Game Plan

MIAMI -- The blueprint for the Ravens yesterday should have been to follow what another bad team, the New York Jets, did to the Miami Dolphins here two weeks ago. The Ravens should have kept attacking the Dolphins in the first half as they did on their opening drive, when Kyle Boller hit Yamon Figurs on a 36-yard pass for the rookie's first career reception. They didn't. The Ravens should have kept the pressure on Miami's inexperienced quarterback, Cleo Lemon, as they did for most of the first half, which ended with the Ravens holding a 10-point lead.

Did the Milwaukee Brewers really put retaliation ahead of a division race last week? They'll never admit it, but the rest of the baseball world has its suspicions. Trailing by a run against St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday, the Brewers saw the game slip away in the eighth inning. They allowed four runs during a rally that began when Milwaukee reliever Seth McClung apparently hit Albert Pujols as payback for Prince Fielder being drilled in the second. The Brewers lost, 7-3, preventing them from sweeping the Cardinals.

Why isn't Dwayne Johnson a big star by now? The camera loves him. He's funny, self-deprecating and takes the occasional quirky chance with an off-the-mainstream-reservation experiment like the someday-to-be-released Southland Tales. Maybe having to carry around "The Rock" as an alias or alter ego - or whatever it's supposed to be - weighs down his upward mobility. Maybe he's not stoic enough to be an action guy or too brawny to be taken seriously as a comic actor. It could be that he hasn't quite found the right vehicle to drive home his persona.

The New York Jets might be just what Willis McGahee ordered. The Ravens running back has enjoyed sustained success against the Jets rush defense, compiling at least 110 yards in each of his past five games when McGahee was the featured back for the Buffalo Bills. The Jets come to M&T Bank Stadium on Sunday at 4:15 p.m., but McGahee downplayed his track record against them. "I just had a good experience with them," he said. "There's been one time when they stopped me [for] under 100 yards.

SAN DIEGO -- A day before taking his quest for the career home run record back home to San Francisco, Barry Bonds sat back and took a deep breath to enjoy his 755th home run. "There's no pressure on me to do this right away. If I keep my mechanics right, you guys won't be around long," said Bonds, who sat out yesterday's game a day after tying Hank Aaron's all-time mark. Manager Bruce Bochy said Bonds will be back in the lineup when the Giants open a seven-game homestand tonight at AT&T Park, where Bonds has hit most of his milestone homers and where he has long said he wants to pass Aaron.

World Wrestling Entertainment had planned for a solemn, three-hour memorial service Monday. Although one was still held, a real-life tragedy had radically changed the game plan of one of television's most tightly scripted live shows. The mock service intended for head honcho Vince McMahon (in the story line, he was last seen inside an exploding limo) quickly became a real one after top wrestler Chris Benoit and his family were found dead in Atlanta. McMahon broke character in an empty arena to announce the news to viewers.

COLLEGE PARK -- Maryland football coach Ralph Friedgen says he routinely plucks about 20 players at random from the practice field each month and requires them to take drug tests. "I have the largest group of male athletes on campus," says Friedgen, whose tests come in addition to others done by the university and the NCAA. "I have 18- to 22-year-old kids. If I don't stay on top of that, then I'll have a real problem." Friedgen has been known to dispatch assistants to bars to try to keep players out of harm's way. His coaches also conduct periodic evening dormitory checks, and men's basketball coach Gary Williams began requiring his players this past season to live on campus.

Jeremy Guthrie, who will start today's series finale against the Kansas City Royals, said he doesn't need to change anything in his approach. "My goals always are to try to get ahead early and make them put it in play," Guthrie said. "So that's what I'll try and do to hopefully give the team the most innings I can with [a] limited pitch count - just because of not having started and not having built up a huge pitch count." Manager Sam Perlozzo said he would like Guthrie to pitch five innings, calling a six-inning effort a "blessing."

LOS ANGELES -- Ben Howland can win the NCAA men's basketball title this weekend in Atlanta. He is well aware of that, as is all of college basketball. What he isn't aware of is that he already has won a basketball coaches' lottery, something priceless. It comes in the form of a quote, uttered Sunday night by the greatest college basketball coach of all time. "I don't think my teams played as good a defense as Ben's teams," John Wooden said. Wooden is 96 and exaggerates now as much as he ever did. Which is never.

Last summer, Tracey and Robert Thornton just wanted to start saving for their children's college costs and take an occasional vacation. But their combined income of $77,000 a year wasn't keeping up with their spending as they cared for four children in Baltimore. Then, when he lost his $42,000-a-year job in October, the situation quickly went from troublesome to dire. "Something always happens to mess up my game plan," a frustrated Tracey Thornton said. While Robert Thornton continues job hunting, the couple has been consulting with Jennifer Cray, a certified financial planner with Investor's Capital Management in Menlo Park, Calif.