Fort Lauderdale

The Orioles might well move up Interstate 95 from Fort Lauderdale to Vero Beach to take over the Dodgertown facility, which might have hosted its final Dodgers exhibition game yesterday. It's certainly not on the edge of civilization, but you can get there from here. One of the signs along the highway out of town reads "Yeehaw Junction ... 33 mi." I'm pretty sure you can fall off the earth somewhere around there.

The travel sections and Web sites are advertising for St. Patrick's Day cruises out of Fort Lauderdale, though it's obviously just a marketing ploy to take advantage of today's holiday. I'm pretty sure of this because all the cruises are to the various islands in the Caribbean. None of them were to a beautiful island I like to call ... Ireland.

Las Olas Boulevard might be the most popular night-life area in Fort Lauderdale, featuring several blocks of nice restaurants and nightclubs where spring breakers and locals battle for tables and bar space. It isn't cheap, and on busy evenings, some of the clubs employ a cover charge or a minimum. Even on a night when I was acting as designated driver for a group of friends and colleagues, I was told at O'Hara's Pub to either buy something or take a hike. Apparently, the customer isn't always right, even if you're doing the right thing.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- One locker in the Orioles' spring training clubhouse looks like it should be encased in glass, if only to preserve this shrine to better days and better teams. A white jersey hangs from a hook with Mike Cuellar's last name stitched across the back. A sentimentalist will view it as the uniform top of an aging Orioles hero who could be the most important spring training invitee in Fort Lauderdale, while a cynic might regard it as a cruel reminder that Cuellar likely will be the only 20-game winner who changes clothes in that row. But no matter the perspective, he's a link to the organization's glorious past, and manager Dave Trembley wants to make sure the chain is unbroken.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- The Orioles maintain that they aren't worried about Adam Loewen's left shoulder. They are scratching him from his scheduled start today for precautionary reasons, hoping a couple of extra days off will allow some mild soreness to subside. Loewen, who had elbow surgery nine months ago, also downplayed it, saying he is more concerned about manager Dave Trembley's request yesterday that he cut his hair than anything going on with his shoulder. "I've been fine every start, and that's a real positive for me," said Loewen, who will throw a bullpen session Sunday and is expected to make his next start Wednesday.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Reliever Jim Hoey returned to Baltimore on Wednesday to have a magnetic resonance imaging of his right shoulder, an examination that revealed no structural damage but won't help his chances to make the team's Opening Day bullpen. "We got a good report on Jim," Orioles president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail said. "I don't know how long it's going to be, but the MRI didn't reveal anything of any structural concerns. I don't know whether it's a week, three weeks or what.

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- Orioles left-hander Adam Loewen will likely be scratched from tomorrow's start because of discomfort in his left shoulder. Loewen, who is nine months removed from elbow surgery, participated in pitcher fielding drills yesterday at Fort Lauderdale Stadium, but he either threw the ball underhand to second base or flipped it with his right hand. Club officials are hopeful the problem is nothing more than mild tendinitis. "Nobody is too concerned," Orioles president Andy MacPhail said.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.-- --Not long before the Orioles took the field for yesterday's exhibition game against the Los Angeles Dodgers, the conversation among the visiting scouts in Fort Lauderdale Stadium's media lunch room turned to the Orioles' shortstop situation. The clear consensus was that the group of players competing to replace Miguel Tejada - most notably young defensive specialist Luis Hernandez - would be hard-pressed to anchor the middle of the infield on a team that figures to depend so heavily on young pitching this year.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- It has been a solid ride, the past 13 seasons here, even in an obsolete ballpark. Great restaurants, beautiful beaches and a conscientious stadium staff. Orioles first baseman Kevin Millar called Fort Lauderdale "the best city in Florida." The people and places here will be missed, but it's time to wave goodbye and head two hours north to Vero Beach. Because the positives that come with spending spring in an eclectic, bustling city do nothing for what should be the Orioles' end goal: to be a better baseball organization.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- The Orioles no longer can tolerate having their minor league camp 200 miles away. They need more space at their spring training home, on the field and in the offices. They crave the comforts that are afforded other teams. And if it means going someplace else, they might not have a choice. Even if the new location is steeped in the tradition of another franchise, its name splattered on doors and etched in concrete, its heroes commemorated on street signs. Though no one will confirm it publicly, the Orioles are believed to have signed an option agreement with Indian River County that would allow them to hold spring training in Vero Beach, home of the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers since 1948, as early as next year.