Fort Myers

The Orioles will head south to Fort Myers today to play the Twins for the second time this spring. The Twins will have a lineup that includes Joe Mauer, Josh Willingham and Justin Morneau, so they're playing a number of regulars. As for the Orioles, this is a game that will be difficult from a roster perspective. It will be their third game in a span of 30 hours after yesterday's day-night, split-squad doubleheader. Yesterday afternoon, the Orioles brought 12 minor leaguers over from the minor league minicamp at Twin Lakes Park.

Orioles right fielder Nick Markakis took batting practice for the second straight day Monday and could DH tomorrow in Fort Myers against the Twins.  Markakis, dealing with a small disk herniation in his neck, hasn't played in a spring game since March 1, but is confident he will get enough at-bats to be ready for the season. In returning from offseason abdominal surgery last spring, he needed just 25 at-bats. He has 14 this spring heading into the final week of spring games.

Orioles right fielder Nick Markakis took batting practice for the second straight day Monday and could DH tomorrow in Fort Myers against the Twins.  Markakis, dealing with a small disk herniation in his neck, hasn't played in a spring game since March 1, but is confident he will get enough at-bats to be ready for the season. In returning from offseason abdominal surgery last spring, he needed just 25 at-bats. He has 14 this spring heading into the final week of spring games.

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Orioles right-hander Jair Jurrjens, making his second spring start, struggled mightily through a 34-pitch inning in Thursday's Grapefruit League game against the Minnesota Twins in Fort Myers. Jurrjens allowed three earned runs on two hits and three walks, battling his control throughout the outing. Of the eight hitters he faced, he threw just two first-pitch strikes. “My timing today was way off,” Jurrjens said. “I wasn't finishing the ball, it was starting a ball and then finishing a ball.

Right-hander Armando Galarraga, who is hoping to make the Orioles after missing much of last season because of injury, tired after a solid early performance and ended up allowing four runs in four innings as the Boston Red Sox beat the Orioles, 7-4, in a split-squad game at JetBlue Park. The Orioles and Red Sox ended in a 3-3 tie in their other contest Saturday at Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota. Galarraga cruised through the first two innings and allowed a run in the third before giving up four hits and three runs in the fourth.

AirTran Airways has yet to make its first flight out of Baltimore, but the budget carrier said yesterday that it will be expanding its service here to include several Florida cities. The Orlando, Fla.-based airline will add daily nonstop service from Baltimore-Washington International Airport to Orlando, Miami and Fort Myers beginning late this year and early next year. About two weeks ago, AirTran announced it would be entering the Baltimore market with three flights per day to Boston and Atlanta starting Dec. 12. AirTran will begin service here about the same time as US Airways eliminates its low-fare MetroJet fleet based in Baltimore.

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- The bones are whispering to Heather Walsh-Haney. Laid out on a stainless-steel examination table, they're hinting at the secrets of death that the forensic anthropologists are working hard to understand. How old are they? Whom do they belong to? And how did they die? "They can give you a tremendous amount of information," said Walsh-Haney, a 39-year-old professor at nearby Florida Gulf Coast University. "You just have to know how to read them." The eight skeletons are part of an unfolding detective story in this small city two hours south of Tampa.

Mr. and Mrs. William Clarke, III, of Monkton, MD announce the May 22, 2004 wedding of their son, Steven Clarke to Jesse Cottrell, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Cottrell, of Fort Myers, FL. Steve and Jesse both graduated in 2002 with a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Lehigh University. After a Fort Myers wedding, the couple will live in Auburn Hills, MI, where Steve will begin employment at Volkswagen and Jesse will continue working for GM.

Date; Time; Opponent; Location (all times p.m.; home games in bold; ss- split squad) Monday, March 5; 1:05; ss@Rays (ss); Port Charlotte Monday, March 5; 7:05; ss vs. Pirates (ss); Sarasota Tuesday, March 6; 1:35; @Red Sox; Fort Myers Wednesday, March 7; 1:05; Twins; Sarasota Thursday, March 8; 1:05; Braves; Sarasota Friday, March 9; 1:05; @Rays; Port Charlotte Saturday, March 10; 1:05; @Phillies; Clearwater Sunday, March 11; 1:05; Red Sox; Sarasota Monday, March 12; 1:05; @Blue Jays; Dunedin Tuesday, March 13; 1:05; Rays; Sarasota Wednesday, March 14; 1:05; Pirates; Sarasota Thursday, March 15; 1:05; @Tigers; Lakeland Friday, March 16; 1:05; @Twins (ss)

On June 27, 2006, ADDIE LEE (nee Rittenhouse) GOURLEY MERKLE, of North Fort Myers, FL and Timonium; wife of the late John F. Gourley, Jr. and Frederick W. Merkle; devoted mother of John F. Gourley III (Janice) of N. Fort Myers, Frank Rittenhouse Gourley (Lavania) of York, PA, Thomas Lee Gourley (Sylvia) of Englewood, FL and Donald C. Gourley of Baltimore; stepmother of Gretchen Merkle Hodgin of San Francisco, Frederick Merkle, Jr. and Curtis Merkle, both of Maryland and Jeri Merkle of Oregon.

The Orioles will head south to Fort Myers today to play the Twins for the second time this spring. The Twins will have a lineup that includes Joe Mauer, Josh Willingham and Justin Morneau, so they're playing a number of regulars. As for the Orioles, this is a game that will be difficult from a roster perspective. It will be their third game in a span of 30 hours after yesterday's day-night, split-squad doubleheader. Yesterday afternoon, the Orioles brought 12 minor leaguers over from the minor league minicamp at Twin Lakes Park.

Raymond C. "Ray" Bingel Sr., a retired Baltimore Sun dispatcher, died Jan. 4 of cirrhosis of the liver at his Glen Burnie home. He was 69. Mr. Bingel was born in Baltimore and raised in Glen Burnie, where he attended Anne Arundel County public schools. He worked in an auto parts store before joining The Baltimore Sun in 1970 as a newspaper delivery truck driver. Mr. Bingel was later promoted to a dispatcher at Sun Park, The Baltimore Sun's Port Covington printing plant, where he worked until retiring in 2000.

NFL Boldin, Fitzgerald to visit Africa with Oxfam Ravens wide receiver Anquan Boldin and Arizona Cardinals wide-out Larry Fitzgerald , a former teammate of Boldin's with the Cardinals, are again teaming up with the international relief and development organization Oxfam to raise awareness of the food crisis in East Africa. They will travel to Ethiopia with Oxfam for a firsthand account of the drought and famine affecting more than 13 million people in the region.

Right-hander Armando Galarraga, who is hoping to make the Orioles after missing much of last season because of injury, tired after a solid early performance and ended up allowing four runs in four innings as the Boston Red Sox beat the Orioles, 7-4, in a split-squad game at JetBlue Park. The Orioles and Red Sox ended in a 3-3 tie in their other contest Saturday at Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota. Galarraga cruised through the first two innings and allowed a run in the third before giving up four hits and three runs in the fourth.

SARASOTA, Fla. -- It wasn't the Grapefruit League debut new Matt Lindstrom had hoped for, but the new Orioles reliever's first spring outing did serve a valuable purpose. Lindstrom, acquired last month in the trade that sent Jeremy Guthrie to Colorado,  allowed three runs (two earned) on three hits, walking one, in his inning of work in Monday's 10-3 loss to the Pirates at Ed Smith Stadium. For a pitcher hoping to lock down a late-inning role on a new team, it wasn't what Lindstrom wanted.

Date; Time; Opponent; Location (all times p.m.; home games in bold; ss- split squad) Monday, March 5; 1:05; ss@Rays (ss); Port Charlotte Monday, March 5; 7:05; ss vs. Pirates (ss); Sarasota Tuesday, March 6; 1:35; @Red Sox; Fort Myers Wednesday, March 7; 1:05; Twins; Sarasota Thursday, March 8; 1:05; Braves; Sarasota Friday, March 9; 1:05; @Rays; Port Charlotte Saturday, March 10; 1:05; @Phillies; Clearwater Sunday, March 11; 1:05; Red Sox; Sarasota Monday, March 12; 1:05; @Blue Jays; Dunedin Tuesday, March 13; 1:05; Rays; Sarasota Wednesday, March 14; 1:05; Pirates; Sarasota Thursday, March 15; 1:05; @Tigers; Lakeland Friday, March 16; 1:05; @Twins (ss)

SARASOTA, Fla. -- Overhearing a conversation behind him, Orioles pitcher Mike Mussina wheeled around on his stool in the Orioles clubhouse yesterday and interrupted: "We're getting Randy Johnson?"Starters: Orioles' Arthur Rhodes vs. Rangers' Kenny RogersORIOLES SPRING TRAINING SCHEDULEDate ....... Opponent ........... Site ...... ....... TimeToday ....... Texas ......... Port Charlotte, Fla. .. 1:05 p.m.Tomorrow .... Toronto ........ Dunedin, Fla. ........ 1:05 p.m.Saturday .... Houston .....

Donald LeRoy Calp, a retired air-traffic control engineer, died of an acute pulmonary hemorrhage Jan. 17 at his Columbia home. He was 79. Born in Manchester, he was a 1950 Sparks High School graduate. He also attended Edison Junior College in Fort Myers, Fla. Mr. Calp served in the Air Force during the Korean War. After he left military service in 1957, he joined the Bendix Field Engineering Corp., where he worked for nearly 40 years. He traveled to Korea, Iceland, Cuba, Florida, Australia, Madagascar, Alaska and Saudi Arabia before he returned to Maryland in 1975.