30-40 in the first half of the league's split schedule of 140 games. The Shorebirds were tied for first in the Northern Division with the Lakewood (N.J.) BlueClaws and the Hickory (N.C.

Penalties proved to be the Blast's best friends last night in a crucial victory that ended a two-game losing streak at 1st Mariner Arena. Two power-play goals and another score just after a penalty had expired doomed the California Cougars, 8-6, before 6,830. The Cougars, last in the Major Indoor Soccer League with a 5-11 record, were cited for eight infractions to none for the Blast, which had dropped six of its previous seven games. Still, the Blast (6-8) had to hold on at the finish after California pulled its goalkeeper with less than four minutes to play and Vicente Figueroa trimmed the Blast lead to two points with 1:19 remaining.

Cruiserweight Lou Benson (17-10-2), Baltimore's "Battling Sheriff," left for France yesterday where he will fight Argentine champion Marcello Figueroa in Paris tomorrow night. Figueroa (24-3) is ranked fifth in the world by the International Boxing Federation."If I beat Figueroa, I've been promised a title shot against [Worl Boxing Association champion] Ancelet Wamba of France," said Benson, 35, who was knocked out by Jason Waller in his last fight.

LEWISBURG, Pa. -- The new inmate is standing in front of the mess hall door, marching stiffly in place, hair shorn, eyes forward, shoulders back, chin up.Lunch is 10 feet to his right -- spaghetti and salad and tacos and banana ice cream. But it will have to wait: Officer Silas Irvin is to his left.This is chow time at the Federal Intensive Confinement Center, home to a new federal experiment in handling income tax cheats, forgers and drug dealers. And Silas Irvin is Uncle Sam's notion of tough love.

Fifty years of Cuban history are recalled in the photographs of Alberto Diaz Korda and Jose Alberto Figueroa, on view at C. Grimaldis Gallery in Baltimore through Feb. 26. Both Korda and Figueroa were among Cuban leader Fidel Castro's official photographers, though at different times. Korda portrayed the heady days of the revolution, while Figueroa shows contemporary Havana. In conjunction with the exhibit, Korda will lecture at the Maryland Institute, College of Art's Mount Royal Station Auditorium tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. For more information about the lecture, call 410-225-2300.

It will be another week before we officially know how hot it is in Baltimore.National Weather Service officials prematurely said that a new, more accurate electronic thermometer that was installed on the roof of the Custom House at South Gay and Lombard streets went on-line Monday afternoon.In fact, the system still is being tested as a few bugs are being worked out, and official temperatures will not be recorded until Sept. 1, said Amet Figueroa, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service at Baltimore-Washington International Airport.

Baltimoreans remembering last winter's icy precipitation may have let the colder temperatures that arrived with the new year blot out the more recent memory of the city's first snowless December in 16 years.Forecasters said yesterday that there was about a 20 percent chance of light snow showers or flurries tonight in Western Maryland or north along the Pennsylvania border, but that Baltimore was unlikely to see any of that type of precipitation. "It looks like we might get some rain Saturday, as temperatures rise into the 40s, but in wintertime we never say there is no possibility of snow," said forecaster Amet Figueroa.

Marylanders may witness a rarity today -- an April snowstorm.Weather forecasters last night were predicting an overnight snowstorm that could leave accumulations of 3 to 6 inches by morning. The snow is expected to taper off to flurries or drizzle by the afternoon, although an additional inch or two of accumulation is possible before it ends.Snow in Maryland is not unheard of in April or even in May but it's usually just a few flakes. On April 9, 1985, almost an inch of snow fell on Baltimore and flurries were recorded May 1, 1963, and May 6 and 11, 1951, according to records kept by the National Weather Service at Baltimore-Washington International Airport.

STOCKTON, Calif. -- The road remained unkind to the Blast last night. The Blast ended its three-match road trip winless, this time falling to the California Cougars for the first time all season. The Blast could not stop Vicente Figueroa all night, as he scored four goals and lead California to an 8-6 victory before 3,587 at Stockton Arena. It was California's fourth consecutive victory. The Blast had lost its previous two matches in Philadelphia and Milwaukee. Figueroa found gaps in the Blast's defense all match and put the ball in the net virtually every time he had a chance.

The addition of ninth-round draft choice Paco Figueroa as a leadoff man and improved pitching and defense have the Delmarva Shorebirds off to a 7-3 start in the second half of the Single-A South Atlantic League. "We have a much better ballclub than we had in the first half," said manager Gary Kendall, whose Shorebirds were 30-40 in the first half of the league's split schedule of 140 games. The Shorebirds were tied for first in the Northern Division with the Lakewood (N.J.) BlueClaws and the Hickory (N.C.

WITH BRIAN Roberts a deserving All-Star this season, the Orioles have finally shed that old bugaboo about them having failed to draft and develop an impact position player since Cal Ripken. But when you start delving into the tricky business of who gets the credit, you see why it took so long. Frank Wren, the general manager who oversaw the 1999 draft that included Roberts? He was fired six years ago and is now the assistant general manager of the Atlanta Braves. Tony DeMacio, the scouting director who really wanted Roberts?

Maybe this time, pitcher Juan Figueroa will be ready to take the next step without falling. The Orioles are watching his footwork just as closely as his arm. Figueroa, part of the four-player package obtained by the Orioles in their 2000 roster purge, received another promotion to Double-A Bowie last week. Once again, Single-A batters proved no match for him. Once again, he has been challenged to continue such mastery at a higher level. The Dominican native was named Pitcher of the Week in the Carolina League for July 11-17 after tossing eight shutout innings against Winston-Salem - leaving him 4-0 with a 1.24 ERA in a span of four starts.

It's difficult to view the photographs of Alberto Korda and Jose Figueroa at C. Grimaldis Gallery outside the context of the Cuban revolution and its aftermath. Korda was for many years a sort of official photographer of the revolution and a privileged member of Cuban leader Fidel Castro's personal entourage. The photographs he took of the Cuban leader and his associates during the first years after the revolution are masterful propaganda; in them, the benevolent dictator presides over the grateful masses.

Fifty years of Cuban history are recalled in the photographs of Alberto Diaz Korda and Jose Alberto Figueroa, on view at C. Grimaldis Gallery in Baltimore through Feb. 26. Both Korda and Figueroa were among Cuban leader Fidel Castro's official photographers, though at different times. Korda portrayed the heady days of the revolution, while Figueroa shows contemporary Havana. In conjunction with the exhibit, Korda will lecture at the Maryland Institute, College of Art's Mount Royal Station Auditorium tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. For more information about the lecture, call 410-225-2300.

Penalties proved to be the Blast's best friends last night in a crucial victory that ended a two-game losing streak at 1st Mariner Arena. Two power-play goals and another score just after a penalty had expired doomed the California Cougars, 8-6, before 6,830. The Cougars, last in the Major Indoor Soccer League with a 5-11 record, were cited for eight infractions to none for the Blast, which had dropped six of its previous seven games. Still, the Blast (6-8) had to hold on at the finish after California pulled its goalkeeper with less than four minutes to play and Vicente Figueroa trimmed the Blast lead to two points with 1:19 remaining.

Lillehammer, Norway. -- I've had my picture taken here more than Dan Jansen.Wherever I go, lights flash and cameras roll. Kids stare in awe, but I won't give autographs.It's hard for an African-American to fit in here in Norway.It's even worse when you're a 6-foot-2, 279-pound African-American, a former college football player.People stare. People point. They laugh at me.I stare back. I point. I laugh, too, even though it's at my own jokes.My wife warned me about this. She was a foreign exchange student from Franklin High, living in Finland in the late 1970s.

Marylanders may witness a rarity today -- an April snowstorm.Weather forecasters last night were predicting an overnight snowstorm that could leave accumulations of 3 to 6 inches by morning. The snow is expected to taper off to flurries or drizzle by the afternoon, although an additional inch or two of accumulation is possible before it ends.Snow in Maryland is not unheard of in April or even in May but it's usually just a few flakes. On April 9, 1985, almost an inch of snow fell on Baltimore and flurries were recorded May 1, 1963, and May 6 and 11, 1951, according to records kept by the National Weather Service at Baltimore-Washington International Airport.

It will be another week before we officially know how hot it is in Baltimore.National Weather Service officials prematurely said that a new, more accurate electronic thermometer that was installed on the roof of the Custom House at South Gay and Lombard streets went on-line Monday afternoon.In fact, the system still is being tested as a few bugs are being worked out, and official temperatures will not be recorded until Sept. 1, said Amet Figueroa, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service at Baltimore-Washington International Airport.