Game At Camden

It was a loss of epic proportions. On the day Dave Trembley was introduced as the Orioles' permanent manager, his team greeted him with the worst performances in franchise history yesterday, losing to the Texas Rangers, 30-3, in the first game of a doubleheader. A little perspective: No major league team had scored as many as 30 runs in a game in 110 years. It has happened nine times in baseball history, the last being when the Chicago Colts drubbed the Louisville Colonels, 36-7, on June 29, 1897, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Orioles right-hander Miguel Gonzalez, who has not pitched since developing a deep blister on his right thumb May 3 in Anaheim, is getting closer to appearing in a big league game. Gonzalez threw 35 pitches in a bullpen session Wednesday, the last few without a bandage covering the thumb (he won't be able to use a covering in a game). He said he came out feeling “really good.” “The ball was coming out good,” Gonzalez said. “The breaking pitches were fine. I was pretty happy about my performance.” Gonzalez is next scheduled to pitch in a simulated game Friday afternoon at Camden Yards so that the team can best control the environment.

As of today, the Orioles will become baseball's displaced team. The All-Stars move in through tomorrow night's game, and the Orioles move out until Wednesday's workout.For Gregg Olson and Chris Hoiles, it's a chance to push further behind them the disappointment of not being chosen to the American League team by manager Cito Gaston."It's going to make it [the break] a little bit tougher," Olson, a 1990 All-Star, said yesterday at Camden Yards, "knowing that it might be my one chance to play in an All-Star Game in front of the home fans."

It could have been one of the coolest scenes in Baltimore baseball history. Players and fans cheering together at Camden Yards as the Los Angeles Angels lost to the Texas Rangers and gave the Orioles their first playoff berth since 1997. It was still pretty cool, but it didn't work out as neatly as hoped. The Angels came back on the Rangers and closer Joe Nathan, scoring two runs in the ninth on a Torii Hunter double to give the Angels the lead. They won it in the ninth, to keep the Orioles' postseason clinching celebration at bay at least until later Sunday night when the Angels and Rangers face off again.

Yesterday's Orioles-Yankees game at Camden Yards was rained out and will be made up Aug. 14 at 7:05 p.m. Tonight's game Opponent: Toronto Blue Jays Site: Camden Yards Time: 7:05 TV/Radio: Comcast SportsNet/WBAL (1090 AM) Starters: Blue Jays' Doug Davis (4-5, 5.26) vs. Orioles' Jason Johnson (6-3, 3.80)

It doesn't matter that Mike Flanagan asked out of the Orioles' organizational meetings last week in Florida. For them to be held without him just doesn't sound right, or promising for his future in his current position. As we vilify Travis Johnson for taunting Trent Green while he lay unconscious with a concussion, we confirm again that the health and well-being of the quarterback is way more important than that of some lineman. So by all means, let's heap sympathy on a player who chopped at a colleague's knees and risked both their careers in the process.

At 5:15 p.m. yesterday, Clarence Weston and his wife, Judith, had time to chat, to think and to rest.The Westons, who operate a concession stand on the lower deck at Camden Yards, were in for a rush of souvenir buyers as intense as yesterday's heat."

For the first time since the current expansion process started 15 months ago, four NFL officials visited Baltimore yesterday on a one-day fact-finding mission.Roger Goodell, the league's executive director for club relations, and three of his aides met with Baltimore officials, toured Harborplace and attended last night's Orioles game at Camden Yards.None of the owners and the expansion committee, who will do the actual voting, made the trip, because commissioner Paul Tagliabue is having his staff members collect all of the HTC information from the five cities left in the expansion derby.

The rasp told it all.Peter Angelos was ill, so ill that the Orioles' owner was absent yesterday for the team's belated home opener at Camden Yards.While the owner's friends sampled finger food and took in the game from his private suite, Angelos sat in his North Baltimore home, watching the game on television.Angelos said he had the flu. So did his wife, Georgia, who watched the game with him."We felt it was best that we quarantined ourselves," the owner said in a low voice. "As contagious as this might be, it is best for us not to circulate."

ON JUNE 4, I had wanted to treat a friend to an Orioles game at Camden Yards. It was an anniversary: 27 years earlier, I had attended my first game at Memorial Stadium. It did not happen though. We were turned away: sold out.Then a scalper came by, wanting $40 for a ticket. I said no. He replied, "Enjoy the game in a bar buddy!" I said "Enjoy your time in a cage!"We bought tickets for Labor Day weekend -- the only future date that tickets were available. Then we went to my old neighborhood, Highlandtown.

Jason Hammel, who had surgery on his right knee in July, threw 41 pitches in a mound session Tuesday and also went through pitcher's fielding practice for the first time since loose bodies were removed from the knee. He felt good afterward, and if no pain lingers this week, he will throw a two- or three-inning simulated game Friday at Camden Yards, Orioles manager Buck Showalter said. Hitters will stand in while Hammel throws from a mound.     “That's what our hope is, Friday.

Adam Jones had a simple request for the South team of the Brooks Robinson All-Star Game at Camden Yards on Sunday. A day after his walk-off home run in extra innings against the Philadelphia Phillies, and minutes after he scored the winning run in extra innings Sunday, another walk-off win, Jones had some more walking on his mind. This time, it concerned his dog. And there came the request. "He just wanted us to score and get ahead so he had a reason to leave and go home to walk his dog," said Cody Acker (Blake)

Players for both Gilman and Mount St. Joseph will be trying to control their emotions Saturday when they meet in a rematch of the inaugural President's Cup final Saturday at Camden Yards. The two long-time Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference rivals will be trying to take in the scene and dwell on the moment at the second-annual event. But the teams will be approaching the game differently. A year ago, Gilman won the President's Cup title but turned around a week later and lost to the Gaels in an MIAA A Conference game.

It doesn't matter that Mike Flanagan asked out of the Orioles' organizational meetings last week in Florida. For them to be held without him just doesn't sound right, or promising for his future in his current position. As we vilify Travis Johnson for taunting Trent Green while he lay unconscious with a concussion, we confirm again that the health and well-being of the quarterback is way more important than that of some lineman. So by all means, let's heap sympathy on a player who chopped at a colleague's knees and risked both their careers in the process.

It was a loss of epic proportions. On the day Dave Trembley was introduced as the Orioles' permanent manager, his team greeted him with the worst performances in franchise history yesterday, losing to the Texas Rangers, 30-3, in the first game of a doubleheader. A little perspective: No major league team had scored as many as 30 runs in a game in 110 years. It has happened nine times in baseball history, the last being when the Chicago Colts drubbed the Louisville Colonels, 36-7, on June 29, 1897, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Yesterday's Orioles-Yankees game at Camden Yards was rained out and will be made up Aug. 14 at 7:05 p.m. Tonight's game Opponent: Toronto Blue Jays Site: Camden Yards Time: 7:05 TV/Radio: Comcast SportsNet/WBAL (1090 AM) Starters: Blue Jays' Doug Davis (4-5, 5.26) vs. Orioles' Jason Johnson (6-3, 3.80)

The Orioles have been given the go-ahead for their proposed home-and-home exhibition series against a team of Cuban all-stars, though the game at Camden Yards may have to be played several weeks after the club's visit to Havana on March 28.Representatives of the Orioles, Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Association reached an "agreement in principle" yesterday with Cuban officials and representatives of the U.S. State Department, according...

The Orioles are ensuring that Cal Ripken doesn't go quietly into retirement. The last month of Ripken's career will include a time change for his final game at Camden Yards, allowing for more national exposure, along with a series of on-field presentations, fan giveaways and special promotions during the last two homestands beginning on Tuesday. Commemorative logos will appear on everything from uniform sleeves to home plate, giving the Orioles and their ballpark a playoff feel during another fourth-place season.

There was no Cal Ripken, and no Tony Gwynn. The schedule makers who finally changed interleague play this season waited one year too long for that. So last night's game at Camden Yards showcased two franchises trying to establish new identities for their fans, knowing they can't replace the irreplaceable. If one team can empathize with the Orioles in their first year without Ripken, it's the Padres as they move on without Gwynn, who made San Diego his home and never left during what surely was a Hall of Fame career.

Though the Orioles lost another game last night, 3-2, to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, they could take some comfort in knowing that few people saw it. Perhaps the result will be thrown out for lack of witnesses. An announced "crowd" - and that's getting a little loose with the language - of 22,781 watched the Orioles lose their sixth in a row. The previous low for a non-makeup game at Camden Yards was 24,558 on April 16, 2001 - also against the Devil Rays. This was the fourth-smallest gathering in the 10-year history of the ballpark.